Leading the Learning Function

Book excerpt: Leaders as Learners, Learners as Leaders Drawing upon firsthand experiences and insights from senior practitioners, Leading the Learning Function: Tools and Techniques for Organizational Impact offers best practices, tools, techniques, and processes that successful business leaders use to develop, build, and implement their personal leadership skill sets. The ATD Forum—a consortium for senior talent and learning practitioners to connect, collaborate, and share knowledge, best practices, and company experiences—sought to extend those accruing benefits more broadly in the profession to current and aspiring learning leaders and talent practitioners. In this book, Forum managers and book editors MJ Hall and Laleh Patel and Forum members set out to document the work learning leaders do to help themselves and others build organizational capabilities and successful results. In 26 chapters, Forum contributors—leaders in their respective organizations—offer insights and lessons about setting direction, managing processes, leading and developing people, making an impact, collaborating with stakeholders, using technology for learning, and innovating. Growing leadership skills is a lifelong journey; gaining a portfolio of techniques others have used successfully to solve similar business challenges can provide an edge in your role as a business advisor. Leading the Learning Function is just that portfolio.