Writer Ann Patchett recently described a story in her own life that \u201cstarted without my realizing it.\u201d<\/p>\n
This made me recall our Learning Leaders Summit in February 2020, where we met in person in Orlando, acknowledged that the \u201cfar off\u201d 2020 Workplace had arrived, and explored what we thought mattered for the future workplace.<\/p>\n
But the story of 2020 also had begun without our realizing it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Pause\u201d\u2014aka COVID-19\u2014forced many changes in the workplace. Some things we thought mattered most were temporarily (we hope) removed from our lives, while we created new ways of how and where we work; how we integrate work, families, and life; and how we keep ourselves healthy, both physically and emotionally.<\/p>\n
So it was no surprise this February that the Learning Leaders Summit at the Training 2021 Virtual Conference focused on reinvention in the year of living disruptively.<\/p>\n
Irish poet Anne F. O\u2019Reilly noted, \u201cThe world slowed down to the pace of the poem.\u201d Poetry, like the COVID-19-imposed pause, \u201chelps us not just slow down, but to become present. Poetry brings us back to the breath. It brings us back to the moment,\u201d O\u2019Reilly explained. This capacity makes poetry a useful creative leadership tool.<\/p>\n
Telling his own story as a leader, author Mark Crowley said that leaders need to \u201cappeal to the hearts in people, not just their minds,\u201d and he emphasized how important it is to \u201clove your people.\u201d He recommended focusing on \u201cemotional currency\u201d and not just how much we pay people.<\/p>\n
Choreographer JoAnna Mendl Shaw shared insights from her performance work between horses and humans. \u201cIt\u2019s important to lead from a place of groundedness and honesty,\u201d she said, adding that leadership requires engaging listening in dynamic ways, a heightened sense of noticing, expressiveness of your body and your hands when communicating (even online), and learning in an embodied way.<\/p>\n
Amy Avalos, global lead for Blue Dot at Google, asked: \u201cHow are we creating safe virtual spaces for one another? How are we truly connecting, despite the fact that we have a screen between us?\u201d Her answers included destigmatizing conversations around mental health, being open to the conversation, and making a conscious effort to fully listen rather than simply passively hearing.<\/p>\n
The murder of George Floyd last summer, and the subsequent Black Lives Matter protests, gave rise to more open conversations about race and equity.<\/p>\n
Verizon is using a learning journey to move beyond identifying unconscious bias. \u201cWe knew we had to move from understanding our biases into conscious inclusion, [which] can spearhead how to put that allyship into action,\u201d said Kristy Singletary, Verizon\u2019s Global Diversity and Inclusion manager.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis approach has been about meeting people where they are,\u201d added Matthew Braden, former associate director at Verizon.<\/p>\n
Summit co-moderator Rita Bailey, founder of UpToSomething, acknowledged Verizon\u2019s \u201ccourage to call it out and say, \u2018We are an anti-racist company,\u2019\u201d while also creating safe environments where people can engage in this difficult topic.<\/p>\n
These shared experiences put us in an \u201cin between\u201d space in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a threshold space,\u201d O\u2019Reilly said. \u201cThese are places of possibility, where we can imagine the new. Leaders are thresholders\u2014people who hold threshold space in organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several Summit presenters shared how they reinvented their work in the threshold.<\/p>\n
Shradha Prakash, vice president at Prudential Financial, stressed that \u201cwork is changing faster than we can comprehend, and COVID-19 sped this up even more\u2026[and] the skills needed to do the work are evolving even faster.\u201d In response, she said Prudential is using an interconnected ecosystem of organizational capability to prioritize learning.<\/p>\n
IBM is undertaking transformation through the promise of trusted AI\u2014or augmented intelligence \u2014which means not just seeing human beings in four or Eve dimensions driven by HR categories \u201cImagine seeing each human being in 100,000 dimensions\u2014looking at predictors of what makes a human being good in theirjob,\u201d said Beth Rudden, principal data scientist at IBM.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Bettencourt, senior program manager at E. & J. Gallo Winery, noted that \u201cwhen the harvest is ready, grapes have to be done.\u201d And like the grapes, training didn\u2019t stop, though it changed dramatically. \u201cWe\u2019ve realized that agile approaches and turning on a dime are so important for us. Now we have to\u2026recalibrate going into 2021, 2022, and the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
UPS shifted its new driver training to a \u201ctrainwhere- you\u2019re-at\u201d local experience that couldn\u2019t take advantage of the company\u2019s usual hands-on, peer-to-peer learning centers around the world, which include real trucks, a built neighborhood, and a \u201cslip-and-fall\u201d station.<\/p>\n
Microsoft revamped new hire training for its call centers, requiring a signihcant shift of the trainers\u2019 classroom skills into virtual teaching skills.<\/p>\n
J. & J. Taylor looked beyond Zoom and implemented audio-based learning through a new podcast program that delivers fast, informal training.<\/p>\n
The Eileen Fisher Leadership Institute codeveloped 10 Principles for Digital Leadership\u2014 including setting the intention, creating the container, and tapping into generative listening. \u201cIn order to face disruption, what is it that we actually need and how will we hold that in a virtual space?\u201d asked Executive Director Antoinette Klatzky.<\/p>\n
2020 put a spotlight on people\u2019s relationships with each other and their organizations, as we reconsidered what kind of work we want to do and where we want to do it.<\/p>\n
Trane Technologies was ahead of this curve. With core values tied to innovation and a CEO who is passionate about sustainability, Trane aligns its purpose with culture, talent, and learning to activate business strategy. \u201cSustainability is at the heart of what we do,\u201d stressed Trane Chief Learning Officer Lisa Gary. Lor example, \u201cwe challenged ourselves to reduce our customer carbon footprint by one gigaton of CO2 and we are educating around what this means.\u201d<\/p>\n
As part of wider conversations about stakeholder capitalism and the purpose of organizations, Visa CLO Karie Willyerd asked: \u201cWhat happens when a company\u2019s purpose aligns with an individual\u2019s purpose? When looking at learning programs, how can we tie anything [employees] are learning not only to their own purpose\u2026but how they\u2019re serving a greater purpose?\u201d<\/p>\n
Summit co-moderator Chuck Sigmund, Microsoft senior manager of L&D, concluded: \u201cWe\u2019ve had much more focus on purpose, connection, and the relationships between us and the people we work with. Make sure to cultivate those connections and reach out to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a message the continuing story of 2020 has taught us, as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Insights from Training\u2019s Learning Leaders Summit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cybocfi_hide_featured_image":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[16],"class_list":{"0":"post-19329","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-magazine","7":"tag-feature","8":"magazine_issues-may-2021"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n