Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2020 - 20

The good news is some of the key
skills underlying these strategic
requirements for greater resilience are
also applicable outside of prolonged
crises:

L&D CAN PLAY
A PIVOTAL ROLE
IN PREPARING
AND ENABLING
ORGANIZATIONS
TO CHANGE, ADAPT
AND PERSEVERE
THROUGH CRISIS.
military units includes a run or march of
unknown distance, where the perceived
finish line can be literally pulled away
and participants pushed to "keep
going" before they finish. Similarly,
when disruption is longer lasting, our
survival and success may also depend
on those who can keep pushing along
with us. That often includes key
customers, suppliers and business
partners throughout the value chain.
What do we need from leaders amidst a
crisis without a clear finish line?
*	 We need leaders who "can go the
distance" without knowing what the
distance is.
*	 We need leaders who help the
organization navigate the changes
that disruption requires, without the
luxury of a fully mapped-out change
management plan.
*	 We need leaders who can map the
path to the next normal.
If these represent key organizational
needs for continuity and resilience, L&D
can build them into learning journeys and
career paths, helping the organization
plan for and build capabilities before we
have to call upon them - just as we build
redundant facilities and technologies,
practice rolling over to them, and
test and maintain them even if we
never use them.

| 20

*	 Managing and marshaling your
energy. One leading consumer
goods company, among others,
trains its people to understand
the different types of energy they
possess and how to manage them.
Learners come to understand that
curiosity, reframing and taking
action are three things that build
resilience, as well as develop their
own plans to renew their personal
capacity.
*	 Leading and navigating change. By
now, we have learned that change
never stops; it only accelerates.
How leaders listen, demonstrate
empathy and engage emotionally
with individuals is critical to effective
organizational change. Without that
sense of connection, change fatigue
sets in, and real transformation fails.
*	 Solving problems collaboratively. In
prolonged disruption, we may become
even more dependent on others to help
us find solutions to problems. Yet with
more virtualized teams and distributed
decision-making, tensions and conflicts
tend to
rise.

HOW L&D BUILDS
RESILIENCE IN
OTHER CONTEXTS
In many organizations, L&D's
continuity and resilience capabilities
have already been honed by less
dramatic and tragic disruptions -
but nonetheless trying ones for their
people - such as large mergers,
acquisitions and divestitures. We
sometimes call these resilience
skills, and bundle them with
other "soft skills" that we seek to
develop in leaders at all levels in
the organization.
Case in point: Consider the crisis
precipitated by the planned merger of
two of the world's largest life sciences
companies in the past decade.
In that instance, L&D and human
resources were tasked with building
the resiliency of employees and
ensuring the continuity of their work
through massive disruption. They did
so, in part, by reframing the story and
proactively training people around the
plan for this newly combined global
organization, as well as by providing
comprehensive change management
training and support for managers.

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Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - November/December 2020