Delivering leadership development to a digital audience (trainers prefer working from home too)

In my latest podcast with Ian Perry, founder of Emerge OD Consultants, we compare the old model of leadership development with the new Covid-fast-tracked digitised version.

Ian explains the old contracting model of leadership development as a ‘conspiracy of convenience’ – words passed onto him by Andrew Jacobs. It means, there was an acceptable formulaic delivery model that ticked sufficient boxes for all the key stakeholders to get on board. It looked and felt like a ‘leadership development programme’. And you have to develop leaders, right!

Shifting the delivery online as a result of the pandemic, is arguably ticking even more boxes. It’s ‘digital transformation’, it’s efficient, it’s scalable and recyclable. It’s cheaper!

For all involved, switching workshops and conferences to Zoom or Teams has been rightfully celebrated for its business continuity and in difficult times.

But as we enter the new normal of blended working arrangements, for those of us who have significantly digitised our learning offer in the last 18 months, we also need to evaluate the fast-tracked blended learning solutions.

In this podcast, Ian is incredibly open and honest about what the digitisation of leadership development means for him as a facilitator and the adaptions he’s having to make. He is however clear on the types of learning models, such as the flipped classroom – and how the classroom or workshop experience has to be different if the underpinning theory has been gained independently online. It has certainly provoked my thinking about the role of social learning and practice in the digital models.

Please do give it a listen and follow Ian on Linkedin.