The Learning Imperative: Raising performance in organisations by improving learning

by Mark Burns, Andy Griffith

In The Learning Imperative Mark Burns and Andy Griffith examine the key ingredients that ensure effective learning, and offer leaders step-by-step guidance on how they can achieve it in their own teams and organizations. Learning is central to the long-term success of any team and is far too important to dismiss or to relegate to a nice to do list. In The Learning Imperative, bestselling authors Burns and Griffith explore the common barriers to effective learning and present a range of practical tools and strategies to help teams bring about and reap the benefits of a more positive culture around training and development. Together they map out the key stages of the learning journey and provide a comprehensive guide for team leaders and managers who want to improve learning in their teams. They also share essential advice on the design and delivery of effective training programs, and punctuate their instruction with a range of illuminating case studies drawn from real-life contexts across the public, private and third sectors. The book has been split into three sections. Part I sets out why creating and maintaining a learning team needs to be a high priority, and provides an easy-to-use framework to help leaders establish their team s starting points. Part II is designed to assist leaders in fostering an open-to-learning mindset in their teams offering tools to diagnose any closed-to-learning mindsets and supplying straightforward strategies to facilitate team members development in becoming habitually reflective, curious and responsive to feedback. The final part of the book concerns the designing and leading of effective learning, whether it is packaged within a one-off session or a multi-session program, and will help leaders ensure that the learning their team participates in is engaging, appropriately challenging and, most importantly, will develop their performance. Whether you are an experienced leader or just starting out in the role, this user-friendly manual will empower you to boost your team s performance and to make a powerful impact on their learning. The book Part Learning and your team 1. The importance of learning 2. The learning performance matrix Part Overcoming barriers to learning 3. Processing overload 4. Low relational trust 5. Perception gaps Part Designing effective learning 6. Planning backwards 7. Developing shared clarity 8. The you stage 'The Learning Imperative' has been named a finalist in the 2018 INDIES Book of the Year Awards in the business and economics category. 'The Learning Imperative' has been named the winner of the HR and Management category of The Business Book Awards 2019.

240 pages, Paperback

Published October 8, 2018

Reviews

[Alison Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a real workhorse of a book: so much excellent information, intelligently structured and supported with - as you'd expect from a book on learning and development - a strong pedagogical framework.
A book on learning really does have to walk the talk to be credible, and this book delivers. There's a good balance of theory and practice with just enough stories in just enough detail to be helpful without becoming distracting. None of it feels ground-breaking, but some elements - like the impact of relational trust on learning (the 'glue' of the team) and the need for managers to put in place protocols that create 'unconditional positive regard' in the workplace to facilitate that - hit me with the force of unrecognised truth.
Burns and Griffith's REFRESH model (Resilience, Enquiring, Feedback, Revising, Effortful, Sharing, Habitual), despite its irritating mix of nouns and adjectives, is a useful model for checking the impact of the various issues and interventions they raise, and the REFRESH reading lists at the end of each chapter are superb - the best books are not only worth reading themselves, but point the reader on to other great resources, and this book does that brilliantly.
The Learning Imperative was the winner of the HR & Management category of the Business Book Awards in 2019 and it's easy to see why: the judges described it as 'a refreshingly simple text explaining a complex topic perfectly for its intended target audience', and I couldn't agree more.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best training books I’ve read in recent years. Lots of good stories and some brilliant activities and resources.

[Ana Maria]

If you are looking to transform your organization with training, then invest time to read this book!