Experienced HR leaders and learning experts discuss how the business of education and training can help learners tap their creative potential, why a snapback to pre-pandemic teaching approaches is a no-go, and why the future of learning is interactive.

We’ve all heard it, read it or thought it ourselves: 21st-century learners who want to stay relevant, need to tap into their full creative potential. Staying relevant in the business of education implies rethinking traditional teaching and learning practices, coming up with better solutions, and exploring new pathways of thinking and doing.

But what does all that mean for the actual training programs, courses, workshops and lectures that need to be delivered? What does it mean for HR, L&D, trainers, teachers, and learners? Two leaders in the field of HR and teaching competencies in Austria talk about their experiences, insights and wishes: Dr. Martina Schmied, the newly retired boss of a 65,000-member public sector organization and Dr. Monika Heinrich, current head of the teaching and learning competency center of a university of applied sciences.

Interview by Dr. Christina Merl with Dr. Martina Schmied, recently-retired Director of Personnel, City of Vienna

Q: Martina, how would you define creativity in the organizational context?

A: Creativity for me is the ability to rethink an existing concept and come up with new – and better – solutions. It implies the willingness to take risks and effect change in the real world, together with others. It’s like dancing – you need to feel the rhythm, absorb the vibes, and swing. I also think that creativity goes hand in hand with failure.

Q: When do you need this creativity in business?

A: In organizations, we need to get creative when it comes to adapting our strategic plan to fast-changing circumstances. This asks for vision, strategy and adaptability. It also asks for resilience and reflective skills since creative solutions that bring about change will always face resistance. Leaders and managers need to learn to listen to the organization. Unfortunately, this highly flexible and adaptive approach is against the idea of power positions.

Q: When listening to an organization, what do you hear?

A: Innovation is happening at many different points in the organization. As a leader or manager, you need to know what’s going on on the shop floor. You need to know what your people are working on, how they solve problems and how they meet the needs of your customers. And then you have to bundle all these innovative initiatives and provide the structures that allow your organization to learn and grow.

Q: How does the learning come in here?

A: With the help of customized learning products and services that take into account the aspect of knowledge sharing, peer learning and constructive feedback you can increase your teams‘ innovative efforts and also make sure that the weaker elements benefit from the strong innovative forces without hampering the progressive forces too much. Good learning solutions can help managers strike that balance.

Q: Can you elaborate on the learning solutions?

A: In our organization, we have tried to leverage the power of communities of practice as an interactive peer learning format. Good design and professional moderation play a crucial role here, as well as customized tools and coaching approaches that encourage people to train their creative skills and to interact with each other. If you ask me, the design of interactive and hybrid learning formats will play a crucial role in the future.

Q: Many organizations seem to count on e-learning. How do you see this?

A: Yes, many organizations have introduced e-learning solutions since they provide broad access to educational content and are easy to scale. I personally think that bulky e-learning programs are not the solution because they lack interaction. For me, the corner stones of effective learning are reflective learning loops, peer exchange learning and honest sparring partners. If we look at history we will see that at the courts of kings and queens in medieval Europe, the jester’s role was to observe and raise criticism in a poetic, humorous way. I am convinced that wise kings and queens were listening very carefully and thinking about the jester‘s critical input.

Q: So we’d need more poetry in the business of organizational learning, education and training?

A: Yes! CEOs, managers and teams need sparring partners and observers who give honest feedback and help them reflect on organizational structures, strategies, leadership style and their practice. Actually, we’d be well advised to already introduce such reflective learning loops at universities and schools. Organizations need more creative, critical thinkers and problem-solvers who can deal with complex challenges. This asks for a different (educational) approach and mindset early on.

Q: Can you give a practical example?

A: Take project management. Very often, projects are assigned to whoever has or has to make time for a project. This needs to change. We need to select team members according to their skills and abilities. We need to align roles based on competencies and organizational needs, rather than fill a role with whoever is available. What is more, we must not put so much emphasis on specialization; we need more generalists in organizations. Life is not about being an expert, life is about acquiring the skills that help us solve complex problems.

Q: What’s the future role of HR or L&D in all this?

A: The main task of HR and L&D will be to see and embrace the potential of people, help them unlock their creativity and develop their skills. We need to give people the opportunity to learn on the job and extend their repertoire of skills. Unfortunately, our current organizational system of power positions and hierarchical structures is still slowing everything down. But if we really want to provide a good life for future generations, we need to get creative, rethink current models and come up with good and inclusive programs that focus on human qualities, collaboration and reflective space.

Q: Is creativity inherited or can you train it?

A: I am convinced that you can train creativity. Some people are more gifted than others but we have a lot of useful tools, such as prototyping methods, mapping activities and all that. What organizations are lacking are reflective learning loops that provide the space for sharing, peer exchange learning, and, as pointed out above, constructive and critical feedback. I think organizations need to do a lot more in this direction. It’s a matter of culture, of course.

Interview by Dr. Christina Merl with Dr. Monika Heinrich, Head of Teaching Competency Center, Carinthia University of Applied Sciences, Villach, Austria

Q: Monika, what’s currently the biggest challenge for educational institutions?

A: The biggest challenge right now may be what some people call the “snapback mentality“ - the desire to go back to pre-Covid or no-Covid settings. Over the past two years, many universities, training providers and schools have gained a lot of new teaching and learning competencies. What started as an emergency mode has led to very creative solutions and new possibilities. We must further extend these new competencies and not get stuck due to exhaustion.

Q: Why would people want to go back to – or move on from – no-Covid settings?

A: For many of us – learners, teachers, HR and L&D professionals – the so called “onlinification“ of educational formats over the past two years has been a slightly traumatic experience. First, it clearly is more difficult to stay in control in virtual or hybrid learning environments and to engage learners who get easily distracted. Second, designing effective live online or hybrid learning formats and producing customized, high-quality content takes much more time. Our customers and learners tend to underestimate the effort it takes to come up with effective and creative learning designs, which can get frustrating. Also, I am afraid that many teachers and students may not want what they wish for: high-quality hybrid or live online settings, reflective learning loops, peer exchange learning and flipped classroom models ask for really good learning design that is well thought-through, as well as for high learner engagement. This means that all parties involved, organizations, educators and learners, have to improve their practices.

Q: What does it take to improve teaching practices?

A: We are now in a highly experiential stage and educators, just like learners, need to continually upskill, develop their digital literacy skills further and extend their repertoire. They need to have the courage - and willingness - to expose themselves and take risks. What is more, we need to learn to use technology creatively since learning now also takes place if not everyone is “present“.

Q: Can you elaborate on the role of tech, give an example?

A: For example, it’s not important that we put on VR goggles; rather, we need to know what we put them on for. Technology provides us with many new possibilities, which is very tempting. To achieve desired results, we need to apply tech wisely and effectively.

Q: What could be a good recipe for success?

A: Educational institutions, especially universities, HR and L&D, need to find and define their new identities. They need to know which path they want to further explore: should it be the hybrid, on-site or online path. Also, lecturers need to learn to differentiate between learning needs, contexts, and learning goals. A major challenge here is probably the increasing variety, complexity and contradictions that educational institutions and lecturers are facing. They need to learn to see and embrace the strengths of individual learners, give them guidance and take on the role of facilitators, coaches or even curators who feel the vibes, manage to inspire learners, and help them tap into their full potential.

Q: What’s on the to-do list of educational providers?

A: Educational providers need to define their purpose and then adapt and modernize their approach to teaching and learning accordingly. This asks for a new mindset. Traditional lecturing clearly belongs to the past. Now we need to become more interactive, be able to give and receive critical feedback, have the courage to take risks and stimulate our learners. Introducing additional learning loops on all levels might be a useful practice here. Of course, bureaucracy and the current focus on assessment, certificates and credentials may be slightly counterproductive – we are all too busy obeying the rules and staying within our boundaries.

Q: How would you define the future role of teaching competency centers?

A: Teaching competency centers or L&D are mostly part of HR departments and I see their role in supporting and empowering lecturers and learners on their explorative journey. The destination must be added value for all – organizations, learners, lecturers, but also society as a whole.