Business EDUCA: curiosity, tenacity and creativity core L&D skills for 2016

In OEB 2015’s Business EDUCA track this year, Learning and Development leaders from businesses around the globe explored strategies and tactics to impact the performance of organisations and the individuals within them.

During a session looking at strategies for the learning ecosystem, Monika Weber-Fahr, Chief Knowledge Officer and Senior Manager at the World Bank, challenged us to think about the biases of individual learners, how our tendency to stick with the pack or the perspectives of a favourite expert could influence what individuals learn and how they learn. A sobering thought for participants in Business EDUCA as subtly we were also being challenged to consider our own biases and the need to lay down our preconceived ideas about what learning at work really means and what our role is as L&D professionals.

Clive Shepherd, author of More than Blended Learning, Don Taylor, Chair of the LPI, Garry Hearn from the UK Ministry of Defence and Geraldine Voost from Heidleberg Cement all focussed on the new skills and attitudes that we will need as L&D professionals moving forward. The consensus was that curiosity, tenacity and creativity would underpin the core skills that we need as a profession as we shift our perspective from delivering courses to finding new ways of supporting performance.

Practical workshops, debates and world café’s with Gemma Critchly, BP, Rob Hubbard, LearningAge Solutions, Jeanny Wilde-Jung , KPMG, Nick Van Damn, McKinsey, Cassion Mc Rae, Virgin Media, Clark Quinn, Quinnovation, and Jane Hart, C4LPT, helped us to focus on what is important in 21^st Century corporate learning. We looked at strategies realising the power of global digital learning, peer to peer sharing, storytelling and the meta skills of learning.

Throughout the two days, our thoughts turned constantly to Jay Cross, a friend and colleague who helped to shape and form the Business EDUCA programme from the outset. His colleagues from the Internet Time Alliance helped us not only remember his work but also provided powerful strategies and tactics to help participants realise his vision of supporting learning at work.