Chief Learning Officer - CLO Media

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When you start to see, feel or hear that there must be a better way, it’s time for your creative process to begin.

What separates a one-hit wonder from an art-world icon? While an artist’s notoriety can be chalked up to their talent, vision, technique or unique perspectives, attaining legendary status often requires continuous reinvention, reimagination and evolution. The same can be said for learning and development teams that maintain the status quo versus those that make a lasting impact on the business, their people and the learning industry. 

Of course, maintaining a culture of innovation does not mean scrapping your L&D strategy each year to implement the latest trends. Instead, it means taking an evolutionary approach fueled by an innovation pipeline — where you channel ideas through established phases of research, testing, piloting and operationalizing. It also means recognizing that your next new “thing” may not be a thing at all. It could be a new approach that helps you improve speed, experience or impact. 

So how do you start innovating with the right brushstrokes? You carefully observe the world around you. When you start to see, feel or hear that there must be a better way, it’s time for your creative process to begin. 

Find inspiration in your environment and beyond 

Let’s be honest. Many of the problems and challenges we face are not always novel or particularly profound. With a little digging, you can find inspiration and guidance from others who experienced or overcame a similar challenge, including these modern muses: 

Prepare your canvas and select your palette

When the possibilities seem limitless you may feel stuck considering the potential, hindering your ability to move forward. Since it is easier to finish a picture than it is to stare at a blank page, I recommend narrowing your focus to help you identify a starting place.

First, ask yourself two things: What do you want to do, and what can you do? In other words, consider what the learning organization needs and what it can take on. Then start conversations with your stakeholders around these needs and capabilities — working together to establish goals for your actionable ideas. 

For instance, after researching the real-world impact of moment-of-need learning, you decide you want your learners to have it. Great! You established what you want to do. Now it’s time to make space for stakeholder collaboration, which will help you source ideas, determine business readiness and determine how to get it done.  

Establish a community of practice that is comprised of stakeholders with diverse backgrounds and roles. Not only will this help you identify the full landscape of partners, parameters, and processes — both internally and externally — it will help you expand your palette of ideas.

When asking your community to discuss solutions and considerations, be sure to agree on some ground rules for your conversations. These guidelines will light the path of least resistance by steering imaginations and focusing efforts, and might include: 

Paint with a broad brush

Now that you’ve gathered insights and collaborators, create a guiding principle that focuses on outcomes rather than deliverables, keeping in mind that agility and flexibility are your most loyal companions. 

After all, change and failure are certainties — especially in the L&D field. Understand that these variables must be a part of your strategy rather than something you react to with surprise. This means applying flexibility even to the problem you’re solving, along with knowing that your budget, timelines and countless other variables will likely change.  

Believe it or not, your worst-case scenario is not failure; it’s allowing ideas to go undeveloped and unexplored. Each idea, or innovation, has a certain amount of potential energy. Over time, that energy can dissipate if it is not continually amplified — leaving you with lost time and resources while being no closer to solving the real-world challenges you face. 

The more change you can absorb, the closer you will be to reaching a possible solution. Decisions are made quickly, but change takes time. You can learn to appreciate each iteration, even if it is not going in the direction you anticipated. 

As you do so, ensure everyone impacted knows that you plan to adapt so they can maintain momentum when headwinds come their way. This also helps your team avoid miscommunication and misinterpretation. In short, remember to fail fast, adapt and then keep going!

You listened, remained flexible and finally released your innovation project into the wild. You’re done, right? Wrong! It’s time to do it all again. There are myriad strategies and approaches for innovation, but common among them is the need to keep an eye on the horizon while capitalizing on the momentum of the moment. 

Just as artists showcase their newest creations alongside the masterpieces that propelled them into greatness, focus on your current and future innovations while keeping your big wins in the spotlight. As you review and showcase your work, keep the following in mind: 

There is no standard framework for innovation. As you listen to the experts around you and stay within your exploratory parameters, remember that roadmaps are flexible. Rather than viewing them as fixed routes, view them as a landscape that you are painting on a canvas. You do not know what color you could dip your paintbrush into next — or what entirely new palette you will discover — when filling in your canvas of innovation. 

Just as art inspires us, your innovation may inspire engagement across your organization and further fuel a sense of purpose for all its employees. The future of your L&D organization is in your hands. Are you ready to create it?

This is the fourth article in the series — The Great Talent Show: A Time for Learning to Shine. 

The Great Talent Show is coming soon to organizations everywhere. While many have pointed to a talent movement often termed “The Great Resignation,” not all have reflected on the new priorities and needs of the talent that are at its root. This reflection presents an opportunity for learning and development teams to enter the spotlight. If there was ever a time to shine as L&D professionals, that time is now.

But how can organizations ensure their learning troupe doesn’t simply get a ticket to the show and is instead cast in a starring role? 

In this article series, learning experts at ADP — this year’s CLO LearningElite Organization of the Year — illustrate the multifaceted ways learning organizations can influence real results that impact the business while also supporting talent in reaching their full potential.

Read the other articles in this series: 

VR Training with greater ROI for employees. Tune in for an exclusive tour of Strivr’s powerful Enterprise VR Platform

Do Away With Disconnection in Your Hybrid Workforce

2022 Breakfast Club: Soft Skills & the Fourth Industrial Revolution

Winning in the Work World – The 5% Mindset To Become More Visible

Leading Organizations Through Times of Substantial Change