Learnability Index — magic potent to prevent extinction

Learnability Index — magic potent to prevent extinction

In my previous post, I shared a rhetorical view that companies that do not get their employees to reinvent themselves, are soon going to be extinct. I have received numerous endorsement to my views. I have also heard some very interesting contrarian views. I would like to thank all of you for your active participation in this dialogue.

As promised, I will look to address the issue around building and measuring the attitude of learnability. Just so that we are on the same page, I am reiterating the definition of what I mean by “attitude of learnability”.

People who demonstrate an attitude of learnability, are ever curious; flexible; adaptable; willing to learn/unlearn; willing to experiment, test, fail & retry; think current & future simultaneously; aware of their surroundings; self-motivated, self-reliant & self-directed; reinventing themselves continually and therefore are always contemporary.

The moot questions are how does one:

a. Measure this attitude of learnability.

b. Build a culture of learnability in the company.

In this blog, I shall address the first question about measuring the attitude of learnability.

Measuring attitude of learnability

Learnability can be measured when there is adequate static & dynamic data around the profile of an employee:

· What skills does the employee possess? Are these skills generic, warm, hot, or futuristic? Depth in each skill area?

· What behaviors does the employee demonstrate? Are these foundational, current, or futuristic? Depth in each behavior qualified by a 360 input.

· What is the learning consumption of the employee? Quantum, quality, and level of content consumed? Qualified assessments to measure learning assimilation.

· How agile is the employee in learning? Which skills are being learned and at what pace?

· How fast is the employee able to translate and apply learning back at work? Qualified inputs from projects or line managers/peers.

· How is the employee contributing to self & peer growth by joining and contributing to communities? What is the follower-ship generated? What is the contribution to social learning and consumption from social learning?

· How is the employee pushing self to challenge boundaries? Participating in contests, events & activities, that pushes one’s own boundaries.

All of the above are measurable actions and behaviors. Most companies today have LMS and peer collaboration tools. These tools are merely used as data hosting software. With the advent of intuitive new-age interactive and collaborative learning platforms, employee behavior can not only be captured digitally, it can be tracked & analyzed using ML & AI. From an intuitive analysis of multiple factors mapped to a company’s business context, the learnability index of an employee can be derived.

Using the above methodology companies can measure & track the learnability index across the organization, across locations, teams, and individuals.

I am attaching below a LIVE extract [Sourced from Planet Ganges] that gives you an insight into how it looks at a company level.

I will address Question (b) in my next post. I would like to allow you time to reflect, question, and comment on my thoughts.