Talent Management Time-Out

With the on-demand learning revolution--the thing about getting the information you need at the moment you need it most--employees are in the training driver's seat. My concern is they won't necessarily get where you want them to go, despite the great maps and traveler's guides. Learning is more fun--much more of a trip--than it was 10 or 20 years ago. Who doesn't prefer getting the tips she needs at the moment of her keenest struggle rather than sitting through 10 hours of in-person classroom time?  If the dry-as-watching-paint-dry class sessions can be reduced to a couple hours instead of a dozen, that's a good thing. The question, though, is whether we're able to guide ourselves to the places you need us to be? We have the information necessary to complete the next assignment, but what about the development big picture?  How do you reconcile long-term training needs, such as leadership development and succession planning, with the push to reduce structured learning in favor of on-demand support? 

I wonder if there's any such thing as on-demand leadership development, in which promising employees chart their own training course based on what they think they need most?  In my naivete I think it could be done. It would be similar to on-demand support for individual tasks, except in addition to asking what they need to get that next new product design accomplished, you ask them each quarter of the year to consider anew what their next in-depth training experience should be. Instead of mapping it out at the beginning of the year, you create a more dynamic plan that is reconsidered four times a year. That, of course, is in addition to the obvious, already-widely implemented solution of creating a repository of "on call" mentors who are ready to be tapped whenever needed. Could something like that be done, and, more importantly, how many of you already are doing it?

In a workplace environment of immediate solutions for immediate needs,it's easy to lose sight of end-goals. The challenge for managers is putting all the disparate tasks and accomplishments of employees into context--to review what they're learning along the way, and where they're heading next. If you're a high-functioning organization, you use annual performance reviews for that purpose. If you're already doing that efficiently, the next improvement is doing it more often. You could train managers how to check in with employees throughout the year, by way of regular performance feedback and ongoing conversation, to ensure they understand the direction the company wants them to head in their development and what all those get-it-when-you-need-it moments add up to.

Which gets us to another point: Do you know what all those moments amount to?  I bet at least some of you don't, either because you've never been asked to think about it, or because you've tried to determine it with your bosses, and they haven't been much help. Just as it's easy to get into a next-task-only mindset with great performance support at your fingertips, so too is it easy to forget there's more your employees need to understand than how to make the next deadline.

You've given them the tools they need to find what they need (or think they need) to get the next assignment done, but what if they're using these support devices to take a long trip that's not going to help the organization a few years from now?  You thought you were sending them on an extensive, exploratory nature hike, but it turns out they've only been successfully circling the block for the last year. Are you still glad you put them in the driver's seat?  A few more road signs might be needed.

How do you keep big picture learning and development top of mind in an on-demand work culture? Any tips, or are your learners stuck with no way to see the trees in your training forest?