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The Learning and Development Handbook: A Learning Practitioner's Toolkit
The skills needed in today's business world are not the same as they were in the past. Therefore, upskilling, reskilling and developing staff has never been more important. However, classroom training isn't the best way to achieve this with employees forgetting more than 70% of what they've been taught within just one day. Learning outside the workplace is social, digital and immediate and companies need to embrace this to achieve the productivity, performance and revenue benefits that come from effective learning. The Learning and Development Handbook is a practical guide for L&D professionals wanting to move away from traditional classroom teaching but not sure where to start. Full of practical tips and advice, this is urgent reading for anyone in the learning profession.The Learning and Development Handbook includes advice on how to embed social and digital learning, make the most of blended learning, adopt brain-friendly learning and design more effective learning content for improved employee engagement and performance. This book also provides guidance on how to identify learning needs in an organization, gather evidence to engage stakeholders and align L&D strategy with overall business strategy. There is also expert guidance on how to evaluate and measure the effectiveness of learning, where to find the data needed to support learning activity. Written by an L&D practitioner, for L&D practitioners, this book is packed full of tips, hints, tools and models that can be used to improve both employee and overall business performance in the immediate, middle-term and long-term future.
347 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 3, 2021
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October 31, 2022The Learning and Development Handbook (2022) is a practical guide for human resources experts who want to upgrade how people learn in their organization without slavishly following new fads. So what’s their best bet? Michelle Parry-Slater thinks companies’ can benefit from the digital revolution, but only if they embed professional development in wider cultures of learning. That means one thing above all: working with the grain of human psychology, collective as well as individual.
Michelle Parry-Slater is an award-winning L&D professional with more than 15 years’ experience in the industry. She is the Founder and Director of Kairos Modern Learning, an L&D consultancy specialising in driving a shift from traditional courses to the best of digital, social and face-to-face workplace learning. Michelle Parry-Slater is also an L&D consultant for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the Lead Volunteer for L&D for Girlguiding UK and was listed as one of the Top 20 Corporate eLearning Movers and Shakers of 2018 by eLearning Industry.
---
A new approach to workplace learning.
Michelle Parry-Slater’s Learning and Development Handbook opens with an observation that’s unlikely to shock anyone. The workplace, she notes, is changing – fast.
The skills needed in today’s business world aren’t the skills we needed in the past. Keeping up with change means the same thing for organizations as it does for individuals: upskilling and reskilling. So far, so uncontroversial. Everyone knows that, right?
Well, knowing something and acting on that knowledge are two different things. Which brings us to a second – much more surprising – observation.
Despite the digital revolution, most companies still rely on classroom-based, face-to-face learning to train their employees. Studies show, however, that the typical employee forgets around three quarters of what they learn in such settings within just one day. Put differently, most companies are spending a lot of money and wasting a lot of time to achieve very little.
Michelle Parry-Slater is convinced that there’s a better way of doing things – that’s why she wrote this Handbook. And in this book, we’ll dig into her alternative approach to workplace learning.
---
Organizations can’t rely on old learning models in a changing world.
To start off, we’re going to be talking about learning in a particular context – organizations and companies. In other words, we’ll be looking at professional development.
Our question, then, is how professionals master new skills and pick up the know-how they need in today’s fast-moving workplaces. But before we get to that, let’s take a step back and think about learning in general. How does any learning take place?
From schools to universities, public talks, and office training programs, it often happens in a similar way. This learning model centers the sage on the stage. Let’s break that down.
Although the specifics vary, the idea is usually the same. There’s an expert – an individual with special access to some kind of knowledge. Then there’s the audience – the people who turn up at a certain time and place to learn from that sage. This model is face-to-face: everyone is present in person. It’s also top-down. The teacher talks; the audience listens.
There’s a reason this model is so common – it can be very effective. As we found out during the Covid-19 pandemic, something important gets lost when traditional learning environments like classrooms disappear. And there are things you really only can learn if you’re physically present. Online-only courses aren’t a great way of acquiring first-aid skills, for example. You need the real-world, face-to-plastic experience of breathing into a CPR doll. It’s the same with learning to drive – you have to sit in an actual car on a real road with a bonafide instructor.
Thing is, though, face-to-face learning isn’t the only way people can learn. It’s a cliché, but, like so many clichés, it’s true: the digital revolution is a game-changer. The smartphones in our pockets give us unprecedented access to knowledge, bypassing that sage on the stage. The laptops in our bags meanwhile allow us to work remotely, eroding the old emphasis on physical presence. These are simple facts, Michelle Parry-Slater says, and neither organizations nor learning and development specialists can wish them away. The upshot? We need new approaches to professional development.
That doesn’t mean abandoning tried-and true methods in favor of fashionable gimmicks. Immediately adopting the latest tech isn’t a cure-all. But we can’t just keep doing what we’ve always done because, well, that’s how things are done. What we need to do, she suggests, is spend more time thinking seriously about learning in this new environment. In some cases, face-to-face will still be the way to go; in others, it won’t. Oftentimes, the best approach will be to blend different models.
Take just one example. When the author worked with the Girl Guides, she looked at their first-aid program. She realized that some 80 percent of the organization’s refresher courses could be taken online. You just don’t need people to be physically present to sit multiple-choice tests on basic medical knowledge. A skill like CPR is different – you need to practice it for real, with an expert. And that’s what the Girl Guides do. They keep the analogue stuff analogue and move the rest online.
The point, here, is that face-to-face learning isn’t going away – it’s too important. But it’s not the be-all and end-all of learning. That, Parry-Slater thinks, is the key lesson for organizations and their learning and development teams. In practice, though, that’s often easier said than done.
---
Face-to-face learning is popular, but not for the reasons people tend to give.
In 2020, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Britain’s leading association of HR professionals, published its annual “Learning and Skills at Work” report. Its conclusion: face-to-face learning was still the dominant approach to professional development in Britain. Evidence from other Western countries paints a similar picture.
Organizations, it seems, are resisting change and sticking to old learning approaches even as technological change opens up alternatives. But where does this opposition to new ideas and models come from? One factor is simple inertia. Learning in professional contexts has mirrored classroom-based learning since the Industrial Revolution. The idea that learning happens when an expert takes to the stage and delivers their knowledge to a captive audience has deep cultural roots. That’s hardly surprising – it’s an idea that’s been around for a long time.
That’s not the only factor, though. In fact, the most common argument in favor of face-to-face learning isn’t that it’s the only or best approach. The usefulness of remote and online learning models is well-documented, after all. The real obstacle to change is the stated preference of would-be learners. When asked, they typically say that they prefer classroom-based learning.
The problem for learning and development professionals is that you can’t just tell people that their ideas are outdated and that you know better. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Forcing those would-be learners to adopt methods they’re not sold on is a recipe for resentment – and very little learning. So where does that leave you – how can you persuade people to try new and valuable approaches which they might distrust? There’s only one answer, really: you have to find out what they’re actually getting out of face-to-face learning.
Start digging and you’ll often realize that there’s not necessarily a lot of overlap between people’s stated preferences and their real preferences. Teams might say that they love that three-day training course in a hotel on the other side of the country because it’s a great way to learn new skills. In reality, though, they might just appreciate the chance to spend more time with colleagues. Or that it buys them some time to think. Or, more simply, that it gets them away from the daily grind.
These are all good reasons to like face-to-face learning. Like school classrooms, events which require physical presence aren’t just about absorbing knowledge and honing new skills – lots of other things happen there too. And those things matter. Well-rested teams that know each other socially as well as professionally tend to be more productive – and happier. You don’t want to cut those face-to-face events because learning isn’t front and center, but it’s important to call a spade a spade.
If you find out that social bonds are important to a team, you’ve discovered another strategy you can use to foster professional development. That brings us to our next topic – social learning.
---
Social learning is deeply rooted in the human psyche.
Let’s circle back to the question we posed earlier. How, we asked, does learning happen? As we saw, in formal contexts it’s usually top-down and expert-led.
Lots of learning isn’t like this, however. It doesn’t involve experts; it takes place between peers. It’s horizontal, not hierarchical. Psychologists call it social learning.
Humans are social animals. We constantly pick up information and ideas from other people. We chat on buses and tell stories around water coolers. We listen to podcasts, read books and blogs, and watch movies. We gossip, swap tips, recount experiences, and observe how our peers behave in different social situations. That’s how we learn about the world. That’s social learning.
Social learning goes all the way back to the origins of Homo sapiens. Our ancient ancestors shared stories around campfires and on the walls of caves – the canvases for some of humanity’s earliest visual storytelling. Survival depended on watching and copying others. That’s how you learned how to hunt, light fires, and distinguish between delicious berries and fatally poisonous doppelgangers.
Of course, Stone Age humanity’s social world wasn’t very big – it usually extended no further than the territory of the tribe. Over time, the social world expanded. When the printing press came along, information began to circulate across continents. Nowadays, information circles the globe in seconds. Fundamentally, though, little has changed. When we watch amateur chefs cooking pad thai on YouTube or browse fitness forums, we’re doing something humans have always done: learning from our peers. Sure, it’s gotten a lot more technologically sophisticated, but it’s still social learning.
So what does this have to do with professional development? Let’s see if we can join the dots. To do that, we can turn to the work of the American educational psychologist and author Julian Stodd, who has written a lot about learning and development in the digital age.
Learning, Stodd notes, is built on trust. If we trust someone, we will believe that they’re telling us something important and useful, rather than tricking us into accepting beliefs that benefit them. As social animals, though, we’re primed to trust knowledge we acquire through social learning much more than the knowledge we acquire formally. That’s why, for example, so many people are happier to accept ideas they encounter online, from peers, than ideas that come from on high, from experts.
Stodd’s conclusion, like the author’s, isn’t that we need to reinforce the authority of experts. Instead, they argue that we should work with the grain of human psychology. If social learning plays such an outsized role in knowledge acquisition, we should find ways of incorporating it into learning strategies. So, to come back to professional development, here’s the question we need to ask: how can we facilitate people learning from each other for the benefit of work?
---
Use internal experts to create equal access to social learning.
So let’s look at the workplace. Of course, there’s a ton of social learning already happening even if no one is deliberately orchestrating it.
Say someone’s struggling with some software. They might go to HR to ask for formal training. But let’s also say there isn’t an old-fashioned, face-to-face course they could attend, or there is but it’s next month. Chances are, they’re not going to sit around twiddling their thumbs for a month. No, they’ll ask a colleague to show them how it’s done. Problem solved – right?
Not quite. The issue, here, is that offices aren’t perfectly egalitarian places. There are cliques and in-crowds and shared experiences which bind some people while excluding others. If you’ve just joined a new team, for example, or you don’t happen to sit next to the right people, you’re going to struggle to access information you need. Put differently, leaving social learning to chance is unfair.
And that’s why learning and development specialists need to step in. Question is, how can you do that? One strategy is to build up ties between team members and internal experts.
An internal expert is pretty much what it sounds like – someone who knows a lot about a certain area. For example, imagine a company has an accountant called Sarah. Her field of expertise is clear – she’s the go-to person for financial matters. But she might not know how to use the company’s holiday booking system. Abdul in IT, though, knows all about that. Luckily, the learning and development team has already drawn up a checklist of the company’s internal experts. When Sarah comes to HR with her problem, they can put her in contact with Abdul. Later on, when Abdul needs to do his expense processing, he knows whom to approach – Sarah from accounting.
The relationship between Sarah and Abdul is informal and horizontal – it’s based on social learning. But that relationship has been facilitated. It’s a result of the learning and development team adopting a deliberate social learning strategy. It’s playing the role of a skills matchmaker. By compiling a list of internal experts, it’s cut out a lot of wasted time and annoyance, too – just think how frustrating it is when you don’t know how to do something at work or who can help you. Best of all, everyone from insiders to newbies has equal access to help and assistance.
Another great way of nurturing social learning is to host lunch-and-learn sessions. The idea here is to get people who might not know each other all too well together at lunch to discuss a topic. Typically, an expert kicks the session off by sharing insights into their area of expertise and the conversation flows from there. Sharing ideas and stories over food connects to a very old and deeply rooted social convention, and it helps keep these sessions low-key and low-pressure. Although this is still work time, it’s ultimately just a group of people sitting around eating food and having a good conversation. And that really does connect the dots between human psychology, learning, and better workplaces.
---
Tech is great for learning but the magic ingredient is motivation.
Let’s wrap things up by looking at the digital revolution we mentioned at the beginning of this book. As we said, it’s a game-changer. But that doesn’t mean it’s a silver bullet.
Thing is, we only learn when we want to learn. And technology is a means to an end – an awesomely efficient means to an end, but a means to an end all the same. Just think of all the great content that’s freely available online. There are entire libraries’ worth of brilliant ideas out there, just a few seconds away. But lots of people don’t use the internet to consume that content. Technology can give us access to learning, but it doesn’t drive learning. Not on its own. The missing key is motivation.
Motivation often gets lost in all the talk about digitalization. Yes, new tech has made it easier and cheaper to put lots of people through training courses at record speed, but how much are unmotivated e-learners really going to take from those courses? Answer: next to nothing. Boring learning that’s only there to tick boxes and keep overheads down doesn’t motivate anyone. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Instead, we need to think about another question: what does engaging, effective digital learning actually look like?
First off, it has to be short, convenient, and relevant. That means high-impact interventions at the point of need. In practice, that’s an intuitive online help functionality for new software – not a one-off, hour-long online training course that interrupts people’s workflow.
Second, it has to be made to the same standards as the digital media people regularly consume. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be as well made as the YouTube videos they watch. Learners are motivated by the prospect of a quick win, and clearing these bars shows them that you get that.
Context also matters. Remember what we said earlier about people liking face-to-face learning because it gets them out of the office and gives them a chance to network? Well, people often dislike digital learning because it feels passive, lonely, and sedentary. We’re social animals; we enjoy learning with peers, not alone in front of a screen. E-learning, then, isn’t a stand-alone solution – it needs to be embedded in a wider culture of social learning. One way of fostering such a culture is to host regular drop-in sessions for people to chat about their challenges and experiences with tech. Sharing digital tips or links to digital tools as well as success stories of how people have used those tools via email is another option. Even better, you can challenge people to present ideas and tools they find effective. Anything that gets people talking and sharing is a winner here.
---
Work and workers have undergone revolutionary change since the dawn of the new century, making application of 20th-century teaching to the 21st-century workplace absurd. Workers – especially since the COVID-19 pandemic – demand new approaches, technology and a shift from classroom training to a broader blend of self-directed, online and bite-sized learning that better fits today’s faster, more dynamic work environment. Sadly, few organizations have embraced this shift.
How we learn is changing – both in and outside the workplace. Digital technology has made it faster, cheaper, and easier to learn than ever before, but it’s no perfect solution. If we’re not motivated to learn, we’re not going to learn anything – regardless how fast, cheap, and easy it might be. That means HR teams need to embed new digital tools in a wider culture of professional development which foregrounds social learning and solves people’s real problems at work.
Michelle Parry-Slater is an award-winning L&D professional with more than 15 years’ experience in the industry. She is the Founder and Director of Kairos Modern Learning, an L&D consultancy specialising in driving a shift from traditional courses to the best of digital, social and face-to-face workplace learning. Michelle Parry-Slater is also an L&D consultant for the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the Lead Volunteer for L&D for Girlguiding UK and was listed as one of the Top 20 Corporate eLearning Movers and Shakers of 2018 by eLearning Industry.
---
A new approach to workplace learning.
Michelle Parry-Slater’s Learning and Development Handbook opens with an observation that’s unlikely to shock anyone. The workplace, she notes, is changing – fast.
The skills needed in today’s business world aren’t the skills we needed in the past. Keeping up with change means the same thing for organizations as it does for individuals: upskilling and reskilling. So far, so uncontroversial. Everyone knows that, right?
Well, knowing something and acting on that knowledge are two different things. Which brings us to a second – much more surprising – observation.
Despite the digital revolution, most companies still rely on classroom-based, face-to-face learning to train their employees. Studies show, however, that the typical employee forgets around three quarters of what they learn in such settings within just one day. Put differently, most companies are spending a lot of money and wasting a lot of time to achieve very little.
Michelle Parry-Slater is convinced that there’s a better way of doing things – that’s why she wrote this Handbook. And in this book, we’ll dig into her alternative approach to workplace learning.
---
Organizations can’t rely on old learning models in a changing world.
To start off, we’re going to be talking about learning in a particular context – organizations and companies. In other words, we’ll be looking at professional development.
Our question, then, is how professionals master new skills and pick up the know-how they need in today’s fast-moving workplaces. But before we get to that, let’s take a step back and think about learning in general. How does any learning take place?
From schools to universities, public talks, and office training programs, it often happens in a similar way. This learning model centers the sage on the stage. Let’s break that down.
Although the specifics vary, the idea is usually the same. There’s an expert – an individual with special access to some kind of knowledge. Then there’s the audience – the people who turn up at a certain time and place to learn from that sage. This model is face-to-face: everyone is present in person. It’s also top-down. The teacher talks; the audience listens.
There’s a reason this model is so common – it can be very effective. As we found out during the Covid-19 pandemic, something important gets lost when traditional learning environments like classrooms disappear. And there are things you really only can learn if you’re physically present. Online-only courses aren’t a great way of acquiring first-aid skills, for example. You need the real-world, face-to-plastic experience of breathing into a CPR doll. It’s the same with learning to drive – you have to sit in an actual car on a real road with a bonafide instructor.
Thing is, though, face-to-face learning isn’t the only way people can learn. It’s a cliché, but, like so many clichés, it’s true: the digital revolution is a game-changer. The smartphones in our pockets give us unprecedented access to knowledge, bypassing that sage on the stage. The laptops in our bags meanwhile allow us to work remotely, eroding the old emphasis on physical presence. These are simple facts, Michelle Parry-Slater says, and neither organizations nor learning and development specialists can wish them away. The upshot? We need new approaches to professional development.
That doesn’t mean abandoning tried-and true methods in favor of fashionable gimmicks. Immediately adopting the latest tech isn’t a cure-all. But we can’t just keep doing what we’ve always done because, well, that’s how things are done. What we need to do, she suggests, is spend more time thinking seriously about learning in this new environment. In some cases, face-to-face will still be the way to go; in others, it won’t. Oftentimes, the best approach will be to blend different models.
Take just one example. When the author worked with the Girl Guides, she looked at their first-aid program. She realized that some 80 percent of the organization’s refresher courses could be taken online. You just don’t need people to be physically present to sit multiple-choice tests on basic medical knowledge. A skill like CPR is different – you need to practice it for real, with an expert. And that’s what the Girl Guides do. They keep the analogue stuff analogue and move the rest online.
The point, here, is that face-to-face learning isn’t going away – it’s too important. But it’s not the be-all and end-all of learning. That, Parry-Slater thinks, is the key lesson for organizations and their learning and development teams. In practice, though, that’s often easier said than done.
---
Face-to-face learning is popular, but not for the reasons people tend to give.
In 2020, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, Britain’s leading association of HR professionals, published its annual “Learning and Skills at Work” report. Its conclusion: face-to-face learning was still the dominant approach to professional development in Britain. Evidence from other Western countries paints a similar picture.
Organizations, it seems, are resisting change and sticking to old learning approaches even as technological change opens up alternatives. But where does this opposition to new ideas and models come from? One factor is simple inertia. Learning in professional contexts has mirrored classroom-based learning since the Industrial Revolution. The idea that learning happens when an expert takes to the stage and delivers their knowledge to a captive audience has deep cultural roots. That’s hardly surprising – it’s an idea that’s been around for a long time.
That’s not the only factor, though. In fact, the most common argument in favor of face-to-face learning isn’t that it’s the only or best approach. The usefulness of remote and online learning models is well-documented, after all. The real obstacle to change is the stated preference of would-be learners. When asked, they typically say that they prefer classroom-based learning.
The problem for learning and development professionals is that you can’t just tell people that their ideas are outdated and that you know better. As the saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink. Forcing those would-be learners to adopt methods they’re not sold on is a recipe for resentment – and very little learning. So where does that leave you – how can you persuade people to try new and valuable approaches which they might distrust? There’s only one answer, really: you have to find out what they’re actually getting out of face-to-face learning.
Start digging and you’ll often realize that there’s not necessarily a lot of overlap between people’s stated preferences and their real preferences. Teams might say that they love that three-day training course in a hotel on the other side of the country because it’s a great way to learn new skills. In reality, though, they might just appreciate the chance to spend more time with colleagues. Or that it buys them some time to think. Or, more simply, that it gets them away from the daily grind.
These are all good reasons to like face-to-face learning. Like school classrooms, events which require physical presence aren’t just about absorbing knowledge and honing new skills – lots of other things happen there too. And those things matter. Well-rested teams that know each other socially as well as professionally tend to be more productive – and happier. You don’t want to cut those face-to-face events because learning isn’t front and center, but it’s important to call a spade a spade.
If you find out that social bonds are important to a team, you’ve discovered another strategy you can use to foster professional development. That brings us to our next topic – social learning.
---
Social learning is deeply rooted in the human psyche.
Let’s circle back to the question we posed earlier. How, we asked, does learning happen? As we saw, in formal contexts it’s usually top-down and expert-led.
Lots of learning isn’t like this, however. It doesn’t involve experts; it takes place between peers. It’s horizontal, not hierarchical. Psychologists call it social learning.
Humans are social animals. We constantly pick up information and ideas from other people. We chat on buses and tell stories around water coolers. We listen to podcasts, read books and blogs, and watch movies. We gossip, swap tips, recount experiences, and observe how our peers behave in different social situations. That’s how we learn about the world. That’s social learning.
Social learning goes all the way back to the origins of Homo sapiens. Our ancient ancestors shared stories around campfires and on the walls of caves – the canvases for some of humanity’s earliest visual storytelling. Survival depended on watching and copying others. That’s how you learned how to hunt, light fires, and distinguish between delicious berries and fatally poisonous doppelgangers.
Of course, Stone Age humanity’s social world wasn’t very big – it usually extended no further than the territory of the tribe. Over time, the social world expanded. When the printing press came along, information began to circulate across continents. Nowadays, information circles the globe in seconds. Fundamentally, though, little has changed. When we watch amateur chefs cooking pad thai on YouTube or browse fitness forums, we’re doing something humans have always done: learning from our peers. Sure, it’s gotten a lot more technologically sophisticated, but it’s still social learning.
So what does this have to do with professional development? Let’s see if we can join the dots. To do that, we can turn to the work of the American educational psychologist and author Julian Stodd, who has written a lot about learning and development in the digital age.
Learning, Stodd notes, is built on trust. If we trust someone, we will believe that they’re telling us something important and useful, rather than tricking us into accepting beliefs that benefit them. As social animals, though, we’re primed to trust knowledge we acquire through social learning much more than the knowledge we acquire formally. That’s why, for example, so many people are happier to accept ideas they encounter online, from peers, than ideas that come from on high, from experts.
Stodd’s conclusion, like the author’s, isn’t that we need to reinforce the authority of experts. Instead, they argue that we should work with the grain of human psychology. If social learning plays such an outsized role in knowledge acquisition, we should find ways of incorporating it into learning strategies. So, to come back to professional development, here’s the question we need to ask: how can we facilitate people learning from each other for the benefit of work?
---
Use internal experts to create equal access to social learning.
So let’s look at the workplace. Of course, there’s a ton of social learning already happening even if no one is deliberately orchestrating it.
Say someone’s struggling with some software. They might go to HR to ask for formal training. But let’s also say there isn’t an old-fashioned, face-to-face course they could attend, or there is but it’s next month. Chances are, they’re not going to sit around twiddling their thumbs for a month. No, they’ll ask a colleague to show them how it’s done. Problem solved – right?
Not quite. The issue, here, is that offices aren’t perfectly egalitarian places. There are cliques and in-crowds and shared experiences which bind some people while excluding others. If you’ve just joined a new team, for example, or you don’t happen to sit next to the right people, you’re going to struggle to access information you need. Put differently, leaving social learning to chance is unfair.
And that’s why learning and development specialists need to step in. Question is, how can you do that? One strategy is to build up ties between team members and internal experts.
An internal expert is pretty much what it sounds like – someone who knows a lot about a certain area. For example, imagine a company has an accountant called Sarah. Her field of expertise is clear – she’s the go-to person for financial matters. But she might not know how to use the company’s holiday booking system. Abdul in IT, though, knows all about that. Luckily, the learning and development team has already drawn up a checklist of the company’s internal experts. When Sarah comes to HR with her problem, they can put her in contact with Abdul. Later on, when Abdul needs to do his expense processing, he knows whom to approach – Sarah from accounting.
The relationship between Sarah and Abdul is informal and horizontal – it’s based on social learning. But that relationship has been facilitated. It’s a result of the learning and development team adopting a deliberate social learning strategy. It’s playing the role of a skills matchmaker. By compiling a list of internal experts, it’s cut out a lot of wasted time and annoyance, too – just think how frustrating it is when you don’t know how to do something at work or who can help you. Best of all, everyone from insiders to newbies has equal access to help and assistance.
Another great way of nurturing social learning is to host lunch-and-learn sessions. The idea here is to get people who might not know each other all too well together at lunch to discuss a topic. Typically, an expert kicks the session off by sharing insights into their area of expertise and the conversation flows from there. Sharing ideas and stories over food connects to a very old and deeply rooted social convention, and it helps keep these sessions low-key and low-pressure. Although this is still work time, it’s ultimately just a group of people sitting around eating food and having a good conversation. And that really does connect the dots between human psychology, learning, and better workplaces.
---
Tech is great for learning but the magic ingredient is motivation.
Let’s wrap things up by looking at the digital revolution we mentioned at the beginning of this book. As we said, it’s a game-changer. But that doesn’t mean it’s a silver bullet.
Thing is, we only learn when we want to learn. And technology is a means to an end – an awesomely efficient means to an end, but a means to an end all the same. Just think of all the great content that’s freely available online. There are entire libraries’ worth of brilliant ideas out there, just a few seconds away. But lots of people don’t use the internet to consume that content. Technology can give us access to learning, but it doesn’t drive learning. Not on its own. The missing key is motivation.
Motivation often gets lost in all the talk about digitalization. Yes, new tech has made it easier and cheaper to put lots of people through training courses at record speed, but how much are unmotivated e-learners really going to take from those courses? Answer: next to nothing. Boring learning that’s only there to tick boxes and keep overheads down doesn’t motivate anyone. But let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Instead, we need to think about another question: what does engaging, effective digital learning actually look like?
First off, it has to be short, convenient, and relevant. That means high-impact interventions at the point of need. In practice, that’s an intuitive online help functionality for new software – not a one-off, hour-long online training course that interrupts people’s workflow.
Second, it has to be made to the same standards as the digital media people regularly consume. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but it does have to be as well made as the YouTube videos they watch. Learners are motivated by the prospect of a quick win, and clearing these bars shows them that you get that.
Context also matters. Remember what we said earlier about people liking face-to-face learning because it gets them out of the office and gives them a chance to network? Well, people often dislike digital learning because it feels passive, lonely, and sedentary. We’re social animals; we enjoy learning with peers, not alone in front of a screen. E-learning, then, isn’t a stand-alone solution – it needs to be embedded in a wider culture of social learning. One way of fostering such a culture is to host regular drop-in sessions for people to chat about their challenges and experiences with tech. Sharing digital tips or links to digital tools as well as success stories of how people have used those tools via email is another option. Even better, you can challenge people to present ideas and tools they find effective. Anything that gets people talking and sharing is a winner here.
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Work and workers have undergone revolutionary change since the dawn of the new century, making application of 20th-century teaching to the 21st-century workplace absurd. Workers – especially since the COVID-19 pandemic – demand new approaches, technology and a shift from classroom training to a broader blend of self-directed, online and bite-sized learning that better fits today’s faster, more dynamic work environment. Sadly, few organizations have embraced this shift.
How we learn is changing – both in and outside the workplace. Digital technology has made it faster, cheaper, and easier to learn than ever before, but it’s no perfect solution. If we’re not motivated to learn, we’re not going to learn anything – regardless how fast, cheap, and easy it might be. That means HR teams need to embed new digital tools in a wider culture of professional development which foregrounds social learning and solves people’s real problems at work.
October 7, 2024
Thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC.
The Learning and Development Handbook: A Learning Practitioner’s Toolkit by Michelle Parry-Slater is an indispensable resource for anyone involved in the field of learning and development (L&D). Parry-Slater, a seasoned L&D practitioner, has crafted a comprehensive guide that is both practical and insightful, making it a must-have for professionals looking to enhance their skills and improve organizational performance.
The book is structured to provide a clear roadmap for implementing effective learning strategies in the workplace. Each chapter is packed with actionable tips, tools, and models that can be immediately applied to real-world scenarios, ensuring that readers can translate theory into practice.
The Learning and Development Handbook emphasizes modern learning techniques. This focus on contemporary methods ensures that the book is relevant and up-to-date, addressing the evolving needs of today’s workforce.
Parry-Slater’s writing is engaging and accessible, making complex concepts easy to understand. Her experience and expertise shine through in her clear explanations and practical advice. The book is filled with real-world examples and case studies that illustrate key points and provide valuable context. This approach not only makes the content more relatable but also helps readers see how they can apply the lessons to their own work environments.
Another strength of the book is its holistic approach to learning and development. This broader perspective ensures that readers understand the strategic importance of L&D and how it can drive business success.
The Learning and Development Handbook: A Learning Practitioner’s Toolkit is an essential guide for L&D professionals seeking to enhance their practice and make a meaningful impact in their organizations. Michelle Parry-Slater’s practical advice, modern techniques, and strategic insights make this book a valuable resource that will remain relevant for years to come. Whether you’re new to the field or an experienced practitioner, this handbook offers the tools and knowledge you need to succeed in the dynamic world of learning and development.
The Learning and Development Handbook: A Learning Practitioner’s Toolkit by Michelle Parry-Slater is an indispensable resource for anyone involved in the field of learning and development (L&D). Parry-Slater, a seasoned L&D practitioner, has crafted a comprehensive guide that is both practical and insightful, making it a must-have for professionals looking to enhance their skills and improve organizational performance.
The book is structured to provide a clear roadmap for implementing effective learning strategies in the workplace. Each chapter is packed with actionable tips, tools, and models that can be immediately applied to real-world scenarios, ensuring that readers can translate theory into practice.
The Learning and Development Handbook emphasizes modern learning techniques. This focus on contemporary methods ensures that the book is relevant and up-to-date, addressing the evolving needs of today’s workforce.
Parry-Slater’s writing is engaging and accessible, making complex concepts easy to understand. Her experience and expertise shine through in her clear explanations and practical advice. The book is filled with real-world examples and case studies that illustrate key points and provide valuable context. This approach not only makes the content more relatable but also helps readers see how they can apply the lessons to their own work environments.
Another strength of the book is its holistic approach to learning and development. This broader perspective ensures that readers understand the strategic importance of L&D and how it can drive business success.
The Learning and Development Handbook: A Learning Practitioner’s Toolkit is an essential guide for L&D professionals seeking to enhance their practice and make a meaningful impact in their organizations. Michelle Parry-Slater’s practical advice, modern techniques, and strategic insights make this book a valuable resource that will remain relevant for years to come. Whether you’re new to the field or an experienced practitioner, this handbook offers the tools and knowledge you need to succeed in the dynamic world of learning and development.
October 29, 2022
Face to face classroom learning is used for much of the business training.
This model is flawed. Around 75% of what is taught is forgotten the same day.
Face to face and expert on a stage model is OK, but there are other learning options.
The face to face events are popular but not as efficient, but this is often to do with relaxing, meeting and socialising which may be very valuable, but for a different reason.
Learning is usually peer to peer.
"How can we facilitate team learning?"
Setup internal experts and everyone can access.
Lunch and learn sessions. Have different people share their area and how they are working. Share ideas.
Online learning is avail, but it's not engaging.
It has to be short convenient relevant.
Eg a one off quick vid that answers questions.
I loved the book and ideas, but it didn't seem to address the issue of time pressure and management approval.
Me taking half an hour to help another department with their excel 4x a day can ruin my interruptions and productivity.
Listened at 2x via Blinkist
This model is flawed. Around 75% of what is taught is forgotten the same day.
Face to face and expert on a stage model is OK, but there are other learning options.
The face to face events are popular but not as efficient, but this is often to do with relaxing, meeting and socialising which may be very valuable, but for a different reason.
Learning is usually peer to peer.
"How can we facilitate team learning?"
Setup internal experts and everyone can access.
Lunch and learn sessions. Have different people share their area and how they are working. Share ideas.
Online learning is avail, but it's not engaging.
It has to be short convenient relevant.
Eg a one off quick vid that answers questions.
I loved the book and ideas, but it didn't seem to address the issue of time pressure and management approval.
Me taking half an hour to help another department with their excel 4x a day can ruin my interruptions and productivity.
Listened at 2x via Blinkist
April 12, 2021
I received a free copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This book states upfront there are two ways to read it, and I find that was a helpful feature- you can give this a quick read for new skills and comprehension or a lengthier read for an in depth review with case studies. This is about realigning learning and development programs with business needs in a post-COVID workplace, and focusing on how to update the existing model into a different environment. Being part of the company and active in the business interests plays a major theme in this book; that to effectively create the best program for the company, you need to actively participate in the different groups you serve- and make the learning applicable. If it’s by speaking with them, or learning different parts of the business, or just understanding the overall goals and experiences of the departments, the knowledge affects how they will make use of the tools you can provide.
This book states upfront there are two ways to read it, and I find that was a helpful feature- you can give this a quick read for new skills and comprehension or a lengthier read for an in depth review with case studies. This is about realigning learning and development programs with business needs in a post-COVID workplace, and focusing on how to update the existing model into a different environment. Being part of the company and active in the business interests plays a major theme in this book; that to effectively create the best program for the company, you need to actively participate in the different groups you serve- and make the learning applicable. If it’s by speaking with them, or learning different parts of the business, or just understanding the overall goals and experiences of the departments, the knowledge affects how they will make use of the tools you can provide.
May 24, 2021
This book was Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 5/23, as selected by Stevo's Book Reviews on the Internet and Stevo's Novel Ideas. A practical guide for L&D professionals wanting to move away from traditional classroom teaching but not sure where to start. Michelle is especially effective at helping us make the jump from theory to practice/application.
BTW: I have the hardcover edition but it's not listed here. ISBN is ISBN-10 : 1789663342;
ISBN-13 : 978-1789663341
Find more Business Books of the week on my Goodreads Listopia page at https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9..., and find many more recommended books on my Amazon Influencer page at https://www.amazon.com/shop/stevo4747 or by searching for me on Google.
BTW: I have the hardcover edition but it's not listed here. ISBN is ISBN-10 : 1789663342;
ISBN-13 : 978-1789663341
Find more Business Books of the week on my Goodreads Listopia page at https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9..., and find many more recommended books on my Amazon Influencer page at https://www.amazon.com/shop/stevo4747 or by searching for me on Google.
October 30, 2022
How we learn is changing – both in and outside the workplace. Digital technology has made it faster, cheaper, and easier to learn than ever before, but it’s no perfect solution. If we’re not motivated to learn, we’re not going to learn anything – regardless how fast, cheap, and easy it might be. That means HR teams need to embed new digital tools in a wider culture of professional development which foregrounds social learning and solves people’s real problems at work.
articles
October 31, 2022How we learn is changing – both in and outside the workplace. Digital technology has made it faster, cheaper, and easier to learn than ever before, but it’s no perfect solution. If we’re not motivated to learn, we’re not going to learn anything – regardless how fast, cheap, and easy it might be. That means HR teams need to embed new digital tools in a wider culture of professional development which foregrounds social learning and solves people’s real problems at work.
October 30, 2022
Social learning is deeply rooted in the human psyche.
September 4, 2024
#TheLearningandDevelopmentHandbook #NetGalley
This book has given me lots of ideas to make my L&D practice better with a truly learner focus for all learning design going forward.
I liked the way this book had a short read and long read, tips and questions and a library list. This is a book that will become tattered and read and re-read several times.
This book has given me lots of ideas to make my L&D practice better with a truly learner focus for all learning design going forward.
I liked the way this book had a short read and long read, tips and questions and a library list. This is a book that will become tattered and read and re-read several times.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews