Participants at the L&D Connect unconference, held at the Skills Matter Exchange, London, were asked at the beginning of the day to pose questions they would like answers to or topics they would like to see discussed.
Two of the topics, on competency frameworks and the ultimate aim of L&D, were discussed in a fishbowl format. In this format, three or four participants sit in a circle and discuss a topic. The rest of the participants sit in a circle around them and listen and ask questions.
Below are the questions participants posted for discussion. The list gives a good sense of current hot topics for L&D professionals.
- Do competency frameworks work?
- Is the ultimate aim of L&D to make itself redundant?
- Any tips on how to engage learners in an organistional development rollout?
- Why do we bother with L&D? Couldn’t people just learn for themselves?
- It’s about performance and capability (moment of needs) not learning
- Changing role of training and how the trainer can develop his/her skills
- How might we create the right time and space for people to learn without formal training?
- Line managers still don’t see development as part of their role. They go back to the workplace after the magic wand of L&D.
- How to engage managers in exploring new ways of developing their staff
- How do you encourage people to give feedback like you do with your friends and siblings?
- ‘The organisation isn’t ready for that!’ Really? How do you know? What could you do to make it ready?
- In the age of social networking, are professional organisations needed?
- How might we develop the majority of our industry in the debates that matter to the future of learning at work when they aren’t on Twitter or at events like this?
- What’s beyond authentic leadership?
- What will be the role of L&D in 2113?
- There is a conspiracy of convenience in organisations when it comes to L&D. Courses make managers happy and keep L&D busy
- How are we defining and facilitating social learning in an organisation?
- What does a rebel L&D professional look like? What do they do? How do they act? How do they make others feel?
- Should workplace learning be limited to the skills needed for the role?
- Should L&D be helping colleagues to learn skills for outside work?
- Do we really need to wait until the training needs fall out of the appraisal process – what if we gave people access to what they need the moment they need it? How?
- Why is learning anathema to CEOs and what can we do to change this?
- Creating new content is plain arrogant in the age of curation. Discuss!
- The role of the trainer is now defunct and should be abolished in organisations.
- What’s the strategy for unblocking Twitter at work?
- Helping people to become better learners should be the focus of L&D. Why? How? What?
- Has IT become more important than soft skills?
