Being in the field of education and loving TED as I do (see post from September 6th), I felt compelled to view one of the most popular talks on TED. It is a talk given by Sir Ken Robinson, creativity expert and author, on the topic of how schools kill creativity. The talk is quite entertaining and interesting so take a few moments to watch it. What I found most interesting about the talk and in reading over some of Robinson's work, is the connection between education and human resources. Now, in this circumstance, I am using the term human resources to mean humans as a resource. I make the clarification because I think we, as human resource professionals and managers from all walks of life, forget that is the general scope of what the profession deals with.
The education, in all manners (e.g. formal, organization-driven, on-the-job, etc...) of human resources is integral to moving forward in any business. The following quote by Robinson in his book Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative sums it up nicely:
It is often said that education and training are the keys to the future. They are, but a key can be turned in two directions. Turn it one way and you lock resources away, even from those they belong to. Turn it the other way and you release resources and give people back to themselves. To realize our true creative potential - in our organizations, in our schools and in our communities - we need to think differently about ourselves and to act differently towards each other. We must learn to be creative.
How is your organization supporting education, training and development, creativity? Are you unintentionally marginalizing the talents of your employees by utilizing a "one size fits all" training program? Is your training program designed such that instead of proving flexible training and open access to resources it forces employees to mold themselves into the construct of the program and cuts off open access, thereby "turning the key the wrong way"?
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