Razor Learning Blog

I have to admit that when the idea of starting a new learning consulting company came up, my first reaction was…Um, no. The voice in my head that tells me whether a wonderful-sounding idea will successfully translate into reality said, That’s dumb. There are already a billion or so learning consulting companies out there. There’s no point to being number a-billion-and-one. To confirm my suspicion, I took a close look at the landscape of learning consulting companies. As I expected, I found a wide array. Companies that provide research on industry trends. Content developers. Conference organizers. Firms that help organizations select and implement learning technology. Others promoting Web 2.0, “serious games” and other novel approaches to learning. See, I told myself, the world doesn’t need another learning consulting company. And yet… Something was still bothering me. Suppose someone—let’s say you—were interested in helping to drive an organization to the next level with regard to enterprise learning, talent and performance. Where do you start? How do you create an effective enterprise learning strategy and then turn it into reality? When your new enterprise learning council meets for the first time, what should be on the agenda? How do you build consensus and get buy-in across your organization. Align diverse teams and build shared processes? Make the business case to the executive team? How do you go about linking learning with talent management to maximize its impact on the organization? These were the same kinds of questions that Grant and I first asked ourselves four years ago when we began working together at Saba to help organizations with learning governance. Now, in the midst of the biggest economic downturn since the Great Depression, enterprise learning governance is more important than ever. But the road has not gotten any easier for the organizations pursuing it. So, Grant and I began discussing the idea of joining forces again. Between us, we have over four decades of experience that spans nearly every possible facet of enterprise learning. From learning theory to organizational design. From technology to marketing. From business strategy to training operations. From change management to talent management. We couldn’t imagine a successful approach to learning governance that didn’t take all of these disciplines into account. And we didn’t see these diverse perspectives reflected in existing approaches. So we pushed forward. We consolidated our treasure trove of case studies, best practices, models, methodologies and field-tested tools—some acquired over the years from organizations we have worked with, others that we developed ourselves. But, we weren’t satisfied yet. We researched the “state of the art” in enterprise learning, talent and performance. We discussed ideas with other experts in the field, analyzed case studies to identify the key factors that led to success, drew and re-drew models and frameworks to make them comprehensive but easy to understand. We got so immersed that we literally had dreams about learning governance (which is a little sad). Out of this effort came a unique, comprehensive approach that combines visionary thinking on how enterprise learning can improve organizational performance with established best practices for creating real organizational change. Our goal is not only to help individual organizations succeed, but also to bring much-needed attention to the topic of enterprise learning governance and spawn a new wave of interest, conversation and research that will push the industry forward. So here we are, Razor Learning. The “Razor” moniker was chosen to reflect our consulting approach—direct, clear, no-nonsense, incisive, action-oriented and relentlessly pragmatic. I’m happy to say that the response to the new company has been overwhelmingly positive. More than we could have anticipated. A sincere thanks to all of the colleagues, clients, friends and family who have supported us, urged us on and shared their invaluable knowledge and experience with us. It turns out that there is room for a new learning consulting company focused on enterprise learning governance, even if the company is number a-billion-and-one.