Leadership Operating System

Learning that occurs in small chunks close to when the learning will be applied. This is in contrast to learning that occurs in large, dedicated blocks of time such as a multi-day or week-long workshop. 

Dedicated training has the advantage of getting the learner out of the work environment to focus on the material. It has the disadvantage that much material is covered that cannot be applied immediately and therefore is not retained. 

Just-in-time learning is “micro” in scope and may only take an hour or two but is immediately applied on the job.

A young manager being asked to manage a significant cross functional change initiative would benefit from an hour module on how to define and charter a project. 

Other examples that occur in the life of a manager could include:  conflict resolution, performance reviews, meeting management, team development planning, measure definition, etc.

A key requirement for this model to work is that leaders need to be conscious of the assignment their give their team members that require new skills. 

At the point of assignment they should be thinking about who is ready for growth and point them to learning materials that will aid them. In addition, they need to see themselves in a mentoring role to assure that the mentee has the time and support to grow new new capabilities. 

Without leader support, important development activities often get pushed aside by urgent but less important firefighting.

The LeadFirst Platform encourages and supports leaders the the Leadership Operating System by integrating team development planning into the operational planning process.

A micro learning library is integrated into the leadership system so that learning resources can be identified and learning progress tracked as part of normal operations management.  The system is designed to encourage and facilitate continual learning as demands are placed on the team.