ABSTRACT
The increasingly dynamic interplay between work and learning calls for new perspectives on the role and purpose of learning in the workplace. Historically, workplace learning (formal and informal) typically focused on developing knowledge and skills to improve performance based on predetermined standards or competencies linked to organisational goals. While traditional training emphasised consistency, today’s rapidly changing, complex environments require adaptive innovations that often call for generative learning to address emerging challenges and opportunities. Such learning is motivated by hyper-awareness of environmental shifts and characterised by iterative cycles of experimentation described here as learning-based work that precedes and feeds change. Under the right conditions, experimentation can open liminal spaces for learning and help the organisation face uncertainty. However, to take full advantage of new possibilities, the organisation must change to support the fledgling growth of new forms of learning. In this chapter, we draw on complexity science and our own earlier work to introduce and examine five principles that we hypothesise as core components of learning-based work. Using insights from our work on complexity, we show how liminal learning communities can be nurtured and supported. Finally, we explore implications for organisational supports and barriers to such learning and offer critical cautions.
