How can online learning make change easier at work or elsewhere?
Transforming the working culture of teams or organisations parallels the demanding task of altering personal habits. It necessitates modifying longstanding attitudes, behaviours and norms, made harder by the busyness of professional environments. It can be quite a journey.
I advocate for the use of online learning as a catalyst for change.
I used this while working in a London organisation to help move teams from a more hierarchical management approach towards integration of Agile Practices. These would then empower any team member to contribute insights into enhancing team operations, drawing on their experiential knowledge, a contrast to the historically more traditional top-down approach.
The Original Approach
The organisation at higher level wanted this change. Their existing approach had both pros and cons:
1. I gave a short course to managers to give them tools to introduce Agile Practices into their teams, and many went away enthused.
In my experience though, if change is happening, then there is some ‘kickback’ to show it – either further questions or advice sought or feedback about its feasibility.
Yet there was pretty much silence.
I investigated why.
2. I knew that implementing change takes time and energy, yet both were in short supply:
● Managers get questions from their team, yet if it is new to them too, how will they be able to answer?
● How do they address resistance, either outspoken or passive?
● How do they establish it into team culture longer term?
3. These issues make implementing very hard, even for the most enthusiastic. Everyone soon went back to busy and not much changed.
I found further that there was no space to deal with doubt. For team members, one doubt I knew of for Agile Practices is the concern that they are being asked to do more for the same money (not true). For managers, there is doubt too that if the team can propose different ways of working, it will undermine their authority. We needed space to talk about doubt.
The New Approach
So, I piloted a variation based on a flipped approach instead:
I coached people from each team (not necessarily managers) to present the topic to their teams. These were potential ‘champions’ for this approach within their team – the best way to learn about something is to have to present it to others!
These coached team members then introduced it into their teams within their weekly meetings using content prepared for them. This meant that teams didn’t need extra meetings to implement it.
The team then noted any issues raised, ready for the next stage.
Some folks from each team then met with myself to discuss any issues. I led this but let them work to find solutions themselves. This was laying foundations for a future Community of Practice to address issues, using something like a WhatsApp group.
The final step was to try it for real! In the next couple of team meetings, members discussed ways to work together better and decided which to implement. Having several ‘champions’ on board helps to see it through.
These were all crucial steps but I also had to find how to address doubt.
Dealing with Doubt
Fortunately, I found what is known as a ‘threshold concept’ to introduce Agile Practices.
This is something well known but when looked at closer, changes how people think about a topic. In this case, I ‘found’ the Kodak company, which previously had a big photo development factory nearby, but which closed due to not adapting to the advent of digital cameras. It is lesser known though that a former worker had invented one long before, but managers suppressed this since they feared a future without profitable photo development. Other companies like Fujifilm did adapt and survive. This story helped introduce teams to the importance of openness to employee ideas and start to see managing liminally, to see it in a different light.
Conclusion
One challenge for any learning program is evaluating success: in this case, it was easy – Agile Practice ideas coming from teams afterwards was evidence of success, and later on, how many were put into place. My work ended there soon after, so I don’t know what came next but at least I had laid a foundation. One person told me later that their team used this approach in other areas too.
It is easy to think of learning design as things to do but this shows that delivery methods are also crucial. Online learning enables change easier since it makes more methods available compared to traditional ways. It isn’t one-size-fits-all but it gives the tools to get results when we use them well.
If you would like to know more about my work then please feel free to contact me here.