In a world of unprecedented change and digital disruption, talent is the only resource you have with unlimited potential to improve. Cultivating a culture of learning by implementing an apprenticeship program will give your organization a significant competitive advantage. Discover the 6 key elements that the apprenticeship culture of learning values most.

1. 1

2. IN A WORLD OF
UNPRECEDENTED CHANGE
AND DIGITAL DISRUPTION…
Talent is the only resource you have with
unlimited potential to improve.

3. “THE BIG SHIFT”
Moving from Scalable efficiency
To scalable learning
Deloitte Center for The Edge
Shift Index, Deloitte University
Press 2013

4. “The technology is the easy part. The hard part is,
what are the social practices around this?”
- John Seely Brown

5. WHERE DO I START TO CULTIVATE A CULTURE OF SCALABLE LEARNING?
Start with your new recruits Start with apprenticeship

6. APPRENTICESHIPS…
• Increase return on talent (ROT)
• Build loyalty in both apprentices and mentors
• Strengthen culture fit
• Develop relevant skills
• Most importantly…
• Cultivate a culture of learning

7. DEFINING APPRENTICESHIP
WORK
SKILLS
• “A collaborative way to trade knowledge
and skills for help with making.”
• “Learning by practical experience under
skilled workers a trade, art, or calling.”

8. ROLE OF THE APPRENTICE
Arranging life and work so that it is focused on your need to grow.

9. WHAT IT’S NOT . . .
NOT ANOTHER TRAINING PROGRAM !

10. TRAINING PROGRAMS vs. APPRENTICESHIP
• Pre-planned
• Tightly scripted
• General
• Explicit
• Emergent
• Adaptive
• Directly relevant
• Tacit

11. THE APPRENTICESHIP
CULTURE OF LEARNING VALUES …
1 Tacit Knowledge/Making
4 Community of practice
2 Tinkering/Playing
5 Passionate Explorers
3 Coaching
6 Supportive Scaffolding System

12. 1 TACIT KNOWLEDGE
Traditional education focuses on explicit knowledge
• When information is stable, explicit knowledge is very
important
Tacit knowledge is understood or implied without being stated
• When information is rapidly changing, tacit knowledge is
most important

13. THE BEST WAY TO ACQUIRE TACIT
KNOWLEDGE: COGNITIVE
APPRENTICESHIP
• Cognitive Apprenticeship: Theory about the process used by a
master to teach a skill to an apprentice. Holds that a master of a
skill often fails to account for the implicit processes involved in
carrying out complex skills when they teach novices
• Cognitive apprenticeships are designed to bring these tacit
processes into the open, where students can observe and practice
them with help from their mentor

14. Increasingly we must learn by doing,
watching, and experiencing
It is not about taught knowledge, rather
it is about absorbing knowledge

15. TRADITIONAL MODEL
A Cartesian view of learning, “I think therefore I am.” Views
knowledge as substance to be transferred.

16. NEW MODEL
• A social view of learning – “we participate,
therefore we are.” Views understanding as
socially constructed
• It is the more adequate perspective on learning
in the age of digital innovations

17. A BETTER BALANCE
Knowing
(Homo Sapiens)
Making
(Homo Faber)

18. 2 PLAYING
Tinkering Experimentation Freedom to fail
Imagination

19. Knowing
(Homo Sapiens)
Making
(Homo Faber)
PERFECTING THE
BALANCE
Playing
(Homo Ludens)

20. 3 COACHING
Guiding the apprentice’s journey toward accomplishing
the desired learning goals.
Coordinator—Guide—
Mentor
Not a teacher

21. 4 COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICE
Shared interests relative to a
specific skill or trade
Members learn to see and
experience from many different
vantage points
Enculturation (into shared
practices)
Freedom to play and imagine
(tinkering)

22. 5 PASSIONATE EXPLORERS
“Explorers are defined by how they respond to
challenges.”
Passion at work: Cultivating worker passion as
a cornerstone of talent development, Deloitte
University Press 2014

23. WHO IS THE PASSIONATE EXPLORER?
• Commitment to Domain: Desire for impact in the chosen field or discipline
• Questing Disposition: Actively seeking out challenges that push the boundaries of
current capabilities
• Connecting Disposition: Finding peers and mentors within and without the
discipline who can accelerate the learning process
• Result: The resilience critical for increasing performance in a rapidly changing
world

24. RECRUITING YOUR EXPLORER
NO
• Existing skills and
• Credentials (history)
YES!
• Focus on disposition
• Potential (future)

25. 6 SUPPORTIVE SCAFFOLDING SYSTEM
A supportive environment is needed to reinforce the apprenticeship culture of learning while cultivating
passionate dispositions.

26. SUPPORTIVE SCAFFOLDING TO CULTIVATE PASSIONATE DISPOSITIONS
Commitment to
Domain
Passion
of the
explorer
Connecting Questing
• Create visibility around performance and the
impact of learning tasks
• Provide challenges in areas where apprentices
could make significant impact
• Foster craftsmanship identity by acknowledging
and celebrating what is made and how others
have built upon it
• Connect learning to projects that
incorporate real-world challenges:
Encourage experimentation
• Provide context specific feedback
• Build in reflection to capture and apply
lessons learned
• Establish a collaboration platform that
connects both internal and external
participants in the learning process
• Platform should enable cross-ecosystem
connection to diverse skills
and areas of practice
• Facilitate connecting relationships
through coaching

27. GREATEST BENEFITS OF
YOUR APPRENTICESHIP
PROGRAM
• Not the training of new skills.
• Cultivating a culture of learning

28. • ½ Life of a skill is 5 years
• But a culture of learning can sustain
success for the next 100 years

29. THIS IS POSSIBLE !
The Future Belongs to those who
create it. Lets talk about helping you
take the next step.
@ BradVoeller
bradv@DigitalCreativeInstitute.com
www.DigitalCreativeInstitute.com

30. PHOTO CREDITS
Slide 3a Chryslergroup
Slide 3b Luca Muscaro
Slide 4 Joi Ito
Slide 6 Yako Busan
Slide 8 HD Wallpapers
Slide 9 Itdan
Slide 11 K2 Space
Slide 12 Chris Preen
Slide 13 John and Bev Adams
Slide 14 Rory Murdock
Slide 15 Xomiele
Slide 16 Lucas Muscaro
Slide 18 Roger Johnson
Slide 20 Ars Electronica
Slide 21 IXDA Seattle
Slide 25 Juhan Sonin
Slide 28 K. Muncie
Slide 29 Gardening in a Minute