HR, learning & development

Create or curate? That is NOT the question

Geschreven door Dan Steer
dinsdag 08 mei 2012

To kick off ASTD2012 session M100, Sarah Bloomfield (Senior L+D Specialist from Google) says its tough to get up and talk at people so anonymously. That’s not her style and it doesn’t help her focus on us, the learners. That’s the topic of the session: Focus on the learner and the rest will follow… But can we really learn from Google?

Let’s see….

According to Sarah, the L+D world is changing. You know this… so don’t dismiss it too quickly as ‘Google-only-relevance):

Learning participants are the experts
People prefer casual learning
Companies (and people) are evolving at hyperspeed
L+D departments are disconnected from their clients

In my world (Belgium, training sector) there is a little bit of stress about this in the learning community: If everyone is expert, casual, fast-changing and somewhere else, how can I help? Will my role become extinct?

“NO!” the minority answers. “You will become curators of content.” “Community managers.” “Nodes in a network of people who don’t need your expertise.” “The guide on the side.”

Sarah Bloomfield has a different vision. An holistic vision. (An Eastern ‘zen’ vision?)
It’s not either/or. It’s both!

Creation or Curation?

In this social-media enabled New World of Work, should L+D people just curate everything, like some kind of super-librarian? NO

Sarah says its not really about what we should do, but what we should stop doing?

What should we stop designing?
What should we stop delivering?
What should we stop measuring?
When should we let people figured things out for themselves?
When should we let a need go unfulfilled?

Very often, enthusiastic L+D people hear a learning need and jump to the chance to make a programme. Sometimes, these programmes are terrible. Sometimes they are awesome. Sometimes they are simply not required…. (remember my blog on ’22 learning design questions’?)

In the new world of (self-service social-media led casual) learning, it’s even more important to assess first when L+D should get involved and then how.

To figure out your answers to the ‘NOT’ above questions:

First, get familiar with what’s already out there
Then start discussion with the people who need to learn in the organisation
Equip them to look after themselves
Redefine your measurement criteria to be able to really see if people are learning
Share ownership with the organisation

What Sarah suggests is that if you have done all this, you will know what IS left to create yourself. Creation AND curation. Not a dichotomy at all.

Have fun!

PS: Sarah Bloomfield (Senior L+D Specialist, Google) bangs the nail on the head for me. I’ll steal this idea and call it “borrowed authority”….

Need I say any more?

Auteur

Dan Steer

Dan Steer is freelance trainer bij Kluwer en learning & development consultant. Dan Steer is een Infinite Learning© kampioen, en gedreven door alles wat te maken heeft met SoMe, SoLearn en Enterprise 2.0.