The changing role of L&D: from “packaging” to “scaffolding” plus “social capability building”

I have been been talking to a number of different organisations recently about the future of the L&D department and in doing so have been building on the diagram I shared in a recent post - where I illustrated how the function of the department is expanding into the new areas of performance support, as well as supporting social collaboration and personal learning.
I think there are a number of additional factors involved which are not that clear in that diagram – and that is how the future is about moving on from a focus on organizing others’ learning by “packaging” up lots of content, delivering it to them “on a plate”, and then managing access to it all. Rather the future is going to be more about “scaffolding“.  I mean by this, working in partnership with the relevant team or group in the organization to help to provide a framework – ie the infrastructure (platforms, tools etc) as well as the right conditions for learning and performance support and improvement to take place.
And furthermore, rather than trying to design, create, deliver or even “control” what happens there, there is also a need for a focus on “building the new personal and social capabilities” that are are going to be required by the new “connected workers”, in order for them to work and learn effectively in the digitally connected workplace. So I’d like to share with you another diagram I have been working on, to show what all this means in practice. Behind each of the coloured areas there is obviously much more detail, illustrated by case studies and examples – which I’ll talk more about in subsequent posts. But in the meantime if you are interested in the area of social capability building, take  a look at the Connected Worker site. Read more...