Making Space for Learning in the Workplace

Organizations that succeed pay attention to how adults learn and develop. And by viewing learning through a developmental lens, successful organizations focus more on the ‘how than the ‘what’. Content without context distorts meaning and undermines the opportunity for learning to take hold. It is the context that shapes meaning and builds understanding in the workplace. While it is important for the adult learner to be connected to his or her own learning, the successful organization must also recognize the need to meet the employee where he or she is. Organizations need to create room for each employee to claim their starting place and forge their own learning pathways. In 2007 and beyond, there are emerging tools, processes and roles on this playing field, where the organization makes space for continuous learning and development.

Workplace learning happens most effectively through one’s own experience and or from the experiences of others. According to the National Center on Education Statistics, most adults learn from their experience on the job rather than in a formal educational setting. Learning has been described by the academics Maple and Webster as a “process by which behavior changes as a result of experience”. It is about building ‘know-how’, simply defined as the ability and knowledge necessary to do something. Organizations are therefore harnessing the energy from the content, context and experiences of the folks within their workplace.

So how will adults learn and develop in a workplace that makes space for learning? In 2007, it will be a game of communities of practice (CoPs) and blogs that will influence the culture of learning inside the workplace. Organizations, large and small, are experimenting with various approaches to leveraging blogs (on-line journals) and CoPs (groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do and who will interact regularly to learn from each other). The learning and development function will need to experiment with these formats and find ways of blending them into our instructional designs and delivery models.

It will be important to examine how to best manage and access these new content models, and with increased complexity in the workplace, the role of the Chief Learning Officer (CLO) will evolve into a more legitimate leadership position. This role will be critical in insuring that learning is embraced and viewed as a developmental process that is leveraged for competitive advantage. The biggest challenge for the CLO, inside the complexity of matrix-organizations, is to find ways of sharing content throughout the globe in a consistent way, while staying sensitive to the need to localize content quickly. Learning must be able to travel well. The overarching goal for these emerging trends in the workplace is the organization making space for learning to take hold.

Finding space for the community

‘Communities of practice’ is not a new concept, however viewing CoPs through the lens of a strategic learning process is an emerging trend. To succeed, each CoP starts from setting a strategic context that allows the community to find a legitimate place in the organization. Cultivating CoPs will be a priority process that will be driven by identifying critical business problems, and then leveraging knowledge and a strategic value proposition.

A great example of this in practice was the emergence of the ‘Mama Birds’ at MTV Networks. Originally a community of working mothers founded by Gennifer Birnbach, Senior Director of Programming at TV Land, the Mamma Birds were driven by the unique needs of a first time mother returning to the workplace. Established in spring 2004, the CoP was supported by partnering with various individuals, business leaders, and HR groups. It has expanded significantly and now includes some ‘Papa Birds’ into the fold. Gennifer Birnbach describes its impact: “It has made a huge difference in my life, and our lives, as we continue to find ways to balance our worlds and roles as working parents. There is a much greater chance for us working parents to succeed here because of that growing circle, and I truly feel the company is better for it.”

The value proposition for the organization and individual employees brings both short-term as well as long-term value beyond the sixty plus flock. Stephanie Flanagan, a working mother and proud Mama Bird with two children, has experienced the organization before and after this passionate CoP came to roost at MTV Networks. “To know there are others out there who share a similar experience and understand what I am going through as a working mom is uplifting and empowering. Senior executives within the organization who are working mothers come to share advice, give guidance, and to encourage the rest of us to ‘keep on keeping on.’ Their presence is a testament that working moms can and will further their careers at MTV Networks – and the organization is committed to helping other working moms make their way here.”

The Mama Birds have evolved to be a influential force, a community that has been asked to weigh in on flexible work arrangement policy, to discuss retention efforts, and most recently to create and implement a customized mentoring program matching new mothers with more experienced ones. The Mama Birds have begun to open the dialogue about how to best support the company and be supported by the company as a working parent. As Flanagan puts it “the more the conversations happen, the more senior leadership understands and supports the importance of this community, the richer our work experiences become.”

We’re all blogging now

If CoPs make time and space for learning, it is because they are personal processes. It is a process that supports critical reflection, an important element in adult development. Similarly blogs, by their very nature, give a personal space for an individual to define their digital identity through words, links, images, and video. And while the use of journaling as a learning tool is not new, the interactive nature of blogs can introduce a more dynamic and effective learning tool. A blog affords reflection and allows for a learner to explore his or her thinking, to go in one direction and then change their minds and go in another.

In September, 2006,Greg Clayman, SVP of Wireless Content at MTV, our resident expert in the wireless space, started his own daily blog at http://www.twofones.com, carrying the tagline thoughts from a wireless media guy. Clayman believes that blogging can change the way we learn and communicate in the workplace. He finds the entire process “less one-sided and more open to the feedback loop that people have begun to expect in all their dealings in this age of consumer-controlled media.” There are, of course, risks inherent in this since blogs in the workplace might feel edgy and may produce legal concerns. But as Clayman points out: “Without risk there is no trust; sanitization breeds contempt. The more corporations learn to allow their employees to speak their minds, the more dialog and feedback they will engender, the more they will feel empowered.”

Managing personal content

With the emergence of these new forms of personal content, acquired content, and social networking, the learning management system (LMS) conversation is shifting from tracking and managing learning transactions to managing growing amounts of content within a context. There is now more interest in a Learning Content Management System (LCMS) than in the current LMS. The conversation is more about how we make space for learning, finding a home for our own development; a place that individuals can create and access.

We are seeing a growing interest in how we will manage an expanding set of content models, including podcasts, PDFs and informal content. If individual employees will be able to create an accessible space to house their learning and development, this content must be accessible by search and other fingertip knowledge engines. The rising use of Google, Yahoo and corporate search engines is an early indicator that these tools are embedded into the new learning landscape. This new trend tests assumptions about access to content, memorization, curriculum scope, relevancy and connection. The learning landscape has changed and therefore the expectations of the learner have changed, whether stated or otherwise.

Organizations must find ways of sharing content throughout the globe. It is a difficult task since the organization must stay consistent and be sensitive to the need to localize and translate content quickly. Globalizing and localizing learning is a reflection that we live in a ‘flatter’ world. The compelling question is how we deliver learning on a global basis, quickly? This holds true for new employees and business leaders alike. The process of integration and assimilation of new leaders and acquired business is at the very core of how learning unfolds. Learning is not an event, just as integration and on-boarding new employees and leaders doesn’t take place in a day. These are learning processes that grow more complex as the businesses themselves operate in a complex and fast-paced demanding environment.

Given the growing complexity of the workplace, and the need to examine the ‘how’ more than the ‘what’, business needs to consider who is informing the learning strategy? We have seen the role of a Chief Learning Officer (CLO) emerge over the last few years and there is evidence of staying power. Legitimizing the profession becomes a critical step in the journey. The strategic nature of learning is more visible in the workplace with the study of how learning is planned and the emergence in more detail of how adults learn and develop. In January, 2007, the first master and doctorate program specifically designed and targeted for CLOs will welcome its initial cohort. The University of Pennsylvania has developed this program with two of its leading schools – the Wharton School (Wharton) and the Graduate School of Education (GSE) – both of which are recognized globally as being among the best within their respective fields. By leveraging their expertise, Penn is uniquely able to offer a program that meets the profession's needs. This program is just one example of the staying power that the CLO position and the role of learning now plays in the corporate setting.

Maude DiVittis is the Senior Vice President of Learning and Organizational Development for MTV Networks. Prior to joining MTV in 1995, Maude spent nine years at Mars inc in various training roles. She has been recognized nationally as a leader in the field of training and development and is an active member of the Society of Human Resource Management, the American Society for Training & Development, and New York Women in Communications and Media.