Not Fatal

Photo by pina messina on Unsplash

I've been on a cocktail of drugs since my heart surgery some 3½ years ago. I've followed a routine of what and when to take them. Recently, when I was picking up my latest prescription at our local pharmacy, the pharmacist invited me into her little cubby-hole for an annual review and, after querying what I took and when, suggested that I alter this routine, to compensate for some potential stomach problems. No suggestion that I was doing anything wrong, just a check-in and some up-to-date advice.

Previously, I took 3 of my drugs with my morning cuppa, as soon as I got up, and 1 as I went to bed. The key changes she suggested were; take all 4 of them at the same time, and take them with food.

No problem, I thought.

But it turns out that in adapting to this new routine, I keep forgetting to take my drugs - in some cases missing a whole day's dose until the following day! It's as if the trigger has been adjusted and I keep missing the shot.

But I'm fine. As long as I take them as soon as I can after remembering, there are no adverse effects. My heart keeps pumping and life goes on.

The challenge has been in adapting to this change in my routine. It didn't happen immediately. I'm still having to remember to take my drugs in one go, with breakfast, and if not then, with food when I do take them. But I'm slowly embracing the change. I've learned a new way and I am adopting new behaviours. Nobody died.

One often hears the adage that everyone likes the idea of change, but nobody wants to change. But it can be done, with a clear rationale, patience and repetitive practice, until it's embedded.

Change. It's inevitable. It's OK. And it won't kill ya!

Along for the Ride

It was the annual Learning and Skills Group 'Learning Technologies' Conference (#LT17uk) at Olympia in London last week, and I had the privilege of chairing a couple of sessions in the conference. I also made time to catch up with a lot of my friends and professional network (my PLN) in the breaks and downstairs in the Exhibition.

Once again, I was reminded how things have and are changing - and how quickly - in the world of learning. In the echo chamber of social media, those of 'us' who 'get it' often comment (sometimes rather smugly) how, if only 'the rest of them' would wake up, we would transform learning in business and become the trusted partner at the C-Suite table.

'We', of course, are in the minority and the reality for many in the profession and on the supply side is much more complex - budgets, policy, practice, development time, resources, etc - and for many, that's the value of attending these conferences and exhibitions; to get a sense of good (not 'Best') practice, learn from others' experiences, make connections and have some professional 'me' time to reflect and refresh.

After the conference on Thursday evening, I attended the LPI 'Learning Awards 2017' at the Dorchester Hotel in London. I was a judge for a couple of the categories back in November last year, and I was delighted to be there to witness the winners collect their awards and receive the recognition of their peers and the rest of the industry for their achievements. I was reminded that good practice happens and is happening throughout our profession, and that much of it does not rely on technology, but instead relies on on creativity, commitment and a clear vision of outcome and impact. Technology may well enhance the process, but it's not always the cornerstone of success.

That said, my experience at the LT Conference & Exhibition reinforced my view that, whilst technology is a game changer for L&D, we need not be at the bleeding edge to realise its benefits and apply them. Leveraging what you've got is a good way to start. You've probably already got the tech you need to start to make a difference, but maybe just haven't thought creatively enough about how you could apply it for your colleagues' developmental benefit.

Have you thought about asking them? Because they are already using - or are being impacted by - tech in real life, at home, in their leisure activities, even (Gasp!) under the radar at work.

In Donald Clark (@ DonaldClark) and Toby Simpson (@ pretzelsnake)'s session at LT17uk we discussed Artificial Intelligence. Both speakers reminded us that AI is not some future dystopia about robots coming to take over our jobs, but rather that algorithms are already working away in our backgrounds and making dispassionate judgements on what we need, when we need it and how to provide it. Data is gathered from our Goggle searches, Netflix selections, YouTube watches, Amazon purchases, etc) and is then translated into tailored responses and suggestions. Think Siri and Alexa, and notice how relevant to your query or facebook activity the responses and advertising your subsequently receive really are. Many of our learners are using these tools for themselves and in so doing, now have experience, and expectations, of learning being available to them in similar, contextualised and just-in-time manner. 

What they don't want or need is a L&D-centric, push-provided, command & control solution.

The consumerisation of tech is accelerating this change, I'd suggest, putting the learner as consumer in the driving seat. We are still in the vehicle, but as trusted navigator; curating, adapting and contextualising the route for them. We need to ensure that our own knowledge is sufficient to allow us to be able to suggest the most appropriate and relevant approaches and tools for the journey. If we don't, we will find ourselves standing at the roadside, desperately trying to hitch a lift as they zoom past us towards their different, diverse destinations. 

I'll have something to add about the 'research' that Rachel Burnham (@ BurnhamLandD) and I are jointly conducting into Virtual Reality (VR), to understand it's relevance to and impact on learning, and our experiences trying it out at Learning Technologies and elsewhere, in a later blog.

It's Permissable

Last week, I attended the excellent two day 'LearningLive' conference in London, hosted by the Learning and Performance Institute - great sessions, great speakers (especially the two - yes TWO - keynotes, Elliot Masie and Richard Wiseman), great company, conversations, dinner and learning. 

If you were an attendee yourself or if follow me or any of my PLN (Personal Learning Network) on Twitter and other social media you may have noticed - or indeed, contributed to - a lot of the resulting online sharing and comment. I won't re-present that stuff to you here. If you wish to access a comprehensive curation of the event, then follow this link to David Kelly's excellent blog site The 2016 Learning Live Backchannel: Curated Resources #LearningLive

No, what I wanted to talk about was something that's been very much part of my live learning (see what I did there?) recently, and was a recurring theme in many of the discussions in and out of the conference sessions - that of 'permission'. Who thinks they need it, and from whom? For what? Why do so many of us think that we need permission to do stuff or to do stuff differently? Is it the way we've been brought up? Educated? Trained? Inducted? Managed? And what would happen if we didn't seek permission, but went ahead anyway and sought forgiveness afterwards? What's the worst the could happen? Could we even be using not having permission as an excuse not to try, but to play it safe?

Many conversations at the conference revolved around changing our approach to learning and development, by applying technology, by developing new skills and by changing the relationships between the traditional provider/methodologies and the emerging self-aware, self-managing learner. For me, a  recurring and resonant theme throughout was about what permissions we feel we need to have to be able to choose and follow the paths of change.

I've been giving these questions a lot of thought recently, as I have allowed myself to start considering the possibility of no longer pursuing full - albeit self - employment, and perhaps even semi-retiring. Regular readers and other friends will be aware of my turbulent year last year, with heart surgery, followed by redundancy and my subsequent setting up of an independent L&D/Learning Technologies consultancy.  To cut a long story short, I found that my heart wasn't in it, that I didn't feel able to put in the hard work that was required to make a viable and growing business of it, but that I had to press on, despite how I felt.  But I also felt that I needed permission to take the decision to slow down, to take my pensions, and to try other things - permission from my wife, my children, my friends, my peers, ex-colleagues, PLN, clients and other professional associations.

Well guess what? They all - to a person - gave me their blessing, their permission, to follow my heart. And in opening myself up to sharing my thinking about a future without the pressure to 'do stuff' and 'make money', it turns out the only individual who's permission was being withheld was myself. It was my own perceptions of self-worth, credibility, usefulness which was holding me back. I am so grateful to my family, but also to my friends and PLN for the conversations we have had recently online and face to face at last week's conference. I know it's going to be OK; different, but OK.

Always needing permission to do stuff, or to stop doing stuff, or to do stuff differently stifles enthusiasm and creativity. But working out loud, sharing ideas and exploring possibilities, looking up and asking 'what if...?' opens up a world of opportunities. Maybe Learning & Development should give itself permission to at least try to do that.

P.S: I'm not burning all my bridges tho'. I continue to be fascinated by L&D, LearnTech and social media, just not to the exclusion of everything else. I'll still turn up at the tweetchats, the conferences and the unconferences. I'll still be mouthing off in social media. I may be doing more writing. I'm continuing to work with my existing clients and am open to any other opportunities which emerge.

New Normal (2)

And so it begins...

Today is Monday the 4th of January 2016, the first day of my 'new normal' working life. Regular readers of my blogs will be aware of the challenging year 2015 was for me and my family, a milestone year of fantastic highs and significant lows. That is now behind me and I will refer to it no more.

2016 is the year where I choose what I want to work on, how I want to work on it, and with whom. I have over 30 years' experience in Learning and Development, as a business owner and in the public and the commercial sectors. I have succeeded in my various roles and responsibilities by learning as I went along, stepping up into hitherto unknown territories, relying on my own quick study and the wisdom of my colleagues and co-workers, getting whatever training was necessary - and then getting on with the job, the best learning technique of them all.

My proposition is simple. I believe that no-one goes to work to have a miserable time and that, with the right support and encouragement, we can all have fulfilling, purposeful working experiences which benefit us, our colleagues, our customers, our families and the wider community in which we all live and operate. I believe that adult to adult dialogue and conversations between and amongst colleagues and facilitators is the way to achieve this - be it peer to peer, manager to colleague, or 'learner' to 'trainer/consultant'. People make mistakes. I've made mistakes. The big mistake would be to make that mistake again because we didn't learn from it the first time round. So listen. Don't judge (everyone is fighting their own battles that you know nothing about).

And now I'm choosing to step into a #newnormal working life and am offering my experience and pragmatic approach to L&D, Learning Technologies and Social Media to anyone who would be interested in working with me to improve themselves, their people and their outcomes.

If that's of interest, get at me via comments here, via Twitter, LinkedIn or About.Me

Thanks.

Niall

New Normal

It's now just over six months since I had my triple coronary bypass operation and coming up to three months since I was made redundant. In what was already going to be a momentous year for me and the family (Mandy's 60th Birthday, Natasha's Graduation, Our 30th Wedding Anniversary and my own impending 60th Birthday), these two sudden and unexpected events have brought me up short and made me question what I do, how I do it and - critically - why I do it.

Unsurprisingly, it has taken all of these six months to get my head (and my heart) into and around these questions. In many respects, I have been given several gifts - more time, better health, incredible support, counselling and reflective space being just some of them - so I have not felt the need or the impetus to get back to the busy. In slow time, I have tried to shift my thinking from what do I NOT want to do any more (it's quite a long list!) to what really matters to me and what I want my 'New Normal' to be in the time I have left.

 

Truth to tell, having experienced the rest and peace that these six months have afforded me, I can visualise - and would be quite happy to start - retirement. Financially, that's not an option quite yet. But what is emerging looks like an initial 5-year Plan followed by another 20 years which will mostly be about standing on roundabouts, shouting at traffic...

Received wisdom nowadays is that 60 is not a great age to find oneself out of work and looking to find more. But here's where 'Niall's New Normal' has already kicked in; I'm not stressing or worrying myself about it. Life is - literally - too short to do that any more.

Things happen for a reason. Things present themselves when you are open to allowing them to so do. The Universe offers opportunities that you will miss if you're not paying attention, if you're not listening, if you're not present - if you're too busy trying to get back to how things were (and what caused the problem/s in the first place). Letting go and endings are as much a part of moving forward as are shaping futures.

As I have been clarifying my thinking about those futures and how I want to operate, how I feel about 'stuff' and how I think I can be useful, events have opened up which have been relevant and attuned to those thoughts. I have finally caught up with Jamil Quereshi's talk at September's 'LearningLive' conference. Much of what he said resonates strongly for me - particularly about changing thinking to change feeling to change action and how important it is for our lives to have meaning and purpose. I have been able to participate in several other conference, learning and networking events recently, mostly through my Personal Learning Network, professional associations and social media communities, all of which have spoken to me in significant and timely ways of how I can be in #newnormal - and out of these interactions are starting to emerge potential professional opportunities, none of which involve having a full-time, role and salary-defined responsibility, but which could be autonomous, developmental, fun and rewarding. That seems to me to be a good start for now...

Watch this space!

Fear of Swimming

I had the pleasure of meeting and chatting with Caroline Walmsley (@carowalmsley), CEO of Brightwave, last week and we had a wide-ranging conversation about learning, learners, L&D, vendors and the ambiguous spaces betwixt and between them.

We talked about the shift that's happening in learning, the shift that's making learners, trainers and vendors take a good look at themselves and their current and future skill needs. And we wondered why so many of us are finding it difficult to evolve our thinking and our practice to keep up with, and stay ahead of, these changes.  We talked about arrogance and we talked about fear. 

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And I was reminded of learning to swim. I remembered going to swimming lesson at Paisley Baths when I was 8 or 9 years old. I remembered the panic of trying to keep my head above water, to stay in the world above the surface, the belief that I would not be able to breathe if my head went under the surface. The result of that thinking, of course, was that I spent all the time in swimming lessons struggling to 'stay alive' and paid no heed whatsoever to learning the techniques and thereby discovering the fun to be had in swimming.

That fear stayed with me for years. I denied myself the pleasure and the benefits of swimming, despite the many opportunities available to me, well into my late teens. When I did eventually - with the encouragement of friends and colleagues - learn to swim, it was still not with the unbridled joy and abandon that I saw in others. I was staying afloat, my feet were finally 'off the bottom', but I was still essentially expending all my energy in trying to keep my head above water.

And then, at the age of 22, I went to Corfu with my best pal for my first ever foreign holiday. I was determined that I would swim in the Mediterranean. Any Mike brought a snorkle and goggles. That combination of factors finally released me from the fear. At one and the same time, I found I was able to swim AND get my head under the water, whilst still breathing! It was a transformative experience. Not only did I not die, but the world underneath the surface was beautiful. I was surrounded by fish, I was 'flying' over an undersea landscape of forms and shapes and colours I had never imagined. I loved it.

And when I lifted my head back out of the water, I was a quarter of a mile away from the shore. I was a swimmer! (I panicked at that point, but had the sense to stick my head back under the water, and follow the undersea slope back to the beach - learning in action!)

That's what I think those of us engaged in UK Learning PLC need to do. We need to stop struggling to stay alive in the safe world we've always known, to put all our energies into keeping our heads above the water. We need to be brave, to find a way of getting our heads under the surface, to see the world of possibilities open to us, whilst realising that not only can we survive in that space, but we can develop new skills and have fun at the same time. We can operate in more learning environments than we think.

So, feel the fear and do it anyway. Stick your head under the surface, have a good look round and, in the immortal words of 'Dory' from the Disney Pixar film 'Finding Nemo', "just keep swimming, swimming swimming..."