Meeting education needs is a continual and relentless process. There is a constant need for being updated with the latest advancements in every single area and organizations cannot afford not keeping the pace. Apart from reaching a considerable economic success, growing people should also be a priority. However, the challenge of growth cannot be taken lightheartedly. Learning is a critical building block for any organization which practically is formed by a group of people who need to continually enhance their capabilities in order to create what they want to create.
Of course, the fact that people seem to be working together in the same place and under the same procedures does not necessarily mean that they know how to work together at their best. Peter Senge says that “there are mainly two kinds of mindsets that infiltrate an organization- control or learning”. He stresses the fact that if learning dominates, it brings much better, long term and more sustainable results. Organizations need to constantly find and use tools that would help them foster reflection, encourage personal mastery and build a shared vision. For instance, creative tension is a very basic tool that individuals learn how to work with. Or, the ladder of inference which is a tool that once people learn, they never stop using it and in teams it is enormously powerful. The Ladder of Inference describes the thinking process that people tend to go through, usually without realizing it, to get from a fact to a decision or action.
Therefore, when assessing the education needs of departments or individuals, the people in charge of learning and development should consider including several practical methodologies, systems and techniques that would help organizations reach their goals in a practical way. Bob Kegan highlights the fact that “organizations should be very explicitly dedicated to the continual development of their people, driven by their philosophy, action and their day to day practice.”
Having a mindset of a philosophic framework to orient us is vital and we need to have time and make wise use of it. The three components that always matter in practice are: tools, a guiding philosophy and an internal learning infrastructure that would help us reflect and study what has been learnt. Bringing people together for the same goals is quite demanding but definitely cultivating a learning culture and using the time for real learning would gradually build a solid foundation of growth. Seeing the analysis of education needs under the light of practicality would guide trainers and coaches towards prudent decision making that would lead to better and faster results.
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