I sit on an interesting perch at the nexus of technology, people development, and human centered design. For the past 8 years, my cofounder and I have been experimenting with ways to truly make an impact in the people development arena, and I am always baffled by how many people pay lip service to the critical needs that we all face in nurturing our leaders of the future, while they rest on their laurels, fearful of making real change. And it’s truly not their fault. The expectations of L&D folks these days are innumerable, daunting, and unfair. They have to create strong programs, find amazing content, share the right data, implement good technology, and produce results. Oh, and with the looming concern that they might be the first person on the chopping block when the economy takes a difficult turn. I sincerely feel for them.
But ultimately, it takes courage, resilience, and a shift in inertia to make any big sea change or paradigm shifts - and that’s just not happening enough. People keep doing the same things, expecting different results (remember what that dude Einstein said about that?). The area of focus that hits closest to home for me and my team is seeing how many people complain about their inadequate technology, yet select the same large players who have virtually no engagement on their systems over and over. It’s a vicious cycle (with many forcing agents that have zero to do with the quality of a product or programs it can deliver) and we’ve been swimming upstream to find a different way of doing things for years. This is not intended to be a blame or complain game, it’s just a reality that most folks aren’t willing to admit out loud. Well, there it is.
I have been thinking about how do we work together to set up a fair playing field so that true innovation and powerful results can occur in a field that most desperately needs it? I believe it requires collective impact, a movement that is undertaken by a large range of stakeholders across disciplines. Executives, L&D leaders, thought-leading talent development providers, truly objective analysts and technologists.
I believe that the answer boils down to 2 words: Always Learning. This has been our motto since we started building our values-centered ethos when I met my cofounder at a learning hackathon over 10 years ago. We are constantly seeking to learn new things, to grow our capacity as humans, product creators, and company owners who want to be a part of developing a group of caring, heart-centered and brilliant leaders that create cultures of trust, learning, and belonging. Yeah, it's a bit “woo woo,” but trust me… the employees of the future will be much happier for it, and they’re productivity will skyrocket.
Everyday we live our motto, we even use it in our email signatures (and sometimes subject lines). It harkens back luminary thinkers like Carol Dweck and Growth Mindset, Tom Chi and Rapid Prototyping from his Google X days, as well as Design Thinking from IDEO (where my cofounder Josh led the development team for one of the coolest team assessments and tools around).
So again, how do we motivate our current leaders and L&D folks to take this mindset and practice into their work, so that we can untether ourselves from all of the aforementioned rituals and drama that hold our company cultures and leadership development initiatives back? It’s a messy, knotted problem and I certainly do not claim to have all the answers… all I can say is that I have raised my hand to openly share this problem and to make a clarion call to other like-minded folks to band together and start working through the muck with me.
It’s time for an Era of Always Learning and we need as many supporters as we can get. As we hold hands more often to co-design training, coaching, and learning initiatives that start to move the needle, and do the empirical research to show better results - i.e., more compassionate, well-rounded, and successful leaders across a broader range of metrics (not just profit), as well as cultures with higher vibrations and morale - then we’ll know that the movement is truly happening. Right now, we are at 10% of learning being retained after 1 year, and only 25% of leadership training actually aligns to a company’s strategy, so there’s a sky full of possibilities before us.
Quick P.S. - I know many incredible coaches, leaders, and company owners who have dedicated their lives to their craft of developing people. They want to make a difference and simply do not have the proper tools in this digital age to scale their work with the same quality that they desire. As a values-driven leader of a technology company, my message to my team and all of my industry colleagues is that we can work together to change the system - little by little - and see vastly improved results. But only if we truly work together in the tough spaces, own the truth of what’s actually happening, and take the mindset of Always Learning.
Are you feeling the pull? Are you ready to wade through the muck, challenge the status quo, and co-create a brighter future? Let's band together, untangle the knots, and redefine how we approach learning and leadership.
So, if this resonates with you, if you too are seeking to make waves and cultivate cultures of trust, learning, and belonging, it's time to raise your hand. Dive deep with us. Let's champion the "Always Learning" era, together.
Schedule a call with us and be a part of the change.