Day three began with a keynote presentation by John Seeley Brown, an educational thought leader. The gentleman, whose name excapes me, set the stage by discussing all the change that is currently going on.
The man making the introduction remarked that he had spent time in the ASTD global village to better understand the global participants’ perspective. He was able to glean these four concepts from his discussions:
- everything is changing
- change is creating opportunitiess
- nature of work changing
- more opportunity for collaboration
He was quick to point out that change is creating stress, and people are overwhelmed by the pace of change. However, one of the keys to managing change is through learning. We need to build learning into change planning. The change plan must have learning goals built in from the beginning. Learning has to be a key factor.
As we respond to change, we need to enable learning. We must do a better job of sharing knowledge. Technology can be a force multiplier for sharing knowledge. Additionally, we need to develop and enable learning change leaders. They can help lead change efforts.
Most importantly, we need to rebrand change as learning rather than separate entities. Every change effort is an opportunity to learn. Change is a necessity; we will never get away from it. Organizations typically aren’t good at change. However, by looking at change as a learning opportunity, we can make change easier.
