Learning and training are never going to be the same again
Khan Academy is an interesting new concept for education that takes profit from the power of the Net to provide a comprehensive collection of learning aids. Education is the Next big thing, since the evolution and increasing complexity of societies requires a collective effort tho improve human ability to cope, through learning and knowledge sharing. However, traditional institution were built around a book-centric view of learning and still favor spatial concentration into schools and universities. The book-centric education probably is at the roots of a design of learning that is based on sequential steps that need to be administered through formal processes guided by instructors, teachers or professors. Khan is making a bet on an alternative path to learning whereby people can access to close-to-infinte resources whenever they want, at their own pace. And the capital market seems to trust him if we consider that he just got funding for $5 Million (see the story at Khan Academy Snags $5 Million To Blow Up Education).
If education can change so dramatically, what about learning and training within business? When will we stop considering learning as a set of contents and focus on learning as the complement to day-by-day working? When will we devise systems that pop-up onto monitors, smartphones, tablets whenever employees desire to learn on the basis of what they are doing?
It is all a matter of trust and meaning
Trust is a scarce resource and as the resource based view (RBV) of the firm would argue, you need to compete for it. However, trust is something you do not buy on competitive markets, it need nurturing and patience. Trust is the outcome of relational processes whereby organizations and customers, citizens, employees, etc. invest into shared expectations, long-term relations, empathy and support. Business needs to realize that it exists BECAUSE people support its legitimacy. Business is business, but no business can be business without MEANING to its stakeholders. Being a CEO means being able to sense what is going on, and Diamond took too much time to realize it, but he eventually DID. Ironically, he is not being lead by ethics, but by instrumental values. He could have realized it well in advance, had he been able to confront with people who really hold different ideas than his and his immediate reports. That is what Corporate Sense Making can do: challenge common assumptions and shared beliefs that make corporate boards lose track with reality. but REALITY is out there!
Barclays boss Bob Diamond: Bankers must be better citizens to regain trust | Mail Online.
