The Head of Human Resources of a leading ISP company asked me not so long ago what could be the least possible time in which his organization could transition into a “lean, mean, and hard” L&D machine. I thought for a moment and said, “One year, at best.” Of course, as a consultant, I cannot afford to be wrong, so I had to explain to my astonished listener.
“In the first quarter”, I started, “you strategize for business and then align the L&D initiatives to those strategies. Next quarter, you implement those strategies and get the content in place—” “And, then, what?” interjected the incredulous recipient of the above statements.
“And, in the third quarter”, I went on, “you deliver all those programs in rapid succession. Before you know it, the last quarter is upon you and it’s time for measurement of the learning effectiveness.”
“But, what about unforeseen schedule overruns, scope changes, process paralysis?” quivered the HR Head. “If you follow the spirit of lean manufacturing, you can build your lean-mean-hard machine—efficiently in such a time frame!” I closed.
