Comments for Harold Jarche

Comment on The initial design influences everything else by monika hardy

monika hardy — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 13:14:40 +0000

spot on.
thank you much Harold.

Comment on The initial design influences everything else by Richard Terry

Richard Terry — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 09:32:34 +0000

Really enjoyed this post Harold. I’m not sure if you’re aware but here in the UK there has long been a tradition of democratic education and support for home schooling on democratic principles. In the 90′s I helped set up and run a ‘flexi colllege’ for kids 7-16 along these lines, and issues of spatial design and utilisation were constantly openly discussed and acted on with the learners themselves. We were once visited by Ricardo Semler of Semco, as he was keen to use our ideas for his Lumiar school in Sao Paulo that he was then in the process of setting up. One of the best examples of the UK tradition that continues to survive (despite a policy climate rigged against it) is Sands School in Devon – http://www.sands-school.co.uk although this is outside the state-funded sector. But of course the home schooling movement is perhaps an even more interesting example of ‘schools without walls’.

In terms of organisations generally I agree with your conclusion: structure is primary – this is what Deming advised in Japan, and why he mourned the pieties of ‘Quality Circles’ that became a mere cargo cult following of his original ideas. Semler of course went further with his democratisation of the workplace.

Comment on Learning in Complexity by Harold Jarche

Harold Jarche — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 11:50:06 +0000

Thanks, Henry. Google translate tells me “complexity, exists only in the limited brain capacity to understand the universe”

Comment on Learning in Complexity by henry

henry — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 05:19:31 +0000

la complejidad, solo existe en la limitada capacidad cerebral para comprender al universo

Comment on When learning is the work … by Harold Jarche

Harold Jarche — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 03:06:11 +0000

Yes, a favourite place of mine too:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jarche/2490242665/

Comment on When learning is the work … by Jon Husband

Jon Husband — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 01:24:07 +0000

That statue / sculpture is on Avenue McGill College in Montreal, right at the entrance to the SGF tower. Always of interest when I walk past it.

Comment on When learning is the work … by Dave Ferguson

Dave Ferguson — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 13:31:13 +0000

I think there’s a lot of good will and good intention in many organization training / learning groups, but that doesn’t always get translated into real performance improvement on the job.

More than one training department has started calling itself learning with no more real change in its outlook than the first word in the title.

Which is why a lot of them have been ignored anyway.

My experience with large organizations suggests that the formal training/learning groups tend to cluster around generic “soft skills” (effective meetings, the inevitable brainstorming) or around events targeted at mid-to-upper management (like GE’s Crotonville courses).

What they could be doing, as you suggest, is working with line organizations, possibly sharing useful ideas about how people learn or about collecting and reflecting on data (to help minimize flavor-of-the-month fads to which those line organizations are no more immune than T&D is).

Comment on When learning is the work … by Harold Jarche

Harold Jarche — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 17:22:26 +0000

Definitely, agree, Ian. If training departments don’t get integrated with the work, they will become irrelevant.

To stay relevant, L&D departments need to:

1.Facilitate collaborative work and learning amongst workers, especially as peers.
2.Sense patterns and help develop emergent work and learning practices.
3.Work with management to fund and develop new tools and processes.

Comment on When learning is the work … by Ian Cleary

Ian Cleary — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:48:37 +0000

Interesting article. L&D departments have their place but maybe their role needs to change significantly. I believe their role should be to facilitate, support and compliment the work based training. Provide the necessary tools, encourage workers to participate, reward them for participating. Companies need to be innovative so their employees need to be learning all the time. Thanks.
Ian

Comment on Enabling Innovation – Book by Harold Jarche

Harold Jarche — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:20:57 +0000

Thanks, Steve. Great to hear from you!