I saw this article on TeachThought the other day and thought it would be an interesting exercise to reflect it in the corporate world of L&D.  Some of the titles don’t tally so I’ve substituted as appropriate.  I was surprised that it led to more questions…

Don’t measure everything
The tone in the piece is about protecting students from failure; to me it’s about concentrating on the big, not the small.  I’ve been banging on about it for ages but measuring everything doesn’t work.  If you’re putting assessments into learning activities, create a circumstance where they can be peer marked.  Allow your learners to take responsibility for establishing their standards.  Let them build the best practice and wikis that support performance.

Not all ideas – or standards – are equally important
What are the performance objectives?  What learning activities do you have that support them?  Do you have a clear link from your business objectives to your learning support?  If you’re measuring the big, the effective improvement in performance, you have to make it to the same scale as your senior management.  Talk in their language – 93% attendance at training events is a L&D statistic; £5750 in wasted trainer fees due to non-attendance is a business statistic.

The performance year is a marathon, not a series of sprints
The article talks about not pushing learners; for me it is more that your offer is available to be pulled whenever it’s required.  Does your offer support managers consistently throughout the year?  It’s a simple test –  do you reflect the peaks and troughs of the business that you’re supporting?  Do you offer appraisal guidance only in the 3 months before  the appraisal season, or is it ongoing, available to be drawn down whenever?

Difficult things take practice
Do you support a culture where risk awareness rules over risk aversion?  How much space to you create for your learners to practice and make mistakes?  Not in a training room, have you created space and time built in to support learners in a safe space?

Curiosity, uncertainty, and confusion are crucial ingredients in learning
So what have you done to keep your learners inquisitive and stretched?

As always, keep the comments coming.