Reflecting on LearningLive 2024

DALL-E 2024-09-16 A gender-neutral human
speaker addressing an audience of robots.

I've been going back through my notes from last week's Learning & Performance Institute LearningLive annual conference, at which I took the conscious decision to attend as many of the AI-related sessions as I could.

Encouragingly, much of the focus was on the human implications for AI, on making our lives easier by automating our boring, time-consuming and repetitive jobs, particularly where they may already be under-resourced.

For the Learning and Development community, the advice was clear - less content and more context - with the requirement for us to help develop others' digital capability, support the shift from roles to skills and develop personalised learner pathways. In short, re-learn how to learn in the new reality of an AI-enhanced business world and society.

In so doing, the suggestion is that we will create more time and space to develop ourselves, to improve our work, social and family lives, and to develop new skills and interests which 'give us joy' and contribute to the greater human good. A way still to go, then.

I'm starting by exploring and improving my AI prompt skills for specific purposes - once I've worked out what those purposes are. I clearly need to put more work into writing AI image generator prompts.

Perspective

Two weeks ago, Andrew Jacobs posted a question on LinkedIn about 'catchphrases' and what we thought our catchphrases would be... (https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andrewjacobslnd_catchphrases-i-was-thinking-about-the-activity-7224380929857748992-SBde?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop ).

My answer was immediate and probably came as no surprise to him or some of his other readers.

It was this.

#LookUp (but you knew that already!)

And only a few days later, facebook reminded me of a post I did some 8 years ago, wherein I ‘cartooned’ the same catchphrase

So, if that’s my catchphrase, what does it mean?

Quite frankly, it’s in the eye of the beholder. If it resonates for anyone else, it’s probably related to their own personal or professional situation and experience.

For me, it means lifting my eyes up from what’s immediately in front of me, looking for other, wider perspectives.

My Instagram account’s full of photos looking up. I’m an armchair astronomer and satellite watcher. I’m nosy. If I’m out walking, be it in town, country or seaside, I’m always checking out the upper levels of buildings, the cloud patterns in the sky. If I’m visiting a National Trust or other heritage building, I look at the turrets and roofs from the outside and the ceilings and stairwells from the inside.

And I learn new things.

As a physical act, looking up requires me to shift my focus, from what’s directly in front of me, transitioning through to the distance ahead and onward up to the roof, the treetops and/or ‘the heavens’.

Spending much of my time, as I still do, in front of the laptop, taking a break from the close-up view (which is physically tiring on the eye muscles) relaxing them and looking into the distance and up is important. That very act invites reflection, a pause, an adjustment of perspective – and often presents some new insights.

You might also have noticed that sometimes ‘Look Up’ becomes ‘#LookUp’. It’s been one of my social media hashtags for years now. And it seems I’m not the only one – many people have posted on different social media channels using #LookUp as their hashtag.

Try searching for the #LookUp hashtag on your SoMe channels of choice and be inspired by others’ different perspectives. And maybe share a few of your own.

The Blog I Said I Wouldn't Write

Image by Imtiyaz Quraishi from Pixabay

Last week, I had cataract removal eye surgery. Afterwards I put out a couple of light-hearted posts about how I wasn't going to write the obvious analogous blog post for L&D and HR about vision, clarity and future focus. It generated a fair bit of interest and many punntasticly humorous comments in response, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  One or two kind people even suggested I had missed an open goal actual blogging opportunity.

I've reflected on that, so here it is. (Bear in mind that I said at the time that it could probably write itself.)

Seeing Clearly: A Journey from Cataract Surgery to an HR and L & D Vision

There’s a certain poetic irony in having cataract surgery at a point in life when one’s personal and professional vision also needs clarity. Last week, I underwent a procedure to remove cataracts, those cloudy formations that were obstructing my physical vision. This journey, quite unexpectedly, mirrored the process that HR and Learning & Development (L&D) professionals must undertake to clear their own 'cataracts' and regain focus and clarity.

The Cloudy Lens

Cataracts develop gradually, and you might not even notice the decline in your vision until it significantly impacts your daily life. Similarly, in HR and L&D, vision can become clouded over time by outdated practices, market changes, and internal inefficiencies. Leaders might not recognize the gradual drift away from their core objectives and the dulling of their strategic vision in areas such as employee engagement, skill development, and organizational culture.

Diagnosis and Acceptance

The first step towards clearer vision is diagnosis. For me, it was a visit to the optometrist, followed by acceptance of the need for surgery. In HR and L&D, this step involves honest introspection and perhaps the help of external consultants or data analytics. A clear-eyed assessment of the organisation’s current state, acknowledging areas where vision has become blurred—such as employee satisfaction or training effectiveness—is crucial.

The Procedure: Removal of Obstructions

My cataract surgery was straightforward – removing the cloudy lens and replacing it with a clear, artificial one. In HR and L&D, this translates to identifying and removing obstacles that impede clarity and focus. These could be outdated policies, ineffective training programs, or misaligned goals. The surgical precision required in business means not just removing the obstacles but also ensuring that what replaces them brings about the desired clarity and functionality, such as updated learning management systems, more relevant training content, or refined HR policies.

Post-Op: Adjusting to New Vision

Post-surgery, the world appears brighter and more focused. However, there is still a period of adjustment, a time to adapt to the new clarity. For HR and L&D professionals, this adjustment phase is about adapting to new strategies, technologies, and processes. It involves training HR personnel and employees, aligning team members with the new vision, and ensuring that everyone is looking in the same direction, especially in terms of career development and organizational goals.

Long-Term Focus: Looking Ahead

With clearer vision, it’s easier to take the long view, both in life and in business. Post-surgery, I've found myself appreciating the finer details and planning for the future with renewed clarity. In HR and L&D, once the immediate obstructions are removed, it’s vital to maintain a long-term focus. This means setting strategic goals that are not just about immediate gains but are sustainable and future-oriented, such as continuous professional development, fostering a learning culture, and succession planning.

Vision Beyond the Horizon

In both personal recovery and organisational rejuvenation, the key is not just to clear the immediate obstacles but to foster a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability. For me, this means regular check-ups and eye care. For HR and L&D, it means continually scanning the horizon for new opportunities and potential challenges, and being ready to pivot when necessary. This involves staying abreast of industry trends, leveraging data analytics to monitor progress, and being agile in adapting to changes.

Conclusion

My cataract surgery was more than a medical procedure; it was a metaphor for the necessity of clear vision in all aspects of life. For HR and L&D professionals, this metaphor is a powerful reminder that maintaining clarity of vision requires regular introspection, willingness to change, and a relentless focus on the future. Just as my world is now brighter and clearer, organisations too can achieve a sharper, more focused vision by addressing their cataracts and looking ahead with clarity and confidence.

End. 

But wait, does that sound authentic to you? Is that my blog voice speaking? Maybe a bit too laboured and glib, pompous even? All the obvious metaphorical and analogous boxes ticked? 

If you think, yes, that's Niall, all right, I need to rethink my writing style. If you're not sure, or are even certain that it isn't me, then you'd be correct. 

Remember I said at the time that the blog could probably write itself? 

Well, nearly. I prompted ChatGPT to visit my blogsite to learn my writing style and tone of voice and then draft a 500 word blog drawing analogies between my cataract removal surgery and business vision, focus and taking the long view of the future. I then prompted it to make that first draft more relevant to L&D and HR. 

Finally, I prompted it to make v2 less pompous and self assured and to be more inquisitive about other people's experience. This became v3.

The version I published above (with some editorial tweaks from me) is actually the output from Prompts #1 and #2 which, funnily enough, I preferred to the v3. I liked its sub-headings and it made some more connections than I might have.

So what was the point of this exercise? a) I am on a self development ladder regarding generative AI and this seemed like an opportunity to explore its capabilities from my own perspective, and b) I honestly couldn't be bothered writing what I thought would be an obvious and tenuously linked piece linking eye surgery with vision etc in L&D and HR. (Back to "Does this need to be said / said by me / said now?")

While reading, did you, and if you did, how long did it take you, start to question if it was me? If not, did the piece stand up on it's own two feet? Was it too obvious? Too clever? Too laboured? Or just about right? Is AI going to usher in the demise of the written blog? Or is more AI-generated written content coming our way? How do we ensure that our human voice is still the one with the most useful things to say?

For now, if I use AI for content creation, I'll advise the reader that I have done so, just in case.

Thanks for reading and for any comments you might want to add.

Full Circle

Photo by Daniel Lloyd Blunk-Fernández on Unsplash

I recently took voluntary redundancy and amicably parted company with my employer.

This, however, was not my first rodeo. In a career of some 40 years, I have taken redundancy three times, for various reasons, none of which reflected fault on my part, but which were business, organisational or personal adjustments. 

The challenge for any individual in these circumstances is to try not to take it personally, nor  consider it as the end of one’s career, but to see beyond the immediate impacts, to look for the opportunities they may present, rather than to catastrophise and assume the worst.

“Easy for you to say”, I hear you say; “you were only part-time - and weren’t you going to retire soon anyway?”

Yes, I was. But I have learned over the years to adopt a more philosophical attitude to these challenges.

 

I recognise here that I write from a more privileged position than many - I was approaching voluntary ‘active retirement’ next year, (and had previously indicated so to my employer); I was already working part-time and flexibly, mostly from home; our children are grown up and our mortgage will be paid off by the end of this year. And I had some potential consultancy work already lined up. Many of my colleagues were not in such a reasonably comfortable place.

So I reflected that maybe it was time for me to step aside, to embrace my ‘active retirement’ as a freelance consultant/coach/mentor, whilst facing into a personally eventful 2025, with significant birthdays, anniversaries and other family celebrations ahead. In so doing, I took myself out of the pool for what my job was to become, hopefully creating the opportunity for other ‘at risk’ colleagues to step in or up, depending on where they were in their careers and personal circumstances - which is what happened.

Now it feels like I’ve come full circle. 

I started my working life as a professional actor. This meant i spent most of my early working years ‘out of work’ (i.e. not acting) but in that time I worked in many other roles - fruit-picker, postman, delivery driver, barman, shop salesperson, follow-spot operator, audio-typist, office manager - with the occasional acting job to keep me on my chosen career path. Acting contracts ranged from 6 weeks to 10 months. And then I’d be back on the job hunt again whilst typing solicitors’ letters, pulling pints or delivering building supplies. It was the original ‘gig’ career.

It was only after I walked away from an acting career which wasn't going anywhere quickly enough, to pursue more security, home and family building, that I realised that along the way I had developed resilience, adaptability and lots of transferable skills. And that I had NOT wasted the first 12 years of my working life - I had been preparing myself for whatever career paths lay ahead.

The story of how I became an IT Trainer, Training Manager and Learning Consultant over the next 30 years is for another time. Sufficient to say that those skills I developed in my early career and my capacity to deploy them and to learn new skills has got me to where I am today.

As we all know, the world of work is changing fast. There is no such thing as a job for life any more. Everyone will face redundancy at some point in their working lives, maybe more than once. Lifelong learning and a preparedness to grasp new skills and opportunities are skills in themselves and it behoves us to embrace them, irrespective of what sectors we may work in.

As I update my own CV, in readiness for another late career flexible working ‘gig’ life, I wonder how you see yourself, your strengths, your successes and what you can do to future-proof your employability. For example, one of the questions - amongst many - I’m asking myself right now is, what skills have I got that AI doesn’t and, if I have any, how can I leverage them over the next few years? And is that even a sensible question?

What questions are you asking yourself about your future of work and how are you preparing yourself for that? Let me know if I can help you with those questions or help you plan your future career strategy. My contact details are in LinkedIn.

Reconnecting

I’m off to the CIPD Festival of Work in London next week.

Photo by Shane Rounce on Unsplash

Now, given that the CIPD and I parted company at the end of April, you may be a little surprised to hear that. Well, whilst I no longer work at CIPD, I remain a member, as I have been for over 20 years now. Over those years, and alongside my member and Fellowship of the Learning and Performance Institute, I have worked in the public, private and charity sectors and developed my professional skills and forged many different professional and personal relationships.

So since leaving CIPD, I’ve been intentionally reconnecting with some of those people. I've been both surprised and pleased to have heard from, arranged to meet with and/or spoken with several individuals already. I’ve had a few voice calls, some Zoom/Teams online conversations and met some other folks for face to face ‘coffee catch-ups’, with more in the diary. (At this point, I could @List so many great people, but this isn’t a self-serving LinkedIn post and they know who they are anyway). Sufficient to say that each and every one of those conversations was different, authentic and nourishing. 

And now I’m looking forward to more of those and a full day’s learning and reconnecting at the Festival of Work next week.

I’ve been powerfully reminded about the value of connection - and the need for us all to develop and maintain our relationships. And it’s got me wondering: Who and what are my tribes? Who am I drawn to - and why? Who is drawn to me - and why? Why are we already connected, and who else should I be connecting to now?

Because this is not just about maintaining a ‘useful’ professional network, it’s about future-proofing my late career ‘active retirement’.

My active retirement will not be totally work-focussed. It will be fulfilling in so many different ways - I have some freelance work already in train, with capacity for more; I have more free time to reflect, write, continue learning to dance, dance more, walk more, travel, visit more heritage railways, spend more time with family and my pals, all while I still have the capacity and capability to do so.

I hope to see you along the way.

Overwhelmed

I said a couple of weeks ago that I would be writing something about late career flexible working. This isn’t that post. 

Although it is related.

Instead, I’ve brought forward a piece to catch up with UK Mental Health Week, and an inspiring talk, “Being Intentional About Wellbeing”, by Rob Stephenson, mental health campaigner and keynote speaker, (https://www.linkedin.com/in/robstephenson/) at the CIPD in Sussex Branch Annual Meeting in Crawley on 14th May.

One of Rob’s invitations in particular grabbed my attention. He encouraged us to reflect on a time when we experienced ‘Wellbeing Vulnerability’ and what lessons we may or may not have learned as a result. This blog is my reflection about a particular challenge I experienced last year.

Basically, I had painted myself into a corner. I had too many programmes in development for too many internal and external stakeholders, with too many deliverables and deadlines looming. I was starting to feel overwhelmed.

But I didn’t communicate that fact, and I didn’t ask for help. I tried to keep going, all the while giving myself a hard time for not admitting to this. It was my job, my responsibility to deliver. 

All this, of course, was amplified by the fact that I was not physically surrounded by colleagues. I was effectively ‘flying solo’ at home, with my interactions dictated by Teams calls and emails. Through the lens of the laptop screen, everyone else seemed to be coping - so it must just  be me. 

Although digitally ‘present and correct’, I was actually struggling and hiding. 

Eventually, I admitted how I was feeling to my wife, whose characteristic and pragmatic two-word advice was "Go sick!". I called in sick.

The release - and relief - was instant. Suddenly, the self-imposed distress of the previous weeks disappeared. Of course, this was immediately replaced by the guilt at having walked away and left work undone, colleagues more than likely having to step in and client programme delivery deadlines put at risk. And I was ashamed. After a week off, I contacted my GP and was signed off with stress. 

For the next few weeks, I only communicated with my Line Manager and the Head of HR, both of whom were 100% reassuring and who mobilised both the colleague support, to keep things on track in my absence, and the welfare support, communication and compassion I needed to enable me to return to work. 

When I felt better I went back to work in a staged return, and faced into a more supportive situation where work was more equally distributed, and where processes had been tweaked and roles/responsibilities (including mine) had been altered accordingly.

The wheels hadn’t come off; nobody died and all the programme deadlines were met!

That model effectively became our new way of working and continued successfully up until I left the CIPD amicably a few weeks ago. I am grateful to all my colleagues for supporting me through that challenging time and, indeed, for all their commitment and compassion throughout.

So what did I learn here? Self-care is difficult. Admitting to self-doubt is difficult. Asking for help is difficult. Not doing so leads to guilt, panic, shame, inauthentic behaviour and a spiralling sense of looming catastrophe (I’m being rubber-banded back to that time as I write this!).

So my ask of you is this: if you find yourself in a similar situation at work, if you feel yourself overwhelmed, spiralling into depression, unable to cope, fearful of being ‘found out' - own up to it. Ask for help. Talk to a friend, your partner, your manager, to your HR Team, to your employee assistance programme provider. 

Yes, it takes courage to show vulnerability, but in doing so, you will open the door to a world of help and support. And things will change and get better for you.

It worked for me.

Finding My Voice

I never liked my voice. 

Photo by Brad Neathery on Unsplash

As a late-developing teenager, I was the last lad in my year group at school whose voice ‘broke’. I can still hear the calls and laughter echoing down the corridor as the other lads would call out “Niall… Niall…” in high-pitched, squeaky voices. Even as I write this, my ears and cheeks burn at the memory. 

Ironic then that I went into school drama productions, sang in the school choir, joined a local Am Dram group and, when my voice eventually broke to a light tenor, went on to study and qualify with a diploma in Drama and the Spoken Word at college in Edinburgh. 

But I still didn’t like my voice. 

It did change tho’. At drama college, we were advised to lose our regional (Scottish) accents if we ever hoped to work professionally South of the border. Which is why those of you I have met or spoken with in any social or professional capacity over the last forty years will have detected a cadence, a rhythm, a quality to my voice which betrays my Paisley upbringing. 

Fast forward through twelve years as a professional actor, ten years as an IT Trainer, a further eighteen years managing IT and L&D Teams and another nearly ten years in freelance and employed L&D consultancy, oft times speaking and chairing at LPI, CIPD and Learning Technologies conferences and events. 

In short, I’ve earned my entire living and built my professional network, using the voice that I had grown up so disliking. 

But I also developed another voice; that of a contributor to professional debate and discussion about L&D, OD and HR on social media. I posted on Twitter, facebook, LinkedIn and I started writing and posting blogs (niallgavinuk.blogspot.com). I found I could express myself a little better, maybe even a little more impactfully, in writing and live streaming tweetchats. 

But recently, I lost that part of my voice again. Covid, and how it was being handled nationally, ultimately silenced me in that space. I had started posting politically and angrily. I had gone ‘off piste’. And it wasn’t serving me or those with whom I had built up a following on SoMe. 

So I stopped blogging. I stepped back from Twitter. I rarely showed up on LinkedIn. I felt I had nothing new to add to the professional conversation that wasn’t already being said - and said better - by others.  And I got out of the habit. 

By this time, I was working at the CIPD (the UK Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development), as a part-time Commercial Learning Consultant, starting during the first week of the first UK lockdown. I’d never worked for a membership organisation - indeed, any organisation - with such a large professional reach, and with such a loud and confident voice of its own. As the professional body for ‘the people profession’, it punches above its weight and has many internal, external, international - and vocal - champions. I’ve been a member for years.

So I didn’t feel the need to add to their stakeholder messaging - certainly not as an independent voice -  and certainly not when there were so many other influencers and leaders already amplifying their voice so effectively. 

So why this blog now? “Does this need to be said? Does it need to be said by me? Does it need to be said by me right now?” (Attrib: Craig Ferguson) 

Well, as of the end of April, and after four years of late-career flexible working, CIPD and I amicably parted company and I've been taking the time to settle and reflect on things. Several themes have emerged for me, the first being how to find my voice again after a three year period of virtual social media silence. I’ve done a couple of update posts on LinkedIn and on facebook and this blog is my first since 21st May 2021! Others are in the pipeline, depending on how this one lands. 

Early days, but I think I’m starting to find my voice again.