Perception versus reality in L&D [INFOGRAPHIC]
The GoodPractice Learning Trends report gathers feedback and opinion from the UK’s senior L&D community about the key issues and challenges they face. This handy new infographic summarises five key findings from the report and highlights some important questions that every L&D department should consider. Crammed full of new research, insights and analysis into the […]
Turning data into insight and insight into action
Towards Maturity, the organisational development and learning experts, have sliced and diced their latest research and serialised it exclusively for TrainingZone. Here, MD Laura Overton gives us an overview of what to look forward to. The world is changing faster than ever before; driven by technology, we have digitally-savvy workforces and digitally-savvy customers and the traditional silos of […]
Lessons for L&D: How we’ve forgotten the essentials pt2
Andrew Jackson concludes his feature about organisational and instructional design. I’ve seen inside the learning and development function of many organisations of varying sizes. And if I’m honest, I don’t think there are anywhere near enough of them creating really excellent, high-quality learning. Lots are just average. There are some where the quality is poor, […]
Lessons for L&D: How we’ve forgotten the essentials pt1
Andrew Jackson has a few words to say about organisational and instructional design. In the film 'Plenty', Meryl Streep plays Susan Traherne, the slightly unhinged wife of a hapless diplomat who finds himself caught in the political crossfire of the Suez Crisis. As a result, he is pushed into a dead-end, pen-pushing role. Streep’s character […]
Learning is the key to successful OD
Think you know the secret to effective OD? Paul Matthews has one simple philosophy to get you on the right track. What is Organisational Development? Even the practitioners seem to have some differences of opinion about that. I went to a workshop on OD not too long ago and one of the questions debated was […]
Continual learning + talent pipeline = organisational development
Tim Taylor is putting the OD ball squarely in the court of leadership. Leaders have a crucial role to play in creating a talent pipeline to enable a flow of talented and skilled managers to reach the upper echelons of an organisation. Research conducted by the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) found that only […]
Are organisations still learning?
Ian Luxford questions whether organisations are really creating a learning culture. Is yours? This article will consider the concept of the learning organisation as described by Peter Senge and others, and will ask the question: how much are organisations learning from their current situations that will be useful to them in better times? For those […]
The future will not turn out as planned
Anton Franckeiss reminds us that time marches on and our plans must not only stay in step, but inspire everyone to march together. Organisational development, at its best, does not ask, "How do we get them to do x?" It recognises that the best answers come from the best questions, and asks instead, "What’s the […]
The most successful organisation in the universe
Stephen Walker looks at organisations, comparing them to microscopic organisms, such as bacteria and viruses. An organisation is a collection of people, processes and procedures to achieve a purpose. The purpose of an organisation will always be to achieve an end – it is a machine, a working system, it has a function. Organisational development […]
What if… a sales mindset was embedded across the entire business?
Richard Lane imagines what the work environment would be like if everyone communicated as well as sales people. Imagine if you could infect the rest of the business with the same energy, drive, enthusiasm and camaraderie that inhabits the best sales teams. I would argue the qualities exhibited by sales people who have been effectively […]
OD is a systems issue pt2
John Wenger concludes his circumspect view of organisational development. It’s an interesting paradox that every manager will be subject to the forces that act upon and within the system they operate, while at the same time, systems thinking suggests that the job of a manager is to manage that very same system. To borrow from […]
OD is a systems issue
It’s a feature about our monthly theme, but John Wenger takes a more holistic view of organisational development. People do dumb things. Or rather, they fail to do smart things, even though it’s obvious to everyone else what the right thing to do is. They also do dumb things even if they also know in […]
The missing link between e-revolution and learning in a global workplace
Armin Hopp looks at the key issues to consider when implementing a training strategy for global organisations with multi-lingual needs. The recent mergers and acquisitions activity in the learning space signals the start of an e-revolution, with large vendors moving towards the cloud at lightning speed. The shift began in December 2011, with SAP announcing […]
360 Degree Feedback Tools: Then, now and the future
Lumus’s David Cooper carries on his analysis of 360 feedback tools by looking at their evolution, and how to get the most out of them in future. Back then 360 degree feedback (or 360 assessments/ reviews) have their early roots in the evaluation of US Soldiers in the First World War and have been […]
Trainer’s Tip: Masterclass – getting 360 right
Lumus’s David Cooper provides the community with this month’s Trainer’s Tip – a thorough analysis of how to get the most of 360 feedback. Lumus’s experience over the last 12 years shows that whilst many organisations embark on the 360-degree feedback journey, few manage to really maximise the opportunity. The following guiding principles for successfully […]
Three components to successful organisational development
We continue this month’s organisation development theme with a look at some top tips on how to make it work. Organisational development is one of those topics that depending on who you are, your position within the company, and the industry you are in, you probably have a different view on. Often people think […]
When does leadership development become organisational development?
Are leadership development and OD two sides of the same coin? Or chalk and cheese? Sean Mills of Kenexa says improving the quality of leadership will also improve the performance and capability of the organisation. Much has been written about the importance of developing leaders to meet the challenges of the future. A wealth […]
Review: the CIPD’s organisation development conference
Jon Ingham reports from the CIPD’s recent organisation development conference and examines the opportunitites for L&D. I attended the CIPD’s Organisation Development (OD) conference towards the end of last month and have been reflecting since on the implications of this event for learning and development practitioners. Firstly, however, it might be worth describing some of […]
Leadership development with an organisation development mindset
Roffey Park’s Caroline Stearman looks at developing leaders using OD principles. A few months ago I decided to flex my social networking muscles and joined some professional groups on LinkedIn. Now, I do appreciate that this is not particularly dramatic a step, however, it held some interesting insights for me. One organisation development (OD) practitioners […]
The future of learning at work part 5 – capability building
In the fifth of this series, Donald H Taylor looks at capability building – is it more than just providing classroom courses? Over the past four weeks I have considered what might be seen as some of the less obvious future roles for Learning and Development (L&D). The final role I consider this week […]
