Learning in a VUCA environment: don’t confuse passion with outcomes
One of the best acronyms I’ve come across in recent years is VUCA, which stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous. These four words describe very well the environment in which we currently live and work and learn.
The last few
weeks has served up a particularly unsettling series of events, which emphasise
just how VUCA our world is. Whether it’s
the result of a referendum or a football match, political leadership contests
or resignations, attempted coups or the appointment of new leaders, terrorist
attack or rail accident, our world is daily shaken by unexpected events. Even in our personal life and work, we face
complicated situations which demand that we solve problems with half the data
missing.
Of all the
media output that has recently washed over me, a brief excerpt stood out. I can’t remember verbatim, but from a radio
interview I heard something like this:
“it’s fashionable for politicians to say how passionate they
are about an issue. But I don’t want my
politicians to be passionate - I want them to do something”.
And here’s
the thing. In all the complexity of life
and work, we love to hear people that are passionate: it cuts through the confusion
and we rightly recognise it as A Good Thing.
Being passionate may well contribute energy to achieving an outcome.
But being
passionate is not the same as getting things done.
The parallel
with learning is this. When evaluating
learning I hear much about how learners enjoy learning, how learning is
important for their development, and anger when access to learning is
restricted. I also see excitement in the
eyes of L&D professionals as they plan new content (particularly when it’s
of the digital kind).
However for
all these expressions of passion (or as close as learning brings anyone to that
emotion), we rarely seem to know what difference learning makes. Nor, when planning learning, is there a clear
view of what difference we expect it to make.
Getting
excited about learning is not the same as achieving a learning outcome.If learning is to achieve anything in this VUCA environment, we absolutely must focus on the outcomes we want learning to achieve. Being passionate about learning isn’t enough. Enjoyable learning just helps learners along the journey. Recognising that learning supports development gives energy but not direction. Brilliant learning content sows the seed of behavioural change, but real change only occurs if it’s applied in the workplace. The storms of our VUCA workplaces will too easily blow all this off course.
To stand a
chance of learning ever making a difference, we need to focus on the outcomes
of learning:
·
Before
you do anything, start by describing the tangible outcomes you want by the end.
·
Throughout
the learning process, keep on articulating the hoped-for outcomes. Increasingly my experience indicates a
precise learning path is much less important than articulating the
endpoint. If learners can describe a
worthwhile endpoint, they will get there regardless of what L&D do (or
don’t) do.
·
At
the completion of the learning and embedding, ask to what extent you can see
the hoped-for outcomes? I guarantee the
answers will give you great insights into the learning process.
Always encourage passion, but never let it be a
substitute for actual outcomes.
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