They need support to be able to achieve this, but how does this square with intense cost and time pressures, travel limits and tight budgets? These all limit the scope to bring people together, create shared understanding, new insights and enable collective action.  

We need to find a different framework where learning can continue without high costs or taking people away from the organization unnecessarily.  At Bath Consultancy Group we have been working with a number of organisations enabling leaders to work and learn together as effectively as possible despite these constraints. We have shown how:

• Technology enables rapid information sharing and messages to be landed through pod casts etc. 
• Telepresence and web-based tools can be used to draw people together to tackle issues and learn. 
• Virtual learning groups and action learning approaches enable people to share their experiences and facilitate the emotional connections that are needed to work effectively and sustain their resilience.

However, we also know that the right face-to-face activity mobilizes energy and commitment for action and change at a time when people can feel powerless, stuck and fearful for the future.

So, a well evidenced case for using the right method to get the best outcomes becomes more critical than ever. 

• For organizations needing to strategize quickly and effectively across the enterprise, ‘whole systems' development methods, such as ‘real time strategic change' or ‘future search' become the most cost effective;
• For leadership teams who need to regroup and re-align their purposes, board or top team coaching, when you can work intensively on the difficult and contested issues in front of you, can generate real commitment to the tasks ahead
• For new project or work teams, following downsizing or redundancies, support for their ‘team development' will enable them to get through the difficult time and focus on the future

Without a framework for learning fast and sustaining support, there is a danger that the uncertainties of the current economic climate will drive anxious and defensive behaviours.  If leaders begin to act in isolation, the organisation could be negatively impacted. More than ever, organizations need their leaders to keep the faith, restore or build trust for their people, their customers and citizens and support a sense of community and shared purpose when times are tough. 

We know we get better outcomes when we work together.  The risk is that, in uncertain times, we hunker down into our separate silos - which leads to a sense of isolation, disconnection from business goals and poor teamwork. The technologies exist for learning to continue even with the current constraints.  Designing and implementing a new learning framework enables organisation change and development specialists to continue to support the leadership population and to sustain organizations fit to respond to new challenges.

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