Supporting Your Learning Team

I’ve tried to anticipate all the areas of support necessary for a successful transition to 21st Century learning content.

Unfortunately, each team is unique and unexpected glitches will happen.

In other words, “perfect plans aren’t.”

We should be prepared, but mindful of surprises.

Beyond that, there are two types of support people need. First they need to know how to apply the changes in “real work” situations, which comes down to problem solving. Secondly, and equally important, people need to feel the connection and support from their leadership and peers, when they make changes to what they do do for a living.

Big Idea

Put Support in Place Before Your Team Needs It

While this may seem like a “no-brainer” to many leaders, far too many transformations have attempted without without provisions for the necessary support.

Training teams are much more used to providing support to their audiences than they are to getting the learning experiences and support themselves.

I suppose this is where we discuss how “the shoemaker’s children always go barefoot.”

Key Concepts

Empathy matters.

Everyone takes pride in their work. And they should.

So when we take away the familiar context in which they complete projects, they’re inclined to resist.

People need to be heard in situations like these. Empathy and respect go hand in hand, and they work together when we’re asked to listen.

Change management matters.

A transformation is more than change management, but they always include a heavy component of change management.

This makes me think of:

In other words, we need to anticipate likely objections, learning needs, AND the emotional journey.

Mostly I draw from William Bridges’ Managing Transitions, although there are many change management perspectives of value.

The graphic is from a spectacular book by Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist. And he stole it from Maureen McHugh.

Transformations affect where a team member is with Situational Leadership.

Situational Leadership is a popular perspective based on a persons readiness to perform a particular task.

This transition may generally push everyone back a quadrant.

Seasoned team members will likely move through the quadrants quickly, but their managers would do well to recognize their challenges.

Inline Help provides team members with optional support at the moment of need. Each section of the Defined Workflow comes with three forms of support:

A short introductory video or elearning

A printable job aid with the essentials

Examples which model success

Time to Think gives team members the opportunity to learn, ponder, and reflect.

This isn’t a luxury. If we want people to change how they perform, we have to give them the time they need to do so.

Without that time, they’ll be forced to do everything the way they used to.

The Focus on Managers applies not just to the wider audience the learning team serves, but also to the team itself.

Leadership team members receive significant support themselves.

Then leaders can “pay it forward.” Their learning becomes the foundation of the support they provide to their direct reports.

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