Citation
Gimson, A. (2014), "Editorial", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 28 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/DLO-01-2014-0004
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Editorial
Article Type: Editorial From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 28, Issue 2
We live in a world where people connect with each other across multiple boundaries in an instant. We purchase services and products with a swipe of a phone. We can find most of the information we might need in real time. Yet, many development interventions are still too trainer-controlled and driven, even when offered in electronic modes. In this issue, we have evidence from around the globe – both research and case studies – on how to do things in ways that learners value, so that there is an impact on them and their organization.
We begin with the second part of Tom Shorts article exploring workforce mentoring. In our last issue (28.1) he outlined the six reasons for a rise in popularity of mentoring across the Australian rail industry. Here in part two, he draws further conclusions from the research and sets out nine characteristics for effective mentoring, all of which contribute to implementing a sustainable workforce development strategy.
Mentoring – but this time “reverse mentoring – also features in our second piece about inter-generational learning. Across Europe, we are facing an ageing workforce and older employees are not usually uppermost in the minds of L&D professionals. Donald Ropes shares six critical success factors that will help you to develop approaches that assist your older and more experienced employees to stay engaged in learning – and, probably not a surprise, it will not be through formal training.
You might think that formal training would at least figure in the top eight development processes that are valued by sales managers. Clinton Longenecker, Charles Ragland and Michael Mallin found otherwise. In their US-based research, from the 20 most used management development practices, sales managers were asked to choose those most important to their own performance and development. The respondees top eight rankings are explored and you will find some useful questions to guide your own strategy and practice.
Paul Davis has taken a serious look at what learners dislike about the kinds of training and development opportunities on offer from their organizations. He identifies the top six complaints from his research of learners from 23 countries across Asia and, perhaps even more importantly, suggests six creative learning strategies that would help to address those grievances.
Our case study from South Africa flags the need for connections and relationships in learning – this time in the context of creating and building fledgling businesses. Sophie Brière, Maripier Tremblay and Alain Daou conducted a field study on a project where a more holistic model of development aid was provided – i.e. not just financial capital, but also social and human capital. They found that entrepreneurs valued opportunities to network and opportunities to improve and develop their entrepreneurial skills ahead of access to finance.
Our three review articles shine the spotlight on how leaders and managers can play a crucial part in facilitating an environment for learning that packs a punch for results. The first article is “Leading the way to innovation: how team coaching helps. The article sets out the key coaching behaviours that, if adopted by managers, will assist team members to become far more innovative and creative. Coaching is one behaviour mentioned and in the next article, “Management styles and success: why coaching is important, we dig a little deeper. A clear case is made for its use to create the partnerships required to successfully navigate today's complex business world. Lastly, “Informal learning in the workplace: the key role of managers sets out a succinct set of behaviours and actions by which managers can help learning to occur.
Whilst this issue of the journal has focussed on the importance of relationship and collaboration in learning, there has been little mention of how social media has opened up new channels through which we can learn from one another. This “social learning revolution will be the subject of our special issue later this year. If you are doing innovative work in this area, please get in touch.
Anne Gimson
based at Strategic Developments International, UK. E-mail: anne@stratdevint.com