Posted by Remember the famous ‘Hare and Turtle’ story? The moral ‘slow and steady wins the race’ of this story has stood the test of time. But in an era where technology advancements are happening at the wink of an eye, there is a twist in the age-old tale that one should not miss! Lest one wants to be left behind in the rat race!
If we were to imagine a race between a hare and turtle in the current time-frame, the result will be different. Thankfully, smart and swift thinking are in! For, to achieve a desired outcome a thoughtful, well-crafted plan is a must. Today is the age of collaboration. The hare learnt the lesson of over-confidence and the price it had to pay for its arrogance. Therefore, the humbled loser approaches the turtle and puts forth a collaborative plan. The ‘wise’ one (read turtle) listens and decides to support the partnering stance of the hare! So the hare helps the turtle by hand-holding it while the latter helps the fast-paced one by giving it a ride on its back when crossing the river. (Video Link). The execution of this plan resulted in a win-win for both the subjects (characters). Let us liken the hare and turtle to gen Y, which is always in a hurry and the turtle to the previous generation.
Remaining in isolation will not work anymore. Blending the old with the new is centric to achieving positive business outcomes. Put to context, isn’t Continuous learning with a Collaborative mindset the crux of creating a learning culture in any organization? The progress of technology and changing lifestyles globally- are instrumental in laying the contours of an ecosystem where collaboration will play a major role.
Environments conducive to the overall development of its people will see positive impact especially with the generation next and millennials set to disrupt the future of business. A paradigm shift is taking place. This has to be viewed in the context of physical markets disappearing and the cloud platforms slowly yet surely ruling the roost! Technology is at work everywhere. So, to transfer knowledge, to stay ahead of competition, experiential and contextual learning are critical while innovative mediums have to be used in the learning architecture of businesses.
The question is how adept are organizations/businesses in the sphere of Collaborative learning?
A well-structured digital learning strategy can bring far-reaching outcomes.
To foster a culture of learning, sharing knowledge is the way to sustain relationships. Also, it is important to use an efficient device. For- communication in general is largely defined by the devices that we use. Instant messaging, video conferencing and the social media have changed the way we interact and hunt or scout for information.
L&D departments would do well to re-think and re-build their learning strategies by considering the role each type of device (PC, laptop, tablet, smartphone, tablet and wearables) will play in providing a seamless learning environment without invasively intruding into the professional responsibilities and personal lives of its workforce.
Embracing newer modes of learning augurs well for any business as there are applications that can track and capture informal learning (a classic blended learning example) too!Let us take the case of a Tin Can API, also known as the Experience API or xAPI.Tin Can API allows all informal learning activities to be recorded by sending them in the form of statements of action to a Learning Record Store (LRS). Here is our blog post, which explains how the Tin Can may be used for blended learning. If learning is to be effective and reach its audience, blended learning is the best way out. As employees juggle their work roles – say between being on a desk and traveling for a meeting or taking a sales call or being on the field, they switch devices based on their location. Learning, therefore, must reach learners on the device of their choice and at a time they are ready for it.
This serves two important purposes –
- One, it augments the learning which happens via more formal methods.
- Two, it enhances performance by providing just-in-time support that is immediately applied in the context in which it is needed.
Ultimately, like the hare in our current tale understood the importance of collaboration, organizations too have to rethink and redefine learning approaches that foster a culture of collaborative and continuous learning.This will help the decision-making process on the choice of media, content types and the device-mix needed to implement the desired learning model. The transfer of interpreting business objectives and mapping them effectively to learning objectives is thereby possible, bringing the cycle of learning and outcome to completion.
References
Video Credit – Waleed Elbarbary – Rabbit & Turtle Story (Amazing version)