Can you imagine a Dentist with bad teeth or an overweight Fitness Instructor? Imagine a L&D Professional who isn’t learning.

I shouldn’t pick on L&D professionals.  And many will probably disagree with what I’m saying.  But it’s not just L&D professionals, many professionals are not actively learning.  Sure, everyone looks back, reflects, and recognises they learnt something (by doing).  But how many people are actively trying to learn something? How many professionals have a learning plan? I don’t know for sure, but it feels like a minority.  And amongst L&D professionals? My guess is the same - the majority are not actively learning and, in my view, L&D professionals should be showing exemplary behaviour.

Consume what you are putting on the menu

It feels like many L&D professionals are ‘busy’ putting learning assets on a learning management system or frustrated from the amount of time they are spending implementing new systems.  Why not use some of the assets you are uploading? Shouldn’t you also have a view around the quality of that asset and whether you learnt anything from consuming it? I’m not suggesting a L&D professional needs to consume every asset - that’s simply not possible. Using another analogy, it would seem odd if a restaurant server never ate anything on the menu - again, they don’t need to try everything, but they should know what they are serving so they can sell it to their guests.

Talk to each other about what you are learning (and how you are learning)

You would expect the L&D professional chat rooms would be buzzing with exchanges such as “you won’t believe the awesome asset I discovered” or “guess what I just learnt”.  You would also think that when L&D professionals get together they would be curious and asking each other about what they are learning. Maybe I am just in the wrong chat rooms or attending the wrong events - but it seems to be the last thing people are talking about.  I know. You’re too busy. You don’t have time for learning. Check out my article called: “I don’t have time (for learning) is the most common excuse I hear. Why it’s not true and 3 things you can do”.

Get on the ‘digital upskilling’ wagon

I recently asked some L&D professional to answer my question(s): What problem are you trying to solve and are you using data (to solve that problem)?  It felt like I was asking if they knew the atomic weight of plutonium. It’s not just ‘the business’ who need to upskill (a term I detest). L&D professionals need to learn how to solve problems differently - using data.  Our learning management systems have really rich data (going back years) and many professionals don’t know what to do with it. They shouldn’t feel bad - they are not alone - there are still many professionals who don’t know what to do with data.  That’s why L&D professionals also need to be learning how to become technology enabled and, equally important, helping professionals to learn using that experience.

It's time to change

The problem for the Dentists with the bad teeth and the overweight fitness instructors is that their deficiencies are visible.  It’s not as visible for L&D professionals. It’s time for L&D professionals to get their teeth fixed or tummies tucked. We need to start learning so we can show others the way and make it visible.