Transformation vrs. Training: Bridging the Skills Gap

Week 5
Responds to Chapter 5
Transformative Learning Post

As a "responder" this week, I have chosen to address Sharon's post on Transformative Learning and the Skills Gap. I would agree with Sharon that one of the large problems facing our nation is the growing need for skilled workers, especially in manufacturing-based positions. However, it is not just in manufacturing that we see this need for more skilled workers. Consider this: 65% of job postings for secretaries who work for executives require a college degree. But among current executive secretaries, only 19% have college degrees, according to Joseph Fuller, a Harvard Business School professor. That's a big gap between expectations and reality resulting in many companies unable find the right people to fill the jobs, all of which signals a persistent problem in America's economy: The skills gap [1].

What is the Skills Gap?
Basically, the skills gap is the popular term used to describe the perceived disparity between those who are unemployed looking for a job and companies with jobs looking for employees. More specifically, it is the mismatch between the needs of employers for skilled talent and the unavailability of those specific skills within the workforce [2].

Transformative Learning Simplified 
Jack Mezirow, a leading researcher in adult education, developed his characterization of
Transformative Learning (TL) in the late 70s and early 80s. Dr. Patricia Cranton of Penn
State, another leading writer on transformative learning, stated that the “elegantly simple”definition of TL includes the idea of people changing the way they interpret their experiences and their interactions with the world:
 
         . . . an individual becomes aware of holding a limiting or distorted view. If the individual
         critically examines this view, opens herself to alternatives, and consequently changes
         the way she sees things, she has transformed some part of how she makes meaning
         out of the world[1].

This idea of a fundamental change in perspective or frame of reference is at the heart of transformative learning. When someone undergoes such a change, they have, in essence, “transformed” his view of himself or of the world or of how he interacts with others and his environment [2]. This is the concept that Logan alluded to when he stated that "a
transformation of the current feelings and perceptions [of manufacturing] must change. I would go even further to say that the current feelings and perceptions of not only skill-based position but in leadership as well.

The Leadership Gap
The skills gap is not limited to just basic worker positions. As the research and work of Chris Argyris of Harvard Business School highlights, over the last 40 years, there has been little improvement in leaders’ ability to deal effectively with people. Despite enormous efforts to improve the state leadership, “There has been no transformation in the workforce and there has been no sweeping metamorphosis”. In other words, the leadership gap is alive and well [3].
 
What has changed over the last several decades is the nature of execution. In the past, execution was primarily a task-oriented phenomenon. People had to be good at their jobs and work relatively well together. Executing in today’s world requires people at all levels to exercise leadership in all directions to get results. This means that managers have to go beyond “simply” improving task performance and cultivating the right behaviors. This is where transformation needs to take place.

Transformation focuses on breakthroughs that change the way we make sense of the world, our role in it, how we think and ultimately how we behave. It allows people to become who they need to be in order to engage the challenges and complexities they are facing.

Through transformational learning we call into question our taken-for-granted frames of reference (habits of mind, mind-sets, meaning perspectives) so that they can generate beliefs and opinions that will prove more valid and valuable for action. It moves us from acting mindlessly upon the purposes, beliefs, values, and dispositions we have tacitly assimilated toward finding our own voice [5].


References:

1. Gillespie, P. (2015).  America's persistent problem: Unskilled workers. Retrieved from CNN Money at http://money.cnn.com/2015/08/07/news/economy/us-economy-job-skills-gap/
2. King, K. P. (2002). A journey of transformation: A model of educators’ learning experiences in educational technology. In J. M. Pettit & R. P. Francis (Eds.). Proceedings of the 43rd Annual Adult Education Research Conference, (pp. 195-200). Retrieved from http://www.adulterc.org/Proceedings/2002/papers/King.pdf
3. Path, B. (2016). Measuring the 'Gap' in the Skills Gap. Retrieved from Huffpost Business at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-bill-r-path/measuring-the-gap-in-the-skills-gap_b_8965066.html
4. Cranton, P. (2006). Understanding and promoting transformative learning (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
5. Preble, A. (n.d.) Closing the leadership gap: Transformation not training. Retrieved from Cambridge Leadership Group at http://cambridgeleadership.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/Transformation-NOT-Training-final-1.pdf