When you hurry, you can miss out on valuable contemplation
and consideration. Set aside time each day to think, ruminate, and
reflect. Establish a practice to produce postmortem reports (either
in written form or on video) and then have people go over them
and draw conclusions based on previous events. Find ways to
change your perspective mentally and physically, such as asking for
opinions from customers or partners and working outside or sitting
on the floor. Create a productivity lab, as formal as a usability lab
or as casual as a space to hold focus groups, where people can meet
and reflect on what they’ve learned.
Integrate Informal Learning with Formal Structures
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) created
a global network of “learning managers,” all trained to be learn-
ing coaches, who serve as sources of information for issues related
to staff development and performance. The result is a very infor-
mal, diversified, decentralized, and therefore responsive personal-
ized support system. Instead of waiting for answers from
headquarters, every staff member can go to a learning manager who
will either help the person find the answer in himself or herself,
through guided discovery, or direct the person to an external
resource.Make the distinctions between formal and informal learning
more fluid. Formal learning stimulates informal learning, and infor-
mal learning often stimulates the intentionality of formal learning.^5
Consider producing recordings of information meetings and
streaming them throughout the organization. Supplement formal
conference calls with informal calls around a hot topic. Dedicate
an intranet site to locally grown ideas, and use those materials in
formal classes. Involve influential employees in formal meetings
and training events. Offer educators the chance to be mentors and
to be mentored by people on the front lines, too.
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