BusinessWeek just published an article about how groups around the world are preparing for the Knowledge Economy.

Notice the focus on the design of the physical space that they’re proposing and how that will help foster the necessary community that will be required for collaboration, learning and innovation.

Now I’m clearly a little biased in my support for this message – but that bias first came from all of the other sources that turned me on to this trend.

Using the ideas in the article, what can your organization do to prepare for the knowledge economy?  How can your workspace be configured to best support the way work happens?  How can you integrate the collaboration of your customers, suppliers and employees into the learning and innovation that will drive your organization forward?

I haven’t participated for quite some time but this month’s Big Question on the Learning Circuits blog was too intriguing…

If you peer inside an organization in 10 years time and you look at how workplace learning is being supported by that organization, what will you see?

The Knowledge Economy

I’ll preface the rest of the post by saying that I feel we’re currently well into a knowledge economy and that in ten years this transition will be even more apparent so my response will hinge upon that being true.  I view a knowledge economy as one being populated by workers creating and relying upon quick access to, and acquisition of, information that they need – organizations can range from construction to IT…as long as they depend on the acquisition of relevant info/knowledge in order to perform and improve they are staffed with knowledge workers in my opinion.  I do feel that the knowledge economy will bring with it different learning and development needs for the knowledge workforce.

The Truthful Answer

Quite frankly, I think the honest answer to the Big Question listed above is…not too much different from what we see today.

Just like other societal transformations, I think our move into the knowledge economy will take a long time to cement itself into the philosophies and methodologies of organizations – this includes learning departments.  There are so many factors ranging from mental models of those that have been in the industry for a long time to infrastructures and contracts that are entrenched and cannot be uprooted quickly that will prevent a speedy transition to fully supporting the needs of the workforce in a decade.

I recently wrote about the 2008 Chief Learning Officer [CLO] Magazine report on trends in the industry and the Executive Summary of this report shows no signs of much movement in the field. Do I think this will change substantially over the business landscape in ten years?  No.  I certainly feel that there will be pockets of progressive organizations that will make some great shifts [as indeed there are already several examples of this today] but for the overall learning industry to fundamentally change how it sees the world of L&D I think will take much longer.

The Wishful Answer

I hope I’m being cynical and that the above proves not to be true because I feel that the next 10 years presents an enormous opportunity for L&D to ramp up it’s organizational credibility to a place where we’re not yearning for a seat at the proverbial table…it’ll just be there waiting.

What I’d love to see of L&D departments in 10 years is one that oversees knowledge in the organization.  Departments that acknowledge that the vast majority of learning and development takes place outside of the classroom or computer [although some is better delivered in those places as well] and implement methods that reflect this ratio.

To me this looks like departments that ensures communities of practice and knowledge networks are thriving, active and supported by the right IT tools.  Ones that takes the role of redesigning the workspace [wherever it may be] of employees so that knowledge flows freely, ones that assesses the entire value network of an organization so that learning strategies can be extended to members whose performance affects that of the organization, ones that effectively integrate new-hires into their new network and provides the content they need when needed, ones that develops leaders to lead in a collaborative web and ones that promotes innovation throughput by running off of the energy created by the aforementioned methods.

The End

As I said above, I think that L&D Departments have a golden opportunity at the moment – to make this transition and show their organizations the value they can add by truly supporting the business workforce.  If this transition isn’t made I’m afraid other disciplines such as knowledge management may rush to fill the gap left by L&D.  I really see these fields merging as I think the lines between them will begin to blur – so after all this rambling, maybe that’s what things will look like in 10 years…

CLO [Chief Learning Officer] Magazine released their 2009 Business Intelligence Industry Report today.  In full disclosure I have not read the detailed report [which is being sold for $495] – I just read the free Executive Summary but from the pieces in there I received a good enough overview to be disappointed.

A common lament in the L&D world is how to get a ‘seat at the table’ – in other words how can the L&D function be seen as being strategic enough to warrant participation in the C-level strategy interactions that determine the direction and operation of the organization.  Based on what I read in this summary it’s not surprising that the ‘tables’ out there don’t have many name tents with ‘L&D’ on them.

Before I provide specific examples I’d like to offer some context on my viewpoints and philosophy.  I believe that we are currently living/working/playing in a knowledge-based economy, or one in which know-how, experience, networks, tacit knowledge and who you know provide the real competitive advantage to improve efficiency, bring products to market, deliver to clients, etc. – and it doesn’t matter if you’re in consulting or cement.  Assuming this is true, the approaches used by L&D need to transition to support this new world as well and what I read in the CLO report indicates that they haven’t.

There are multiple examples in the summary of ways that L&D departments haven’t adapted to support a knowledge-based organization in an information society – from methodologies to analytics to perceptions of the C-level.  Some examples below…

Learning Delivery Methods

In an age where informal learning/knowledge networks/collaboration is known to be the source of the vast majority of learning and information for workers of all types one would think methodologies to support these would be creeping [if not entrenched] into corporate learning portfolios.  Rather, formal classroom training “clearly remains the most common method used.”  In a close second place, “the combination of live and self-paced e-learning is the second-most common delivery modality used by organizations.”

The nature of learning ‘delivery’ is flawed from the start when a knowledge economy dominates the market.  Organizations that commit most of their L&D resources to prescribing, designing and delivering everything that their workforce needs to know rather than reallocating those resources to help support and facilitate the exchange of the collective intelligence that already exists are missing a key competitive advantage in the information society.  Dispatch those trainers to begin creating learning histories to prevent brain drain, to act as facilitators/knowledge brokers between geographically dispersed teams with similar objectives or to help redesign the office layout so that informal exchanges can happen more effortlessly.

Learning Analytics

This section was the most shocking to me.  Not only do the methods being used by most of these organizations sound outdated, the report acknowledges that the metrics [when they're gathered] are proving that they’re providing little value.  Some notable quotes/stats…

• “Not surprisingly, little progress  has been made during the past year with the correlation of learning to various other business metrics…”
• “Approximately 1/5 of organizations correlate employee productivity to learning.”
• “Less than 1/10 of organizations correlate extended enterprise performance to learning.” [umm - wow!]
• “In reality, most organizations measure little beyond the basics, such as course enrollments, completions and learner satisfaction rates.”

Learning & Development Staffing

The report then talks about staffing – mentioning that “heads of HR and corporate education and chief learning officers represent the largest groups that believe the enterprise does not have enough staff to support the learning initiatives.”  What does the C-level think? – “only 12 percent of CEOs, COOs and presidents believe the organization does not have enough staff.”  Based on this chasm in perceptions the report concludes that this “obviously highlights a lack of communication between learning executives and senior-level business executives.”

Does it really?  If I were an executive at one of these organizations what I would see is our L&D department using methodologies suited for a past era, applying useless analytics to those ineffective methods, complaining because they need more staff and then saying that I’m out of touch with them because I think they’re staffed just fine and that I’ll likely trim their department if we hit a rough patch.  I don’t blame those executives one bit for their views of these L&D departments.  After all, let’s review a stat from the Analytics section above – “Less than 1/10 of organizations correlate extended enterprise performance to learning.”  Any other department that boasted those stats would be lucky to have a seat period – let alone one at the Executive table.

Where to now?

I think this should serve as a wake-up call to the L&D field as a whole – the world we live and work in has changed…we need to change with it.  There is a burgeoning field of knowledge management/learning communities/knowledge networks/social networking/workspace design/collaboration/etc. out there that is primed to take on the L&D role in organizations that are preparing themselves to compete in a knowledge society.  The lines between knowledge management and L&D should be becoming very blurry in my opinion.  If not, when you leap for the L&D seat at the table you may land on the lap of someone setting up their KM table tent.

This new space is actually quite progressive – it’s touted as the first fully LEED certified building in Denver and with that comes nice aesthetics, trendy fixtures and many other neat amenities.  Where they went wrong, though, is in some of the construction decisions.  A great example of that is in the kitchen/copy rooms…

They made a great decision by putting the copiers and supplies in the same space as the refrigerator and micowave – it is intended to serve as a central spot where people will happen to be as part of their day and engage in informal conversations…thus leading to knowledge transfer and collaboration of course.

The problem is that this space is quite narrow.  When people are standing at each copier shown above it’s too cramped to walk through and certainly not inviting for an ad hoc meeting.  Same at the other end – the microwave, water machine and refrigerator are all so close together that you can barely stand at one without being in the way of someone at another.  I’ve seen many impromptu conversations spoiled by someone needing to walk through or just not happen at all because of the confining feelings generated by the space.

What opporuntiies are there with your space to foster more informal conversations?  Look at the areas with an eye for welcoming spots that have plenty of room for people to meet and chat while others that aren’t involved can easily drift past unnoticed.

MIT Sloan Management Review has rebuilt their site using a WordPress platform and is integrating two blogs within it – one of them focused on innovation.  This is a self-declared work in progress and they are seeking feedback in order to optimize it for their readers.  Go have a look and let them know what you think.

MIT SMR has produced some great material/thinking on approaches to learning, development, knowledge management, learning communities, new-hire integration, leadership development, workspace design and, of course, innovation.  This latest iteration of theirs displays an internal commitment to eat their own dog food.

Incidentally our entire site is built on WordPress and we’ve really enjoyed its versatility as a Content Management System [CMS].  I’m looking forward to seeing the results of MIT’s new progressive efforts.

Take 6 minutes to watch the video below for a sneak peek at a beta version of how our digital desktops will continue to evolve in a way that aligns with how we’re comfortable working:

The New York Jets new training facility profiled recently in Fast Company shows that workspace design doesn’t have to be just for office workers.

The Jets have completely revamped their complex to reinvigorate both players and all other team members.  The slideshow via the link above is well worth the look – some highlights are the entrance shaped like the stadium tunnel [shown above], light slits meant to evoke yard lines, Exec offices overlooking the field and a high-tech system for coaches to access films.

Just goes to show that surroundings can play a big part in how people do their jobs – no matter what it is.

What changes could be made to the workspace in your organization to better reflect how work gets done?

We just toured the new offices of one of our clients and it’s pretty impressive.  The workspace design certainly incorporates the ability to have impromptu meetings and mixes that with great light, nice views and world-class art thrown in just for fun.

Here’s a write-up on the building.

It will be interesting to see how this space impacts the workforce of this large global organization.  They are beginning to embrace some elements of Learning 2.0 such as communities of practice, knowledge management and social networking and the move to the new digs coincidentally happened at the same time.  

While I feel strongly that the physical environment has a strong impact on these other areas of informal learning we had absolutely no say in how this building was arranged – but it’ll be a nice bonus that we are able to continue our project operating out of such a progressive environment.

The ‘consultant area’ is located on the 36th floor.  Soon after we started, though, we were given individual cubes on the 25th floor.  There was great intent behind this move because we could have our own spot, dedicated phones, etc.  The problem was that everyone we depended on for our project was still up on 36.  Not only were they 11 floors apart, they were on different elevator banks so going to meetings, con calls, etc. meant going down to the lobby, across a few elevator banks and then up to 36.  Not good for spontaneous interaction.

Despite our new digs on 25 we found ourselves going back to the less-than-glamorous consultant area on 36  more often because we were on the main drag and could engage our key SMEs and stakeholders very easily rather than spending the time to draft a well-written email or voicemail.

Realizing the impact that proximity had to our project, our team was given an unused office on 36 to use as our Project War Room.  In it we have posted our Project Org Chart, Project Plan, Contact List and a basket full of leftover lunch cookies, fruit and snacks.  This is our own space and it’s located in the heart of our extended project team.  Our core team (5 people) sits in there daily and we are able to brainstorm with various SMEs at a moment’s notice, hold meetings, conference calls, etc.  It has truly become project central.

Is this the solution for everything?  No.  I find myself heading back to the Consultant Area every few days for the times when I need quiet time to think, write or do anything that requires intense concentration for long periods of time.  There are not long periods of peacefulness in the Project Room…ever.  Each place has its purpose, though, and we’re lucky to have the two spots to choose from.

I have heard that employees located over 50 feet apart are unlikely to get up and engage each other face-to-face – rather they will use email or the phone.  What opportunities are there in your organization to give people a common place to gather for key projects?  Consider dedicated ‘War Rooms’ associated with big deliverables or clients – places where people can opt to work when collaborating rather than going through the more formal process of checking calendars and scheduling meetings when all you need is a 5-minute conversation. 

Many new companies, such as Google with their Googleplex, are hiring top designers to build this collaboration space into their new buildings.  Don’t have a Google-size budget?  Convert unused office space, common areas or any other space into a place where people can confer.  This combined with their offices or cubes for the times when they need quiter concentration will present options to your workforce on how they can work best.  Take it from a War Room veteran, though, there is power in proximity.