Clinton Wingrove and Catherine Mercer Bing conclude their feature on development with or without elearning. Read on and see what you think.
In part one of this article, we explored the pros and cons of elearning and pull-learning on the internet. We identified that, whilst these are robust contemporary tools for supporting knowledge sharing and acquiring repetitive skills, they fall short if we are attempting to develop more complex skills or those requiring an individualised approach.
In this, part two, we explore the relevance of this in the context of globalisation and how best to approach developing global leaders.
What additional issues are raised by globalisation?
Ask successful global organisations and they will tell you that globalisation does not mean preparing western-educated professionals to go to emerging markets and run their organisations. Nor does it mean developing a competency model predicated on western business experience and then telling the rest of the world to follow it blindly.
Effective globalisation is about integrating local professionals who have the networks, speak the language fluently and understand the employee and customer cultural orientations best, into the larger organisation. It is about equipping professionals with an understanding of the cultural difference within the organisation and how best to work with those (it is extremely difficult to change other's behaviours and responses to match yours; it is much easier to change your own when you know why and how).
"Effective globalisation is about integrating local professionals who have the networks, speak the language fluently and understand the employee and customer cultural orientations best, into the larger organisation."But, developing individuals so that they truly understand the culture-dependent behaviours of others is difficult and can only be partly achieved through elearning or books on the superficial aspects of other cultures (eg when to shake hands, whether to give tips; who pays for dinner; do you eat all the food; who speaks first etc). So, do we need a new paradigm for developing global talent to take on leadership responsibilities? No, we do not.
An approach to the development of global leaders
So, effective development of the knowledge and skills likely to be needed when interacting globally really needs a face to face methodology, and elearning fails because:
- Content is less likely to be culturally appropriate (examples, visuals, colours, pace and so forth) or in language which may unintentionally discriminate against global employees who then lag in their development and miss promotional opportunities
- Using technology is counter-orientation to those in group-oriented cultures who work better when in person and in groups (more than 2/3 of the cultures in the Hofstede research [see 'Cultures Consequences and Culture in Organisations: Software of the Mind'] are group-oriented)
Action learning has been understood, practiced and widely available for decades. Now that Harvard research has 'proven' that active learning far outperforms the lecture or page-turning approaches, we can finally justify using a practice that has been ignored for far too long.
While there are several approaches to action learning, generally this includes identification of a real business problem (it would not be a problem if it had been solved before) and creation of a group of learners from different disciplines to study the problem and come up with business cases to support their recommended solution(s).
For global leadership development, this needs to be a global problem with global members on the action learning team so that cultural nuances can be suitably included in the learning.
These teams, which may or may not have 'action learning guides', first learn about each other's disciplines/functions/cultures/knowledge and about the stated problem, learn about the functions that impact or might be impacted by the problem or solution (finance, HR, marketing, research and development, manufacturing, etc.), and work in all the functions to identify the specific issues of each function relative to the problem.
The team then works together to find a solution (this may or may not include finding root causes), recommend approaches to solve the problem, write a business case and present their work to senior management for 'go/no go' decisions.
"For skills development, development of cultural awareness and development of how to interact most effectively with different cultures, [action learning] is the most effective methodology next to far more risky raw hands-on experience."
Developing global leaders using action learning requires: partnership between business leaders and development professionals; creativity in identifying pressing problems for teams to attack; recognition that significant time away from the function for team members will bring benefits to the organisation both short and long term; careful and broad selection of 'talent' to be invited on the teams; and focus on the global nature of the problems and solutions. However, the benefits of this kind of development are enormous, far outweighing any ROI from elearning and include:
- A real business problem is solved (the benefits should be directly measurable)
- Cross-functional knowledge and application – which is critical to actually learning – develops leaders who understand more than just their functional area
- Cultural differences are introduced by team members and are experienced and worked through in team interactions; this is practical and the benefits and consequences are visible – far more impactful than a theoretical explanation
- Exposure of senior team members in many functions to the up and coming global talent
- Experience of presenting business cases to senior management for team members
Smart companies then require the teams to implement the approved solutions – a really effective way of sharpening their minds.
Conclusion
It remains a fact that true skills development and preparation of global leaders needs a long term investment and, unfortunately, HR professionals have not been well-equipped to measure the real return on investment in learning and development.
Development of global leaders using action learning is a win-win for the organisation, for the HR professionals and for the global talent being developed. For skills development, development of cultural awareness and development of how to interact most effectively with different cultures, this is the most effective methodology next to far more risky raw hands-on experience. It should complement but not replace elearning which can be excellent for knowledge transfer and training of repetitive skills.
Catherine Mercer Bing is CEO of ITAP International and Clinton Wingrove is EVP and principal consultant at Pilat HR Solutions
