Learning and Development Training
Learning and development training
Learning and development training is important for your organisation.
Why? Because all successful organisations are those that are continually learning knew techniques and developing new products and services.
Growing organizations need to be learning organizations.
All good organisations need to be continually developing themselves.
If an organisation fails to learn new knowledge and new techniques, then what will be the inevitable long term painful consequence?
Answer: Big Trouble
And if an organisation fails to develop new skills and attributes, and simply repeats this year, exactly what it did last year, then, what will be the inevitable painful consequence?
Answer: Extinction
All successful organisations are learning organisations.
All successful organisations are involved in a process of continuous development.
The Walt Disney Work Ethic
The Disney Corporation is deeply committed to both continuous development and continuous learning. This ethic is the product of Walt Disney who knew that in order to live long and prosper; the Disney Corporation must never stand still, but rather, must continually advance by learning and development.
You can see this learning ethic in the following quotes from Walt Disney himself:
"Our success was built by hard work and enthusiasm, clarity of purpose, a devotion to our art, confidence in the future and above all, by a steady, day-by- day growth.
We all studied our trade and learned everything we could."
"We can never stand still. We must explore and experiment".
"Our studio became more like a school than a business".
"We were growing through self-criticism and experiment. Each year we could handle a wider range of material, attempt things we would not have dreamed of tackling a year before".
"I claim that this is not genius, or even remarkable. It is the way people build a sound business of any kind, through sweat, intelligence and the love of the job".
What does it mean to be a learning organisation?
A learning organisation is an organisation that recognises that to stand still is to regress.
The reason for that is: due to technological change, the market place is continuously progressing, therefore, the field of competition is not a static context; the field of competition is a dynamic context. Therefore, if you are standing stationary then, relative to an advancing market place, you are apparently, moving backwards; you are, in fact, regressing.
Beware of "If it is isn't broke..." mentality
There exists in the mind of many, a very dangerous notion. It is this: "If it isn't broke, don't fix it."
It might sounds plausible advice, but what does it mean to say, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it"?
It means keep doing it the same way, as you always have. There is no need to advance; there is no need to progress. Just repeat yesterday's winning formula.
It is a dangerous notion because it sounds logical and plausible, but it is non-progressive and it is a recipe for disaster.
To illustrate: there is nothing wrong with candles; they function just as efficiently as they always did in the Stone Age.
There is nothing broken about the use of horses. Horses run just as fast as they did in the middle ages.
And there is nothing broken with the mud hut. A mud hut is just as good as the mud huts used to be, in the Bronze Age.
Mud huts aren't broke; horses aren't broke; and candles aren't broke, but you don't live in a mud hut and you don't ride a horse to Tesco's, and you don't light your way with candles.
Why not? Because now there are better alternatives.
Throughout history, there have always been a small number of individuals, who have rejected the adage, "If it isn't broke, don't fix it". Who have said instead: "I recognise that it isn't broke, but there must be a better way of doing it. Let us find a better way".
And once they found a better way, it was adopted by others; often against their will. They kicked and they screamed about the latest advance in technology and even fought the changes.
They wailed "I know about horses. I know nothing of engines. So let me continue to ride to Tesco's on my horse."
But the truth is, if you are to survive, you must progress.
If you don't progress, you will lose out to a person who did progress.
It is the law of natural selection, or survival of the fittest.
The Law of Natural Selection
Here is the law of natural selection as explained by its discoverer Charles Darwin:
It is not the strongest of the species that survives, or the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.
Any individual having any advantage, however slight, over others, would have the best chance of surviving.
And on the other hand, we may feel sure that any variation in the least degree injurious would be selected and would be destroyed. This preservation of favourable individual differences and the simultaneous destruction of those which are injurious, I have called Natural Selection or the Survival of the Fittest.
So it is important to adapt, to improve and to progress.
Staying static is not a viable option.
You need to be like Disney.
You need to listen to Darwin.
You need to innovate.
Take a leaf from the great innovator, Thomas Edison.
Thomas Alva Edison (1847 - 1931) was an American inventor and businessman who developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph and a long lasting light bulb. Dubbed "The Wizard of Menlo Park" by a newspaper reporter, he was one of the first inventors to apply the principles of mass production to the process of invention, and therefore is often credited with the creation of the first industrial research laboratory.
Edison is considered one of the most prolific inventors in history, holding 1,093 U.S. patents in his name, as well as many patents in the United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Here are some good Thomas Edison quotes:
"When I have fully decided that a result is worth getting I go ahead with it and make trial after trial until it comes."
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up."
"Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged."
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work."
"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."
"I have not failed at all. I've successfully identified 10,000 ways that won't work!"
"The chief function of the body is to carry the brain around."
"There is no substitute for hard work."
"There's a way to do it better - find it."
"They say President Wilson has blundered. Perhaps he has, but I notice he usually blunders forward."
"I have a great idea: have a lot of great ideas!"
Learning and development training is important for your organisation because successful organisations are those that continually learn new techniques, develop new products and services. Therefore, your organization needs to be a learning organization.
Your organisation needs to be continually developing itself.
About the Author: Chris Farmer
Chris Farmer is the founder of the Corporate Coach Group and has many years’ experience in training leaders and managers, in both the public and private sectors, to achieve their organisational goals, especially during tough economic times. He is also well aware of the disciplines and problems associated with running a business.
Over the years, Chris has designed and delivered thousands of training programmes and has coached and motivated many management teams, groups and individuals. His training programmes are both structured and clear, designed to help delegates organise their thinking and, wherever necessary, to improve their techniques and skills.
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