Be The Change!
After yesterday's #AdventBlogs fantastic launch blog, I am thrilled to share another by Niall Gavin, who is a Professional Mentor, Consultant and has a wealth of L&D knowledge and experience.
He has focused his blog how we need to be the change and you can connect with him via https://www.linkedin.com/in/niallgavin/ and BlueSky @niallgavinuk.bsky.social
Don’t forget to share your thoughts via LinkedIn, so over to Niall.
Whatever we think the future holds for us, it’s pretty clear that the reality will be different.
I have read a lot of science fiction in my lifetime. From my early schoolboy days reading Isaac Asimov, to current authors like Adrian Tchaikovsky, it has been a huge part of my life.
It can be speculative, fantastical, and distant; but it can also sometimes be a little short-termist. For example, the dystopian San Francisco of 1992 predicted in Philip K Dick’s “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep” has failed to materialise. Arthur C Clarke’s “2001” has also been and gone and, apart from the International Space Station, we don’t yet have rotating hotel space stations orbiting earth.
In science fiction, it seems that change - and the enabling tech - moves more slowly than anticipated. Hold that thought when we talk about the future of L&D and AI’s impact on our own practice later.
Before expanding on this theme, let’s get the inevitable ‘change’ quotes out of the way - with some added personal and professional perspective from me.
"People don't resist change. They resist being changed!" - Peter Senge https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Senge
"Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself."
- Leo Tolstoy, in an essay titled "Three Methods Of Reform", published in 1900. Leo Tolstoy's Infamous Quote on Changing the World [Quote Graphic]“The only constant is change” - wrongly attributed to Heraclitus (but used a lot - and still resonates positively).
https://euppublishingblog.com/2021/07/19/misunderstanding-of-heraclitus/
As I write this blog, I am two weeks away from my 70th Birthday. This feels like it should represent some kind of change, some sort of significant transition, into my ‘senior years’.
But it doesn’t. There isn’t a switch that gets flipped on the day and suddenly you’re ‘old’. I’ll be the same person the next day, with the same physicality and cognitive abilities that I possess now.
But I recognise the territory in which I’m about to live the rest of my life. Societally, I’m perceived differently; for example, I’ve just had to apply for and been ‘granted’ my over-70’s driving licence - for another three years! Pessimistic, much, DVLA?
Equally, I’m conscious of needing to be more careful, being more risk averse, more physically wary, whilst being more mindful of keeping my brain active. I’m very conscious of only ever being one slip, trip or fall away from becoming aged and infirm, with all the restrictions that that can bring - no more walking, no more dancing, no more driving. I’ve seen it happen to others close to me.
So, I’m taking charge of and owning, not resisting, this change - still working, albeit in a late career portfolio kind of way, still dancing, still walking, still taking holiday breaks, etc. Just minimising the risks.
Throughout my working life, I have had to roll with a few personal and professional punches, and had to work with changes which were not of my making, lean into them, and try to see them as opportunities. And I’m still here as a result.
Similarly, the world of work is changing. The tools are changing. The purpose of L&D is changing. Our customers are experiencing the same. The silos are breaking down.
The element of choice here feels to have been removed. But in reframing these changes from something being ‘done to’ us, into a ‘done with’ opportunity, we can not only improve our practice, but reinvent ourselves at the same time.
I attended The Learning Unconference, facilitated by Fiona McBride (https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionamcbride/) and Sukh Pabial (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sukhvinder-pabial/), in London yesterday.
A diverse and differently experienced group of 25 L&D professionals set the agenda and moved around freely from topic to topic. With regular check-ins and sharing of insights and takeaways, I came away both impressed and re-energised by the commitment and passion of the attendees, and hopeful for the future of L&D as a result.
Yes, AI was discussed, but in the context of the changing world of work, we recognised that we have to get to grips with a tool…
a) …that smooths our administrative paths, that offers better analysis of organisational data, that allows us to personalise learning and that enables us to finally deliver learning impact that meets organisational needs,
and…
b) …that enables us to demonstrate to our customers the opportunities that AI presents for them to also improve their operations, with our support
There’s a palpable sense of excitement in L&D now, with a readiness to engage with the opportunities this change brings for everyone. We are rethinking and re-engineering our proposition as a result.
If change is indeed a constant, we can be leading it from the front. So let’s get out there and identify the AI and data champions in our midst, the managers who are prepared to take a punt and are willing to pilot new learning solutions; let’s step out of our silos and work with those customers to design and co-deliver more aligned organisational learning solutions that do make that measurable difference.
That’ll make a nice change.
