Do no harm - the duty of the learning professional

One of the key differences between professions and other forms of occupation is the fact that professionals are bound by ethical codes. If they contravene these codes they are liable to be disbarred from the profession. Doctors sign a Hippocratic oath, which binds them to do no harm to their patients. Their patients’ interests take priority over those of government or their own opportunities to make financial gains. Now we all know that, in practice, some doctors, lawyers, bankers, accountants and other professionals do break this trust and put themselves first, but generally we are shocked when this happens and expect it to be dealt with harshly.

Those responsible for managing the learning of adults in the workplace also like to be regarded as professionals. But you don’t become a professional just by calling yourself one. You have to behave like one - a trusted consultant not an order taker, an architect not a builder.

In my mind, learning professionals also have a duty of care - to do no harm to learners. This might seem like a no-brainer - after all, which learning professional does not care about the welfare of learners? Teaching and training are, after all, people professions. But in practice there are strong competing interests:

• those of senior managers, to keep costs and time commitments to a minimum;
• those of subject experts, to cover in any courses or materials every possible aspect of their particular subjects;
• those of compliance departments to tick boxes;
• those of colleagues who want to strut their stuff, avoid change, keep life simple, promote their own causes, and so on.

If the learning professional pays disproportionate attention to these interests, then what harm can they do to learners?

• They can overwhelm them with content, leaving them frazzled.
• They can fail to engage them emotionally, so they never really pay attention.
• They can fail to establish the relevance of a learning activity, causing anger and resentment.
• They can patronise them with activities that are insufficiently challenging.
• They can embarrass them with activities that have the potential to humiliate them in front of their peers.
• They can provide them with inadequate opportunities to practise new skills, so they never have the confidence to put the skills into practice.
• They can fail to provide sufficient follow-up resources in the workplace, so the learning quickly fades into oblivion.
• They can fail to act on what we know about the science of learning, thus plying learners with dangerous quack medicines (which is like doctors advising homeopathy or astronomers applying the principles of astrology - please let’s be rationalists not romantics).

Learning professionals may calculate that, by putting the interests of management, clients, SMEs and others above those of the learner that they will benefit personally in terms of how they will be seen in the organisation and that this could ‘make or break’ them. But this is short-term thinking, because if you do them harm then learners can break you all too easily:

• They will only engage in learning activities under duress.
• They will not learn what you want them to learn (you cannot force anyone to learn something, at least not in any deep or meaningful way).
• They will make no effort to put your ideas or instructions into practice.
• They will bad mouth you and your courses (and not necessarily openly, on the happy sheet).

It takes courage to stick to your principles even when under pressure from people in power. But courage is surely what you expect of a professional. If you haven’t got it in you to be courageous, then are you in the right job?

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The four responsibilities of the learning professional: It's time to begin your Skills Journey