University of Minnesota - UMN Executive Leadership Insights
Learning at Speed
Book

Learning at Speed

How to Upskill and Reskill Your Workforce at Pace to Drive Business Performance

Nelson Sivalingam
Kogan Page, 2022
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Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

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Recommendation

Learning tech expert Nelson Sivalingam argues organizations must put aside traditional, plodding approaches to developing learning content and adopt Lean and Agile principles instead. By creating “minimum valuable learning” content and iterating toward a fully viable product in sprints, professionals can develop relevant learning linked to business outcomes – at greater speed. Sivalingam, who heads a learning technology platform, refreshingly refrains from using his book as a marketing ploy, offering a convincing case for bringing Lean and Agile to L&D.

Summary

In a world of exponential change, those who learn fastest will win.

Firms listed on the S&P 500 once survived an average of 65 years; now their average life span is 15. Once-essential barriers to competition – quality, price, people – offer less protection today. According to the World Economic Forum, in 2022 more than half of all workers required upskilling to remain effective in their jobs. In this environment of constant and accelerating change, fast learning gives organizations and workers the best protection against both obsolescence and competition. Whether the challenge is to develop a vaccine during a pandemic or keep pace with required skills, speed matters.

The key to success lies in learning faster than your competition in order to seize emerging opportunities first. Start-ups apply Lean principles and Agile approaches to develop new products and services: Through a process of iteration, they experiment to determine which challenges matter and which solutions will work for their customers, before they invest significant time and money. Learning and development (L&D) organizations should apply the same methods to develop and deliver content&#...

About the Author

Learning and technology expert and serial entrepreneur Nelson Sivalingam is the co-founder and CEO of the London-based edtech platform HowNow. He also hosts the L&D Disrupt podcast.

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