Andrew Perkins is the global director for Kaplan Leadership and Professional Development, and he recently did an interview for Training Journal sharing his learning and development concepts, his work and what inspires him. 

Andy has had a varied career, including being an accountant at BDO, launching an online learning platform and delivering large development programmes globally. Wherever his career has taken him, each step of Andy’s career has always focused on how to make learning commercially relevant, engaging and valuable. He’s always concentrated on how to move learning from the classroom into the workplace. He defines the move between the controlled learning environment and working life using two concepts: democratisation of learning, and learning governance. 

Democratisation of Learning

The concept of democratisation of learning is about delivering learning to as many people within an organisation in the most cost-effective way possible. The intention is to improve people and organisational effectiveness – all centred around learning that makes a difference.

Learning Governance

This is about how businesses make rational decisions about the effective use of their learning budget. Assessing the learning that has been delivered, why, to whom and at what scale of the investment to have a business impact. Essentially, understanding the value and purpose.

In the interview, Andy talks openly about his highs and lows. His darkest hour and his career turning points. Joining a boutique leadership development business in 2005 he says it “opened (his) eyes” and was happily surprised at the discipline and structured approach to behavioural development. It was at this point when he realised that technical expertise alone is not enough, and that it has to be combined with behavioural confidence to succeed in the workplace.

Andy truly believes that if you want to win, you need to collaborate – with the commercial outcome as the prime objective. If you want to succeed in business, it should never be personal – the objectives of the business come first.

“It’s important to develop deep and broad commercial acumen; practice thoughtful stakeholder management; employ people better than you, and never think of yourself as indispensable. Never lose your curiosity as this is the one thing that will keep you ahead of the curve. Things are constantly evolving and changing, especially in this industry. More often than not, change is for the greater good!” Andrew Perkins, 2019.

Andy continues to lead the charge in creating the learning environment of the future. His vision of a learning environment that will provide learning at scale but also offer control on activities and spend within a structured framework is not far away.

To find out more read the full article at Training Journal. Please note, this article is accessible through a subscription. You can also get in touch with Andy on LinkedIn and Kaplan Leadership and Professional Development.