Tim Bacon recommended a great article, "Learning to Lead at Toyota", in the May 2004 edition of the Harvard Business Review.
The article describes the induction process for managers at Toyota. It is an example of Legitimate Peripheral Participation. Effectively, the Toyota manager learns by doing a valid job rather than work in a training environment. He does legitimate work and leans as he does it.
I read "Situated Learning" because it had been recommended by Alistair Cockburn on the C2 site.
It has changed my attitude to how I teach analysis (learning) techniques to other business analysts. It is the way I taught my last two apprentices (Rohit Darji and Sanela Hodzic). In both cases, we worked together on real analysis problems. It seemed an effective way to coach someone. "Situated Learning" told me why it was an effective way of coaching. Both Rohit and Sanela have moved on to bigger and better things. They are far smarter than I who remain a business coach. :-)
Posted by chrismatts at August 13, 2004 8:54 PM