Learning Technologies: It's not just about the tech

Learning Technologies: It's not just about the tech

Europe’s leading workplace learning annual exhibition and conference takes place on 13th and 14th February having moved to its new home, Excel London.

This year it is predicted that over 8,000 visitors will head along to take advantage of 150 free L&D seminars and talk to over 200 exhibitors. The place will be packed out with the latest technology to boost organisational learning.

But what is the point in all this new technology if your organisation and the people in it aren’t ready to embrace learning? A learning culture is what’s required. Technology is just the enabler. According to author and leadership expert Nigel Paine speaking at last year’s event, it is critical to have a learning culture that helps organisations to navigate through turbulence in times of change.

The key to building a learning culture is in collaboration. According to Nigel, ‘You can’t have a learning culture without collaboration’. This view was supported at least year’s event by Andrew Jacobs, learning and talent manager at the London Borough. Working with a budget that has reduced 46% over eight years, his approach was to build a peer to peer platform on the basis that everyone was an expert at something. He said, ‘There’s loads of little or no cost options out there, you just need to find them’.

According to business journalist Martin Couzins who reflected on last year’s event an indicator of a learning culture being present in your organisation is having employees that are willing to ask for help. Have a look around you. How well are your people working together, supporting and helping each other?

Martin also said last year that another indicator is whether employees have good external networks. It allows employees to bring back insight and new thinking from the outside world. This well-connected external approach combined with a well-connected internal ability to share thinking back inside an organisation in conversations or on collaborative platforms makes a winning formula for a learning culture to thrive.

Will you be attending the Learning Technologies Conference and Exhibition next week? What are you on the look out for? How will you be sharing what you find back in your own organisation?

Let us know. We’d love to hear.

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Ady Howes - Community Manager, DPG

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