No, I did not buy an island on the Second Life platform back in 2008. It was not only that I did not believe in the metaverse; I was hesitant for several reasons. Why would I use some other currency (they used Linden dollars) and why would I convert myself into an avatar?
I also did not see many benefits of—what it looked like at the time—a kind of gaming platform. I did not see a direct impact on the learning business. So, although I joined the free version of Second Life, played around a bit, even used a more professional version to organize some events, I stayed passive.
Despite my limited engagement, I wrote a blog titled "The real virtuality," since my first immersive virtual experience seemed real. But somehow, this was not enough to persuade me to invest more time.
Many years—and changes—later, there is another metaverse on the horizon: Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), along with several other "shiny things" that everyone, not only learning and development (L&D) professionals, face regularly. These shiny new things are often accompanied by a lot of public pressure: "Don't miss this!" Some changes survive and consequently change all involved; some are left on the trash heap of the history of mankind.
To observe or to actively participate?
How deeply to engage is probably one of the key questions we need to answer—unless we choose to consciously ignore a certain "shiny new thing." We're deciding between:
- Jumping on this bandwagon and actively creating the future with it? And
- Acknowledging that I do not believe in it fully but see some potential and thus want to (passively) observe the progress.
Passive observation is where a big majority of us are now, with the introduction of Generative AI.
"Passively observing" does not mean we are inactive; it simply means that we are not personally exploring the new technology in all its details. Instead, we are learning from others' experience (and letting them figure out the benefits and drawbacks).
All changes or innovations follow a lifetime pattern (the diagram approximates Geoffrey A. Moore's 'Crossing the Chasm'). Once a certain change becomes "mainstream," another change probably appears to "disrupt" our lives. (I intentionally used scare quotes for some words, since I believe they are overused).
Observing the diagram, we see small chasms. Crossing the chasm means we believe that the change will stick, and we may have to live with it since it will inevitably impact our business and our lives. This is the case with AI.
Based on when they actively start working with the change (the innovation curve), we can categorize people and organizations into the following groups:
- Innovators, pioneers. The ones who introduce the change.
- Early adopters. The ones who dare and decide to "cross the chasm." Since the impact of the change is a bit uncertain at this stage, it is important to be careful and keep the existing business (or procedures) alive. If the change fails, we will need the ability to fall back.
- Early majority. This is the last sensible moment to embrace the change if we want to gain (decent) benefits.
- Late majority. We probably have to join at this stage if we want to stay in business. At this point, the smart organizations and people are already keeping an eye out for the next change, or maybe even creating a new change.
- Laggards. We adopt the change, but the benefits are questionable. We are among the last to adjust—the only benefit here is that all the potential issues that came with the change have already been resolved. An alternative here, especially if there is a new change on the horizon, is to skip the current change and join the early majority of the next change, even though the changes are often unrelated.
- Missers. We have to admit it: We missed it. For these organizations, there is a good probability that they are or soon will be out of business (remember Kodak, Nokia, etc.).
Overcoming resistance
People really like comfort and routine—and resist change. Significant changes are disruptive, terminate the previous "comfortable" life, and bring things that are different, that require extra learning, and whose effects seem uncertain.
In the short term, all this is true. Unfortunately, we normally are not able to see beyond the change, to a time far enough ahead that we could be comfortable with it. We can't envision the true benefits of changes, the future time when the change is "institutionalized" and has become part of our daily routine.
As leaders, we ourselves have to believe in the change first. We simply have to be early adopters on the innovation curve and dare to "cross the chasm." Not to do this alone, we need to find our champions. With them, we have to invest time and resources to test the implications that the change is bringing—to "play" with the new tool, technology, or methodology. And we have to persevere through the setbacks! (Remember, once a plane reaches a certain speed, it has to take off, no matter what, or there will probably be greater damage from the aborted takeoff.)
When to introduce a change
The next question is when to introduce a change to a broader team. As neuroscientist Carmen Simon wrote, you can take an opportunity and make a change "at a time when people's routines are already disrupted (leadership change, going global …)"
Promoting a change at such times has a greater chance of success, since people are changing their routines anyway.
Here, I can reflect on an example that occurred when our content development department added a media production team to its structure. At the same time, our major customer introduced "single-source authoring" using an XML-based platform. For the latter, we needed internal buy-in. I am sure that we transitioned successfully because the new approach overlapped with the changes in the organizational structure that had been underway.
Seeing beyond the change
For leaders, there is one key element in times of change: We do not only introduce the change, we do not only show the immediate benefits (which are often unclear)—we also have to encourage our teams to envision a broader picture. Just remember a sentiment attributed to Antoine de Saint-Exupery, the author of The Little Prince: "If you want to build a ship, don't drum up people together to collect the wood and don't assign them tasks and work, but rather teach them to long for the endless immensity of the sea."
As learning leaders, we have to help our people to see beyond the change.
Let me share another example: A quarter of a century ago, our company started using virtual classrooms and remote labs to deliver IT training. In addition to some resistance from instructors, who primarily wanted to travel, there was resistance from students who wanted to see and touch the real equipment in the classroom.
Once we presented them with a bigger picture, telling them that, with remote solutions, the amount of equipment and the richness of solutions they would interact with had significantly increased, they started buying into this option.
Tackling the change the right way
As leaders, it is crucial to pay attention to all major trends that emerge in our business, at least to the degree that we understand the main idea and can explain it, and we can talk to some of the enthusiasts about their opinions and learn more details from them. Maybe we even need to be able to test the innovation by ourselves.
It is important, in these early stages, to maintain the balance between being focused (or obsessed) with a—still potential—change and continuing to run our current business. If the shiny new thing does not take off, and our customers have left us in the meantime due to our involvement in the change, then we are in trouble.
Once we decide to embrace a change, to "cross the chasm," we not only have to earn buy-in from our employees or critical teams—we also have to instill enthusiasm. As Gary Burnison, of Korn Ferry, says: "There's an enormous difference between having to do something and wanting to do something. And it takes leadership to provide that bridge between have to and want to."
So, as leaders, we have to truly believe in the long-term benefits—despite initial struggles. We have to have a vision and, through our determination, create champions who help us get there.
It all seems easy, but the reality is that we typically have a lot of concerns and feel uncertain about what such a change would bring. Predicting the impact at the pace of changes that we face now is hard. To navigate through such times, it is important to keep in mind that even if we miss some changes or are a bit late, we still have a chance. We may drive the next change. We might invent something and create our own change! Or we might just innovatively repurpose the change that is underway. In these ways, sometimes even a failure can be turned into a success.
Explore change management with fellow learning leaders
Marjan Bradesko will present more advice on how to tackle change at the Learning 2024 Conference in December in Orlando, in his session, “Change Ahead! How to Tackle It,” as well as in a Leadership Insights session. He will explain several cases in which he has successfully navigated the change and will help participants lower the stress that comes with big changes, especially when we are uncertain about the impact.
You can also meet Marjan at DevLearn 2024 in November in Las Vegas, where he will be speaking about maximizing learning at events.
Photo credit: Bastian Weltjen