Formula 1 Team Principle = Strategic Learning Consultant
I was talking with a friend of
mine the other day that I have not seen since before Christmas. It was great to catch up and of particular
interest to him was my new job as a Strategic Learning Consultant. I proceeded to tell him what my role was and
who I worked with but I could tell it was falling on deaf ears. However it was at this moment I had an
epiphany relating to how I could help him understand my world.
We both share a love of Formula
1 and already that evening we had engaged in number of conversations relating
to the upcoming season. It dawned on me
that my new job was just like that of the Team Principle in an F1 team or
alternatively assistant to the Team Principle.
Now for those of you who do not follow F1 I will briefly explain the
role played by the Team Principle. F1 is
a team based sport. However, F1 is
unique in the fact that, within a team there are two sub teams, one for each
driver. Each sub team may have 30-40
members that have roles ranging from mechanic, pit stop crew, PR, catering,
dieticians, physio therapists, managers, etc.
And this is not including the army of designers and engineers back at
the factory. It is the Team Principles
job to manage all these individuals to achieve not only the goals of the
broader team but also that of their sub team.
Frankly it’s an extremely difficult job fraught with complexity,
politics and the balancing of often rather large egos. And all this is before you devise and
implement a strategy in an attempt to win a race. Essentially the team principle is balancing a
lot of plates.
So the question is how does this
relate to what I do? The balancing of
plates is something every Head of L&D must do. This may be establishing the learning demand
for the upcoming year, implementing a new LMS or even organising their
curriculum.
The “Learning Consultant” part
of my job title relates to my ability to help L&D functions make the best,
most informed decisions in relation to all the plates they have in the
air. In many cases this will include
understanding the impact that a change will have on the other plates that are
still spinning. An example of this may
be providing insight on the benefits of implementing an LMS and then beyond
that understanding the types of MI that can be generated as result of using the
system. In the F1 world this would be
the same as understanding the effect of putting different tyres on the car may
improve the handling of the car.
The “Strategic” in my job title
refers to the fact that all consultancy I provide will create L&D
transformation that in turn directly delivers against the business goals. Taking the previous example of an LMS and the
MI it can generate. The strategic bit is
how we can ensure that the correct MI data is captured that enables L&D to demonstrate
how the training held on the system is supporting business growth and inform
future decisions relating to learning. In
a similar fashion putting new tyres on a car can improve handling but may
increase the number of pit stops a car needs to make so does this benefit the
overall race strategy?
At its most basic I am someone who can see the broader picture and understand that L&D is more than just delivering ‘shiny’ training programmes to the masses. It’s an understanding that training needs to deliver against business goals as must all the other components that make up an L&D function such as governance, processes, technology, etc. In essence my job is to help your L&D department run like a well-oiled machine, or even a championship winning F1 team!
Tom Ridley
Strategic Learning Consultant
Strategic Learning Consultant
Nicely put Tom!
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