Increasing Complexity: Why CLOs need to support change and develop continuous learning in complex environments
For a number of years, work in developed economies has been changing rapidly. A McKinsey report some years ago (“The Next Revolution in Interactions” in the McKinsey Quarterly, 2005, Number 4) described this situation: “[M]ore problem solvers are needed with fewer doers in their ranks.” In other words, more complex and interactive jobs requiring decision-making skills are being created as the number of transactional jobs decreases.
Many transactional jobs are being substituted with technology. Machines can replace a checkout clerk at a supermarket and can log deposits and dispense cash, but they can’t replace a marketing manager or an advertising campaign.
The implications of this trend for CLOs are clear. The challenges of jobs that deal with high levels of complexity and tacit interactions are best addressed through the development of core skills and capabilities, not through trying to teach sets of processes or facts.
Additionally, we need to acknowledge that in a complex world, continuous learning is the only option available to us.
There is no doubt that a first step for CLOs is to support this change. They need to help change mind-sets from perceiving learning as a series of events to acknowledging that learning is a continuous process that happens at any time, anywhere—mostly in the context of the workflow.
If we are to support continuous learning in complex environments, then we should focus on development of the following core skills:
| CORE SKILLS | |
| Effective search and “find” skills | The ability to quickly self-search and find the right data or information when it’s needed |
| Critical thinking skills | The ability to extract meaning and significance from situations and data |
| Creative thinking skills | The ability to generate new ideas and new ways of using data and information, and always avoiding the belief that there is only one solution |
| Analytical skills | The ability to visualise, articulate and solve complex problems and concepts and to make sensible decisions based on the available information |
| Communication skills | The ability to effectively listen and explain complex ideas and situations across a range of situations and with native and non-native speakers of specific languages and in specific domains |
| Networking skills | The ability to identify and build relationships with others who are potential sources of information, knowledge and expertise within and outside the team, the organization and the domain |
| People skills | The ability to build trust and productive relationships that are mutually beneficial for information sharing and lead to complete understanding |
| Logic | The ability to apply reason and logical argument to extract meaning and significance from situations |
| A solid understanding of research methodology | The ability to validate data and the underlying assumptions on which information and knowledge are based |
A second step for CLOs should be to focus on support for changes taking place in the way we work. They have a responsibility to create environments that provide tools and support for workers so they can improve performance through bringing learning into their work. The idea of taking people out of their workflow for “training” was a product of Industrial Age thinking. Learning and development integrated into the workflow is a product of the knowledge economy and post-Industrial Age thinking.
Watch my interview with GlobalEnglish CEO Mahesh Ram to see what you can do integrate these core skills into your work environment. “The New Frontier for Learning in the Global Workplace” is now available.
