View publication - Chartered Institute of Housing

PART ONE: LEARNING TODAY
Learning…so what’s changing?
By Trevor Smith, Director of Centre for Partnership
Summary
This piece offers the author’s insights into learning and is based on his
experience of working with many housing associations and the different client
groups within them. The 10 x INSIGHTS offered to the reader in this article
distil the writer’s experience of enabling learning in housing organisations as
they move from the orderliness of 20th Century organisational life into the
complex and disruptive realities of the 21st Century.
Learning – what’s changing?
21st Century mastery appears to be different to that of the 20th Century and enacting
this new mastery is arguably the real engine room of corporate change. This challenging
environment brings with it the opportunity for a refreshed approach to learning. The
demise of state welfarism, continued economic recession, growing inequalities in
income, barriers to educational attainment plus legislative and regulatory changes
present more extreme challenges to housing organisations. We cannot rely on ‘business
as usual’ and the 10 x INSIGHTS have informed the author in helping housing
organisations move to new mastery for the 21st Century.
INSIGHT number one – Tomorrow doesn’t have to be the same as
today…indeed it won’t be
From research and experience, it appears many of us still do not like change…
despite the fact that the pace, complexity and magnitude of change is greater than ever
before. In addition, most of us, when faced with problem solving and decision making
about the future take the solutions of the past as our reference point.
Organisations of the 20th Century were built upon predictability, order and hierarchy
and could operate on a ‘what did we do the last time’ basis. However, reliance on ‘back
to the future’ solutions will not address the complexities and tensions facing the housing
industry of the 21st Century. So often the analyses and priorities for our fast changing
world get stuck in the business models and business thinking of yesteryear. We seek to
drive down costs, extract efficiencies and avoid risks as the antidote to funding, resource
72