I will be speaking tomorrow at the AITD national conference in Sydney, NSW. Here is the interview I had with the staff prior to leaving Canada.
AITD: Without giving too much away can you tell us about your Work is learning and learning is the work keynote address?
Work is learning and learning is the work, because the nature of work is changing. For example, automation is replacing most routine work. That leaves customized work, which requires initiative, creativity and passion. Valued work, and the environments in which it takes place, is becoming more complex. Professionals today are doing work that cannot be easily standardized.
In complexity, we can determine the relationship between cause and effect only in retrospect. Think about that. It puts into question most of our management frameworks that require detailed analysis before we take action. It also shows that identifying and copying best practices is pretty well useless.
In complex work environments, the optimal way to do work is to constantly probe the environment and test emergent practices. This requires an engaged and empowered workforce. Emergent practices are dependent on the cooperation of all workers (and management) as well as the free flow of knowledge. It also requires learning as part of everyone’s workflow.
These changes mean that the role of training and development must change, or become obsolete.