The CIPD has launched a new Learning and Development Network, and I’m supporting it as a ‘Champion’. I hate that word, btw – it implies I’ve beaten other people to earn the right to call myself that.

What I’m more interested in is getting into the actual work with other L&D people. It’s always useful to hear that someone has introduced a new approach, and the real value is in understanding what prompted it. Particularly, what they tried, what got in the way, and, my particular bugbear, how did they know it made any difference?

Those are the questions that help you judge whether something might work in your own circumstances, and they’re the ones a tidy account of “we did X” often leaves unanswered.

The best networks leave room for unfinished thinking.

You should be able to bring a problem you haven’t solved, describe something that didn’t work the way you expected, or ask someone to challenge an assumption you’ve been carrying around without examining it. The context, the constraints and the decisions behind the work are where the useful learning actually lives, not in the version that gets presented once it’s all been smoothed over.

The network is open to CIPD members working in L&D, from people starting out to those with years in it. It includes an online community and quarterly national online events, and there’s scope for the discussions to feed into the CIPD’s research and content.

If that sounds useful, you can find out more and apply to join the CIPD Learning and Development Network here.