Building Learning Environments To Facilitate Experimentation And Play

One of the biggest areas of learning and change for individuals in today’s workplace is that of keeping up-to-date with changing technologies. Changes in technology are affecting all individuals’ working lives, not just those working in the IT industry. It is this area of change that has led organisations like the BBC and The Post Office to invest in learning environments where managers and teams can experience and interact with new technologies and together with colleagues learn about the capabilities and impact of these technologies on the business. Some of the background to the introduction of these new environments, together with how they are working in practice, is discussed below.

The introduction of digital video (DV) camcorders represented a particularly new challenge to organisations within the TV production industry. DV camcorders are capable of producing pictures that can be used directly in broadcasting, for some types of programmes. The surprisingly low cost of this equipment meant that producers could make direct purchases. Once the BBC had begun to see the opportunities which this new technology could bring, they created a new team, DigiLab, to help others within the organisation become aware of the potential of new technologies like DV camcorders (Semple, 1999).

The DigiLab team was given a brief of ‘. . . looking at consumer convergent, low-cost technology, to assess its functionality and potential usefulness and then make as many people as possible aware of its potential’. The DigiLab team have created a relaxed environment where people from different parts of the organisation can come together with colleagues to experiment with new technologies and discuss its capabilities, in a non-pressured way. DigiLab is a unique learning environment that provides what the Head of Knowledge Management refers to as the organisational spaces between departments within which real learning can take place.

Users of facilities with DigiLab come from all parts of the organisation, including programme makers, IT specialists, producers, as well as training and development practitioners. Even those who do not make direct use of this type of technology in their work have an opportunity to learn about its capabilities, in this way they have some of the language and terminology in order to be able to participate in general discussions about digital technologies. This is important given that participation in the knowledge-economy is very much dependent upon having a common language base.

It was the recognition of the importance of technology and innovation to the future success of The Post Office, that was the driver behind the launch of the Innovation Lab^[9]. This is a purpose-built learning environment, located within The Post Office’s Management Training Centre. It provides managers with a different type of learning environment, away from their everyday workplace. Here managers can experience and interact first-hand with new technologies and also discuss the impact of these new technologies on the business with colleagues.

The Innovation Lab has three linked areas: an experiential area where managers can see and experiment with new technologies; a development area where prototype technologies can be built with the help of strategic technology partners and finally a creativity space, known as the Creativity Zone.

Within the Creativity Zone managers have access to networked computers, supported by various groupware products, a range of creativity tools and toys, as well as several business planning tools to help them work through real-life business problems. There are experienced facilitators on hand to help managers make the best use of all of the different tools and products available. A particular feature of the Creativity Zone is its floor-to-ceiling whiteboard walls. Individuals can use these to note their ideas, or re-draw a problem, at any time while working within the Creativity Zone.

As part of my own learning I took advantage of the opportunity to experience the learning facilities within the Creativity Zone, together with a group of colleagues brought together by The Centre for Leadership in Creativity. We used our half-day session to explore the topic of ‘ What are the blocks to creativity within organisations?’. We found that the groupware enabled us quickly to capture individual thoughts about this topic, and for these to be swiftly collated and sorted with those of others. This enabled us to identify one or two key themes that we were able to explore further using some of the other facilities within the Creativity Zone, including the whiteboard walls, as well as the ‘thought provoking toys’ provided by the facilitators. We found the environment very thought provoking and stimulating. It also helped to surface and build-on ideas in a non-threatening and collaborative way.

^[9]Wright, H., Free to be Creative. Harnessing Technology Yearbook 1998/1999. Post Office Research Group.