LeveragePoint is about enabling effective action, but the people who deliver LeveragePoint have to learn constantly to do this effectively. This means that we need to actively plann and share how we learn, what we are learning, and how we are putting it to work. We will share some of this in the LeveragePoint Applications blog.
At LeveragePoint, a learning plan has a number of pieces: Strengths, Learning Styles, a link to Organizational Objectives, Learning Goals and Learning Themes. The Learning Goals are supported by Mentors, Buddies, Resources and demonstrated by Evidence. All of these are woven together in a dynamic model that supports search and sharing.
We begin by introspecting on our strengths, and our learning styles. We then think about how these work together. We use the Gallup StrengthsFinder tool to discover our strengths, though no doubt other approaches couled be used.
For example, my strengths (Steven Forth) are Strategic, Achievement, Ideation, Input and Learning. My learning style is Abstract, Historical, Written, Modeling and Social. These two sets alone tell you quite a bit about me, and help my colleagues work with me. Putting them together, though, adds a layer of insight.
Mapping Strengths to Learning Style
Strategic thinking requires high-level models and an understanding of how and why things are as they are. This is necessary to effect change. My abstract, historical, modeling learning style both underlies and supports my strength in strategic thinking.
Achievement – the drive to excel. I spend a lot of time thinking and learning and working to apply what I am learning to test it and see if it will drive success.
Ideation – abstract thought and modeling drive new ideas, as does the urge to go back to the source and explore other paths and potentials. Generating and sharing ideas through conversations are key to both learning and my achievement.
Input – you only have to look at one of my tag clouds to know that I search out information and apply it to ideas and models.
Learning – well that is a bit recursive, and recursive structures are something that fascinates me. Google’s application of recursive structures to its technical architecture is something to learn from, and one can think of Chris Argyris’s double loop learning as a form of recursive structure.
Organizational Goals
Like most organizations, Monitor's LeveragePoint team has goals and these goals are an important input into our learning plans. Organizational goals are built on the SMART model (goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely) and each business funciton has its own cascading goals. Standard stuff. Asking each person to explicitly link Learning Goals to Organizational Goals helps all of us understand the Organizational Goals and what it will take to achive them. We have also found that it helps to build commitment.
Learning Goals
Once we have shared something on how we learn, each person develops a set of three-to-seven Learning Goals. These are also meant to be SMART goals. A good Learning Goal has several parts.
- The learning loal and sub-goals.
- Its link to the organizational goals.
- A mentor.
- Learning buddies (optional).
- Resources (these can be people, communities of practice, books, conferences, conversations, web resources, processes, etc.).
- Evidence (internal and external).
Learning Themes
One interesting thing we have discovered in managing our own learning plans is the emergence of common learning themes. Themes are inferred from individual (or team) learning goals, and have common buddy groups, resoruces or evidence. The emergence of a learning theme is sometimes a leading indicator of new business opportunities.
What does this look like?
There are a number of pieces in these learning plans and a sketch may help show how they fit together.
Click to Enlarge
This is no more than a sketch, and the model evovles with use as new concepts and relationships are uncovered. But it is a starting point.
Implementation
At Monitor's LeveragePoint group we manage our learning themes using a Semantic MediaWiki. MediaWiki is an open source softeware package that was originally developed to run Wikipedia. The Semantic MediaWiki adds in a semantic layer that supports RDF and allows users to jointly create a much more robust knowledge model. As we use semantic technologies extensively in our sollutions, this gives everyone on the team to get their hands dirty, so to speak, and learn by doing. Most people update this wiki several times a week, as new resources are used and as evidence accumulates. In fact, this wiki is slowly becoming our knowledge management system!
Presentation at SemTech 2007
As you can imagine, several of us share 'semantics" as a learning theme. This is a deep area with a lot happening and much to learn. One piece of evidence that we are progressing towards this goal is to make presentations at conferences on our work, and the first such presentation will be at SemTech 2007 in San Jose later this May.
Wikipedia
If you are interested in learning a bit more about learning plans, there is a useful article on Wikipedia.
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