What and who are we? Are any of you having an identity crisis? One day you are creating a L&D program and the next you are asked to do some competency modeling for career ladders. Does the name of your department fit all of the skills you and your staff offer?
Performance Improvement, OD, Talent Management, Human Performance Improvement…what? What are we? For as long as I can remember, the names of Learning and Development have transitioned from one to another; Training, Learning, Human Performance Improvement (HPI), and Organizational Development (OD). What others did I miss?
Evolution is good, growth is good, and development is good as is transformation. But what are we? How do you align your department name with all of the tools and projects you do? We certainly cover a lot of ground with all the different tools we have and use.
We can talk about how training has transformed over the years and it’s all about performance improvement now. Learning a new skill may be part of that. Practicing and getting better at an existing skill may be part of that. Coaching certainly is a part of it now.
Isn’t it our jobs to look at performance whether it is a lack of improvement in a process or an individual and make it better? That’s performance.
How about Learning and Performance Improvement? It can encompass HPI, L&D and OD.
What do you think?
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