Effective Learning for Managers and Leaders: What Do We Know?
Leadership Development
Jeff Gold, Principal Lecturer in Organisational Learning at Leeds Business School, Leeds Metropolitan University makes the case for management and leadership development interventions which use the workplace as the most important source of learning.
Jeff Gold has worked closely with Sterling on the development of our accredited Leadership Develop Programme and plays an active role in each programme, introducing delegates to the latest business school thinking together with practical, outcome focused learning interventions which have a clear link to improved performance in the workplace.
‘It has become increasingly evident that the workplace with all its complexity and everyday problems is the most important source of learning for managers and leaders.
Mostly, this will be hardly recognised but it is possible to make better and conscious use of what is going on around them and what they are doing as managers and leaders. This process begins by considering the most important and current issues that are faced.
This becomes a learning opportunity because, through some careful consideration, perhaps involving guidance and help from others, actions can be taken to respond to what is identified. This may take the form of reading something, contacting someone or even attending a training course but most likely, it will simply involve doing something at work.
Vitally, for such actions to become recognised as learning, managers and leaders must see what happens, recognise what worked or otherwise and incorporate any changes into their existing ways of working so that it can be done again.
If things don’t work out as expected, it is important to review what happened and perhaps challenge how things were done so that alternatives can be considered. Either way, whether things worked or need reviewing, managers and leaders can add to their skills and understanding, providing them with the basis for the next challenge’.
Jeff Gold has published and presented conference papers on a wide variety of topics relating to management and organisation learning, as well as being a textbook author. He is co-author of ‘Management Development, Strategies for Action’ which has long been established as the leading text in its field. Designed for students of Management Development on the CIPD PDS qualification and in business and HR degree programmes, the text offers a comprehensive overview of management development to practitioners.
Management Development, Strategies for Action by Alan Mumford and Jeff Gold. Published by CIPD Publications, ISDN 0852929846.
To find out more about workplace learning and how Sterling can help develop managers and leaders in your organisation call our senior development consultant, Trudy Searle, on 0845 0262266.