Editorial

Citation

Gimson, A. (2009), "Editorial", Development and Learning in Organizations, Vol. 23 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/dlo.2009.08123caa.001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: Development and Learning in Organizations, Volume 23, Issue 3

How much time do you take (and in what ways do you make the time) to reflect in the hurly-burly that is organizational life today? Wisdom is partly gained by taking time to explore our thoughts and feelings and learn from our own and others’ experiences. And yet, galloping off with the latest fad or quick fix solution seems to so often be the more highly prized development activity. Much of this issue of the journal delves into ideas for creating spaces for reflection and for learning through an individual’s work and experience.

Based on research in Singapore, Roland Yeo kicks us off by outlining the process of problem based learning – not to be confused with general problem solving activity. He explores the organizational factors that might influence the successful application of this process of inquiry. The tables in the article are particularly useful.

From the USA, Mark Haskins and George Shaffer look at developing leaders. They shed an interesting light on the importance of leaders engaging in key, planned experiences that have specific learning aims built in up front. These experiences are woven into the fabric of the business of the organization, using real work situations for learning. Again, we are treated to helpful exhibits.

Best practice coaching requires the learner to invest heavily in self-reflection. However, what does an organization need to do to ensure the results of this attention are consistently transferred to the learner’s work. Lorna Stewart and Stephen Palmer provide succinct advice on how this can be done based on their research in the UK.

Some might feel the environment of homelessness and domestic violence in Northern Ireland is far removed from the world of market share and bottom line profits. Angela Courtney draws the two together in her call for more reflective practice in all types of organizations. She shares the models that have shaped her work with groups – assisting them to develop understanding and resilience in the face of turbulence.

Our last authored article, from India, adds to the growing evidence of links between learning and organizational performance. Bulent Aydin and Adnan Ceylan, looking at the global metal industry, have concluded from their research that there is a strong correlation between organizational effectiveness (OE) and organizational learning capacity (OLC). As they define OE as a measure of “employee satisfaction, customer orientation and financial and growth performance”, the link should be of interest to any of us involved in learning and development.

Our review pieces begin with “Are your directors properly trained? How the most important position is the least prepared”. Calling for more effective director development, the article proposes that assessing the needs of each director is the essential starting point and goes on to outline ten factors that need to be considered.

“English for librarians: preparing Italian librarians for international communication” shares how one university assisted its non-English speaking librarians to quickly develop a basic level of skill in the language. As English is becoming the standard language for much global academic internet discourse, the program enabled the librarians to more effectively engage with their global peers.

In “Sweet taste of pick ‘n’ mix learning – but it’s important to get the blend right”, we are presented with a fusion of three ideas: the need to “unlearn”; the benefits of taking a blended approach to learning and, finally, how to better support “informal learning”.

In our last piece, “Emotional intelligence: the next big HR investment”, an example of a program from the UAE to assist people to develop this capability is outlined. Participants develop a deeper awareness of their inner emotional world before then learning to monitor, notice and regulate their emotional reactions.

So, plenty of ideas and experiences from around the world. Food for thought if we choose to take the time to reflect on how those ideas can inform our own practice.

Anne Gimsonbased at Strategic Developments International. E-mail: anne@stradevint.com