Organizational Theory and Learning & Development Programs
Hi there!
I came across an interesting read and wanted to share some thoughts on a thought-provoking section. I got this report via Training Industry; since I manage a program designed for upskilling and learning & development within IT, I keep tabs on the Learning industry to strengthen my business acumen for our program. This is quite a long read but the nugget of information I found particularly insightful was on page 8:“Due to the interconnectedness of industries and new business models built around networks, platforms and marketplaces, many companies must move from a rigid, vertically integrated model to an ecosystem model, in which complementary assets and capabilities can be brought together dynamically across firms.
Creating value no longer means only creating great products and services; it comes from developing an environment ... that enables connections between people, products, software and services to flourish. Indeed some of the most powerful companies of our time ... rose to dominance through ecosystem strategies.”
When I think about our program strategy, how that aligns with our IT organization and then within the macro organization we work on, that concept of an “ecosystem” begins to bear weight for me. It’s no secret that government organizations are built on traditional structural frameworks with ‘rigid, vertically integrated’ models. Consider however, that the foundation of our WR program is built on bringing Agile methodology into the workplace, which rests its laurels on creating organizations built on hyper-collaborative ecosystems specifically designed to breakdown hierarchal structures like what we see for instance in traditional state and federal government and other 'rank & order' organizations. My takeaways – (1) We aren’t ‘just’ creating a learning organization using a grass-roots program approach. Rather, we are challenging the traditional structural framework on this organization to bring modern methods into our workforce. That means it’s going to take time, patience and persistence. Our program is a massive organizational change effort disguised as an L&D program. And we’re demonstrating success! This team should be incredibly proud of the accomplishments thus far. (2) As we continue to strategize around creating an executable and scalable framework, we should consider how our framework will fit against the structural model of the organization; how we’ll challenge the status quo and how we might overcome those challenges using intentional techniques to enable a ‘learning’ ecosystem across a rigid organizational model. About the report: The document is a report of findings, insights and recommendations from a NovoEd-commissioned-survey of 500 U.S. full-time employees across three different functions: senior management, middle management and individual contributors. They were asked about their newly emerging requirements and how well they are connecting with colleagues to work together and learn the skills needed to succeed.