Agile L&D

Natal Dank

248 pp., $37.99

Written specifically for L&D workers—and with the pre-mise that agility is now a business imperative—Agile L&D explains how to develop an agile approach to workplace learning. In the book's context, agility means adapting to a complex business environment where employees have fluid skill sets to better reflect customer needs, market opportunities, and capability requirements. Dank uses five design principles: product led, human-centric design, T-shaped people in T-shaped teams, experimentation, and deliver with impact. The book includes examples of how companies such as Macmillan Cancer Support, TomTom, and Diageo reshaped their L&D strategies.

Job Crafting

Benjamin Laker, Lebene Soga, Yemisi Bolade-Ogunfodun, and Adeyinka Adewale

MIT Press, 160 pp., $32.95

Job crafting isn't just about what managers do to shape their organizations; it's also about what employees can do to craft the jobs they want. Job Crafting is a practical and timely guide that takes workers through how to proactively alter their roles to emphasize tasks that better align with their skills. To be proactive in that process, job crafters must harness meaningfulness at work through three primary avenues: exercising greater control over tasks, determining how others perceive tasks, and shaping social context. The book includes a four-step framework to improve readers' performance and overall satisfaction at work.