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I am continually fascinated by the way that learning is changing in the corporate world; changing in many ways through its own means and that of the agenda in education at Schools and FE levels. 

What is becoming more apparent is summed up brilliantly by the excellent work on a revolution in corporate learning by Marcia Conner, Dan Pontefract and Kerry Brown – here.  This insightful piece of work has really got me thinking how the trends in corporate learning (and the way we deliver impactful pieces of professional skills-based activities) is changing more now than we’ve ever seen before.  CLICHE KLAXON – except this bit is true.  We are at a really challenging, stimulating and opportunity-rich juncture in learning and to make sense of it all I asked the good guys over at DPG if I could pose some thoughts.

How do we create a situation where we can create what I call “the Learning Advantage”?  By advantage I mean how learning – and being as strong as possible in this skills/artform/endeavour - is the way we will create more value from our people than ever before.  UTOPIA KLAXON – except I firmly believe this.  Not a cliché trawled out for the sake of people like me; but what I see as the truth. 

For through learning we can;

• grab the arc of change and bend it towards us
• create insight that is our safety net when we face a tipping-point decision and
• generate the energy to press on when our insight and timeliness is transpiring against us to make things more difficult and complex.

How do we do this?

Through 3 key understandings (IMHO) so here’s my go at turning clichés into practical actions and utopian thoughts into realistic ambitions.

Starting with this – Content.  Not context this time although that comes to play of course.  Content.  We have NEVER had such rich, confirming, conflicting, detailed, empirical, speculative and down-right large content available to us.  Now, more than ever, we are

• but a search engine away from something researched
• a GPS map nearer to knowing where we are going and
• are a YouTube mashup away from knowing something new.

So we need to know more about where to FIND content and use it than what it actually is itself.  We are navigators not necessarily travellers; storytellers not broadcasters; and sharers not hoarders.

Which leads me onto my next “C” – Collaboration.  For we know now more than ever, that one person, one team, one organisation is JUST not enough. 

We need to be experts at being a

• node
• connector  and
• finder. 

We need to be as good as the people we choose and find to surround us. 

We need to collectively wise not individually clever.  There is no me in the word power.  There is WE though. DAVID BRENT KLAXON. 

Seriously, all future models of learning talk of socialised content, learning communities like DPGs, about crowd-sourcing solutions and adopting swarm methods for problem solving.  It is not a fallacy it is happening with every posting on a Ning Site, Tweet  and like on YouTube / TED.

And that leads me onto the final “C” – Channels.  Knowing your channels is like knowing your bookshelves.

• Knowing what book contains what thinking
• contextualising your Hamels and Pinks, from your Kurzweils and your Laniers.

You need to be an expert channel hopper and utilisor.  What to get from what format. 

Even what books work well as downloads versus hardcopies, what podcasts to dial into, pdfs to save, slides to source from Slideshare and what webinars to attend. 

Your channels become more increasingly versatile and allow you to wrap the learning around you and your devices/access points.  And person-to-person is a channel too.  Anything with 2 way exchanges and where there is interrogation and realisation – it becomes a channel to locate what you need, when you need it and of course most critically for channels, from where.

Content, Collaboration, Channels.  Not necessarily in that order but they form a bit of a triage of approaches to being a corporate learning professional and professional corporate learner.

We have an amazing gift – to learn and to share.  That is something we all can and should do more.  When we put our minds to the right content; collaborate with the right people and select the appropriate channel we become what Dan, Kerry and Marcia said in their Learning Nouveau report:- Status Quo Ante (as was before) to Ad Meliora (toward better things) (as quoted from Revolutionise Corporate Learning)

Well done DPG on the 1st birthday of the community and on being toward better things.  Well done also to your  learners on this community – you already are revolutionising corporate learning.  Would be interested in your views.

Vive la revolution!

Perry Timms (@PerryTimms) - Chartered MCIPD

Founder PTHR; Visiting Fellow: Sheffield Hallam University and Hackathon Guide: CIPD