As professionals, managers, it's important to step back from the day to day activities to really crystalize our experience while shaping the future. Learning is an important ingredient of that process. I'm spending 3 days in Berlin with other IBM managers from different countries to attend the 'Basic Blue for Business Leaders' session. IBM Launched this core training program in 1999 for managers worldwide. Since its inception, Basic Blue has won numerous industry awards and has had a profound impact on learning at IBM (read the following whitepaper on IBM's learning transformation story).
Back earlier in the 1990s, IBM transformed itself from hardware company to a service-driven organization. This change required rebuilding and re-skilling employee base. Looking at the upcoming years, and the IBM 2015 roadmap objectives, the company will continue to rely on skills development and learning in order to align employees around new business models (i.e. Cloud Computing, Business Analytics & Optimization, Smarter Planet) and to capture business opportunities in the marketplace.
This day 1 of the program was a good way to connect with different managers and cultures, sharing issues and best practices. Before the workshop we had to go through the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI) test to better understand what's our thinking style (I won't give you mine but should be easy to find as most bloggers and marketers fall into the same categories) and how that may impact our behaviors and leadership development. The Whole Brain Model summarizes the 4 categories. There's no 'right or wrong' category, all are important. Individuals may have different thinking preferences that they can leverage to succeed. More about the Whole Brain Model in the book preview here under.
