Happy to pitch in - so all comments welcome!
:-)

In reply to Andy:

Thanks, Andy!

In reply to Steve Bridger:

So... who has read the book?

In reply to Steve Bridger:

I'm still reading it - but finding it very thought-provoking and I'm scribbling lots in the margins. Would really love to exchange thoughts on the different subjects he covers with a view to refining what I do.

In reply to Claire:

Please share your thoughts here when you're ready, Claire :)

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Ok, so my first question is, has anyone else read it and feels ready to engage with this? And in how much detail? There's so much in it. It's a kind of reference book, a syllabus, a discussion manual all rolled into one. And Andy has done such a thorough job in terms of scanning the landscape, presenting models for practice, asking searching questions and encouraging reflection, that it's quite a task to land on one thing. But here goes...As the book is divided into four chapters, I'll start by saying that the argument in the first section Understanding Emerging landscapes (just one chapter 'Redefining workplace learning' felt very familiar from the stuff I'd done in my CIPD L&D Level 5 course - so nothing remarkable to me there, but does anyone else want to comment on that? If not, I'd suggest we get more into the other three sections.

In reply to Claire:

Thanks for kicking us off, Claire. Appreciated.

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Am I just an order-taker and an account-holder? Or a performance-enabler and a value-creator? (Part 2 ch 2. p.80) I didn't expect to be writing again so quickly but, this morning, as I think about how to make the L&D budget work for next year - about first principles, as well as redesigning the process for request/allocation - I get a message from one of the IT team, asking if I can approve an L&D payment through a backdated application. Fortunately, it's only a small amount, but it kind of sums up where I don't want to be. However, with Andy's book to hand, I'm skimming through the chapter on Diagnosing Needs, planning how I want things to work and hoping to avoid too many knee-jerk responses, in future. That's the value of this book, I think. It's like an ever-ready coach that keeps you on the straight and narrow of L&D whilst helping you to look up and out onto the broader vista of organisational development. I just hope I can get time with our leadership team to get those first principles in place!

In reply to Steve Bridger:

Tagging Andy

In reply to Steve Bridger:

I don't know if people are still wanting to talk about this book, but I just want to say how useful I found the 'Facilitating Communities' chapter (06) as I embarked on a review of our People Managers' meetings, at the end of last year. It got particularly useful as Andy described the Seven C's: Cause (What can everyone agree we're after? We all want excellent managers!), Culture (Who nurtures the culture; are there particular individuals, or is this a role for everyone?), Conditions (Does the learning community have an excellent area to use? Ho hum, we're trying to get it there), Cadence (What level of interaction will energise or disengage community members?), Content (Don't forget the subject experts within), Contributions (Does the 90:1 principle apply?) and Credit (How do we show appreciation for managers who are investing in learning?). With the help of some great reflective questions like these, I redesigned our template for meeting, and aligned it more closely with evaluative questions for feedback. More than that, it was just good to think through the whole tone of how we operate as group and motivate one another. I also made good use of the Twelve development ideas for learning communities (pp191-2) - and appreciated the pointer to Working out Loud by John Stepper, which I am now reading. Thank you, Andy!

In reply to Claire:

Thanks for sharing, Claire. Andy will be chuffed, I'm sure :)

In reply to Claire:

That's great to hear Claire - and its probably the topic I'm currently being asked to support on the most!