My 5 inspirations and worry beads for Learning & Development for 2012

So .... we are all just about back to work and dragging ourselves back into the routine of a new year. Thoughts turn to all the obligatory objective setting for ourselves and our teams (and consequent alignment of these with high level scorecards, colleagues etc). I don't mind it - being a planful person I find it a reassuring start to the year (here speaks the person who had the most detailed revision timetables ever as a student - colour coded, draft and final version etc!!! Yet, just like those timetables, I know come the end of January I need to move on from the luxury of determining these objectives and really get things done!). Note: today the objectives aren't colour coded - I've been working on my procrastination over the years ...!

Anyway - as this planning gets into full swing, I like to take a step back and ask myself what are my inspirations and 'worry beads' for the coming year? As an L&D Manager in a global multi-national, these could be many and varied, but here's my thinking distilled into a 'reader-friendly' 5!

Inspirations

1. The 2012 Olympics: Being British I couldn't miss this out as I am proud of what is to come in 2012. What inspires me from a learning and development perspective is probably obvious - who can fail to be inspired by the dedication Olympians have towards continuous improvement, self improvement, training and excellence? There are often connections and parallels between sports professionals and the achievement of excellence in the corporate world - I make no apology for referencing it again. We can all personally take ownership for our development and be the best we can be. Continuously investing in learning, practising, training and reflecting is something we can all do. How can I leverage this great event to inspire others in our organisation?


2. Apprenticeships: I have been worried about the talk about Apprenticeships over the last couple of years and the focus that it will be a route to solve youth unemployment - my concerns primarily have been with 2 areas: Firstly the potential de-valuing of the Apprenticeship 'brand' with the introduction of short vocational programmes being labelled 'Apprenticeship'. Secondly, the idea that private business can and will fund these increased Apprenticeship placements - the business case can be hard won, especially for smaller organisations. However, I remain fundamentally committed to the Apprenticeship route in it's traditional form. The historical references to a form of Craftsmanship go back centuries and are rooted in a fundamental truth about learning deep skills. A mixture of being taught and then practising over an extended period of time in the workplace is the key. How can we enhance the profile of this vital programme in our business in 2012 and grow opportunities?


3. Globalisation: I love being part of a multinational organisation and technology and growth in developing markets is enabling the true integration of our business - it is so exciting to see global teams working together and appreciating diverse inputs. The end product is fantastic. This year we should be continuing on our journey to streamline our Learning & Development operations globally which is a fantastic opportunity. The challenge will be how to maintain the local requirements and nuances of delivery with global strategy, economies of scale and process coordination?

'Worry Beads'

1. Prioritising in tough financial times: There is no doubt that the financial situation impacted Learning & Development in our organisation and that will be true in many other companies. Our commitment moving forwards is to invest in skills development cleverly and in a focused way in 2012 to make the most of the investment that we make. Sounds fair enough - can't argue with that at all. The thing is, this is the hardest route for the organisation so I worry about our ability to distill those priorities and my challenge is to enable the organisation with those decision making tools and approaches. It's easy to cut training completely to cut costs, or easy to spend freely on an ad hoc basis based on needs as they arise. Much harder to plan effectively for limited spend. Because this requires lots of stakeholder discussion and agreement, how do I make sure that these discussions and agreements happen effectively and swiftly so that we do deliver the skills development that is necessary and we can afford in 2012?


2. Demonstrating ROI to the business: So ... I end with the 'holy grail' for any Learning & Development Professional. This one is linked to my 'worry bead' above ... demonstrating value for investment is more critical when that investment is hard to come by. I'm not expecting a linear relationship between skills development expense and the bottom line in most cases (some areas are straightforward, but generally not the case!). How can we in L&D aim to support the business with value demonstration in 2012?

Conclusion

On reflection, my inspirations are exciting me about the year ahead, and my 'worry beads' are generally financial, which is probably as they ought to be. Here's to objective setting, and higher level reflection to start the year!

A head start on the new year ... living in the moment.

A lovely friend of mine blogs frequently ... I have to admit I have a little 'blog envy'! So determined to exercise this positively by trying again myself.

I tried to blog once before, to motivate me through a swim challenge I was undertaking ... the swim challenge was all fine and completed (with quite a bit of effort and last minute dedication!) but the blog never really got off the ground ... in fact I can still view it here on my new blog - not technically savvy enough to get rid of it!

Three things happened in the last 24 hours which made me reflect on the need to seize the moment and 'just do it' ....

Number 1: I made a decision to step off the work / life balance treadmill ... I was due to attend a meeting at work (despite it being my vacation). I set the meeting up, so it was all in my control. I was busily working out the logistics of last minute childcare for my eldest (play date plans fell through), a slightly under the weather younger child (should she really be going to nursery?) and how late I should stay up re-writing the document I needed to present which I hadn't yet had time to do (11pm, midnight or later ... at what point is optimum quality replaced by absolute rubbish?!). Then I realised that actually the best thing for everyone was to stop for a moment my need to try to be superwoman .... why do we do this? The only person who gets any satisfaction from being superwoman is me (really - no one else notices / cares!!) and most of the time I am too exhausted to appreciate my achievements! So I cancelled the meeting, to live in the moment today and I think everyone involved benefited (including those I was due to meet with who got an hour back in their busy schedules!).

Number 2: I read something about striving for success ... a thought provoking nugget about appreciating what we have in life rather than always aiming for something else. Don't get me wrong - aims and ambitions are intrinsic to me and what I hope my children will aspire to ... but it made me think about living in the moment for a while.

Number 3: Sadly I heard that a little person I know is not well. I don't want to say much ... I don't know much - just bare facts ... but anything which brings what matters most in life into focus makes us all draw close everything dear and live in the moment.

Diaries, blogging - whatever we call it ... provides a great opportunity for reflection. I've been meaning to dive in for a long time ... so here's to living in the moment ... SPLASH!