Part – 1

Learning in a VUCA World

The world of work as we knew has changed practically overnight. This has impacted organizations at several levels necessitating optimisation and cost management across all fronts. From a learning & development perspective, organizations have had to shift attention from conventional methods to digital learning. This shift has been a struggle for most of us for several reasons:

• There is a cost involved in converting conventional training to E-Learning mode, not to mention investing in a proper learning management system
• E-Learning has had low traction, especially where the learners are spread across geographies
• Technology itself has been a challenge, especially when the learners are in locations where connectivity may be an issue
• It is not always possible to know if the learners have really understood the content, and if the learning is actually taking place

In order to make digital learning more acceptable to learners, it is important to understand the cultural context of learning for Indians.

Culturally, we Indians are directed learners. This means that traditionally we need to be told what to learn. In the ancient times it was the Guru at the Ashram or the Gurukul who decided what and how the disciples would learn. Down the ages, right to the present times, the curriculum, content and the mode of delivery is decided by either the “teacher” or someone in a similar position and the learner has no role to play in the process apart from absorbing what is taught to her. This extends even to corporate training, where someone decides what the training needs of individuals are and the facilitator/trainer decides how the need has to be fulfilled. Seldom does the learner contribute to identifying development areas for herself or the means of meeting development needs. Creating a ‘Development Plan’ for a learner, which has inputs from the boss, HR, the L&D function, everyone, except perhaps the learner herself is a common practice across a number of organizations.

The other factor is that for Indians, learning is a social process. When we get together in a training workshop or a seminar, beyond the learning agenda, there is a larger agenda of social interaction. This is especially visible during breaks or lunch where participants either establish new relationships, if they don’t know each other or catch up with colleagues, old or current.

Both these factors are negated in the digital learning process. The onus of learning shifts from the instructor to the learner. In this process, the learner can decide the pace, and time of learning. Furthermore, digital learning also makes a wide buffet of content available, putting the responsibility of choosing what to learn on the learner. Furthermore, this method of learning is a very lonely one as it eliminates the social interactions with other learners.

In the second part of this article I will propose an Indian model of learning, which may resolve the issues faced by the Learning & Development fraternity in propagating digital learning.

Part – 2

What drives me to learn

In the first part of this article I had espoused reasons why it is difficult to get people to access and adopt digital learning. In this part I shall explain four main reasons that drive us to learn. Using a combination of these four reasons may result in a better acceptance of digital or any other mode of learning. While this model is primarily directed to corporate learning, its applicability to other forms is open to discussion and debate.

There are four intrinsic reasons that may drive an individual to put effort in the process of learning:

1. Respect

A typical representation of this process is the Guru – Shishya (The teacher and disciple) tradition. The Guru or the teacher is deemed to be an expert who has the knowledge and so is in the best position to decide what and how the learning is to be imparted. There is an element of respect towards the Guru, from which stems a belief that the Guru knows the best, and hence there is no need to question him.

This concept when extended to an organization explains why the learning process in Indian companies is so directed, with the learner having very little say in her own development process.

2. Survival

Across the sub-continent, every culture has some ‘mantras’  or prayers to help people in difficult times. These are typically small portions of a larger text that people know by heart. These are recited to help ward of evil or overcome difficulties that the reciter may be facing. It is not important to know the entire text, but just a few of those prayers that are useful in different points in time. An example may be a person who may not know the entire Ramayana but has learnt the Hanuman Chalisa by rote and is able to recite it in times of difficulty.

3. Recognition

There is a special status given to a person who is deemed as ‘Learned’ or knowledgeable. Specific titles are given to people with special knowledge as recognition of their learning. For example a title of ‘Chaturvedi’ for a person who has knowledge of all the four Vedas, or Haafiz for a person who has memorised The Quran by heart. These titles recognize the specialised knowledge that a person has.

4. Entertainment

Here, while the primary objective is entertainment, the form of entertainment is so structured that there is a subliminal learning attached. Examples of such form of learning are the stories from the Panchtantra or the Jataka Tales. Each story, while providing entertainment to the reader/listener also transmits a learning propagating certain values or behaviours 

These four drivers can be used at various stages of the learning life cycle of an employee to effectively create a pull for learning. To do this, one needs to understand the learning needs from an organizational perspective.

The organization wants its employees to learn for the following reasons:

• To perform the current and future jobs well (Skills and competencies)
• To understand and adhere to Organizational culture and values
• To understand and follow the way things are done (Systems and processes) – To understand and follow the accepted behaviour norms.

To match the learning needs from the learners perspective and the Organizational point of view, I am proposing the following model:

At the entry level, or when a new person joins the organization, directed learning would work very well. Since the new employee does not have too much information about the job, or the company, such a person would need to be told what to learn and where to learn. 

In the next stage is learning about how to do the job. In this learning the SOPs or the company code of ethics or even certain job skills would need to be projected as the ‘mantra’ of a happy life in the company. 

Once the employee has spent some amount of time in the company, the next stage is to identify SMEs or specialists. Based on the nature of business or organization, these could be specialists who could teach others, or drive certain key initiatives or projects.

This would be an aspirational stage, which people would want to reach through efforts and knowledge upgradation.

Encompassing the three stages is ‘Entertainment’. This is a continuous process of story telling through various modes to drive home certain behaviours, or values or the cultural pillars of a company. However, both, structure of the message as well as the medium of delivery is important, so that the effort is not reduced to a farce.

While the model may look linear, I am not suggesting it is so. Depending on the organization and its learning agenda, the four stages can be followed in any sequence. This will depend on the understanding that the organization has about its people and their intrinsic learning drivers.