Richard Benson-Armer, Arne Gast, and Nick van Dam have a thoughtful piece in the May 2016 McKinsey Quarterly titled: “Learning at the speed of business.” If you’re concerned about how people learn and grow and the impact of digital technology, read the whole article. Here’s a piece that caught my eye.
“Digitization offers a huge opportunity to transform learning and address some of its current deficiencies, though it bears noting that digital learning tools are not new. What is new—and disruptively so—is the fact that the content of learning is moving to the cloud, becoming accessible across multiple devices and teaching environments and often being generated, shared, and continually updated by users themselves.â€
Phrases like “transform learning†and “disruptively†make digital tools sound like magic. They’re not. You still have to use them in the context of an effective leadership development program.
Leadership development is about leadership
Leaders help their team and team members succeed. They set direction and maintain thrust. And leaders learn how to do all this on the job, by trying things out, critiquing the results, and trying again. Digital learning tools can help that, but the process will remain the same. Development will still happen in real time with real people.
Leadership development is about development
A lot of the work in effective leadership development programs involves assessment. Assessment requires time and effort and discipline. Sure, digital tools can help, but, you’re still going to have to do things the old fashioned way. At least for the foreseeable future, human beings will need to get together and evaluate leaders and development opportunities.
Bottom Line
Expect digital tools to help. Don’t expect magic.
