Why I would invite a bull into this china shop...

A bull in a china shop...I was a sun burnt, pig tailed twelve year old when I first heard the phrase...

It was my favorite aunt who said the words as she invited me to break a few plates in her dinner set on purpose. "I so need a new set..." she said. "I can't get him to go shopping until I get rid of the old one. Be a sport and play the bull in a china shop for me."

I guess it was because she used the phrase in its most literal form that it stuck with me as being something positive...a definitive doing away of the old (smash, sweep, throw in the bin where it belongs) and an ushering in of the new.

It is this view that flashes through my head every time I sit through painful discussions on 'smart learning'. 

Everyone agrees that we are in the era of the 'network' organization. We agree that the demands of this era are very different from the world we left behind. Workers are no longer 'cogs in the wheel' but the center of focus. The value they bring as individuals is critical to the well being and growth of the network. 

We even agree that learning will be a key enabler in keeping the network going.

And yet, the response we bring onto the table, is to add in a few 'jingle-jangles' (that we nauseatingly call 'wow') to an old antiquated system that we are afraid to say is broken.

Smart Learning is not 'training'. Training is an 'imposition'...akin to the 'one size fits all' training road maps we dish out every year or the mandatory and yet irrelevant courses that flood my inbox every day. Smart Learning is a recognition of the learner being in charge...of the learner being able to define and choose the path forward.

Smart Learning is not the creation of virtual shovel ware that will 'save' money in the short term but will in the process, cripple the very enablement that we foresee. It is a true blend of instances of gaining and sharing knowledge, reflection, collaboration and practice.

Smart Learning is not about consumption. It is about enabling business value. It needs a very different view of metrics.

And most importantly, Smart Learning cannot be achieved with the mindset, skills, technology and organization construct we use to deliver 'training'. 

No, event managers cannot morph into Smart Learning consultants overnight. No, we cannot retrofit the tracking of collaborative learning into an existing Learning Management System. No, learning and knowledge are not different and don't need to be controlled by two different organization constructs.

And no, the band aid that you are putting in place, in the name of transformation is not going to yield any positive results and it will not be because Smart Learning is a 'bubble' that burst in your face.

Here's the cue for my proverbial bull to come charging into this china shop and do a definitive breakdown of everything old....a thorough cleansing in lieu of the ushering in of the new.

Are there any bulls out there? You have a standing invitation.