When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.

What is the scope of our responsibility as learning professionals?

Most of us work for someone else, a corporation, school, client, or government. Our first responsibility is to apply our expertise to help our employers accomplish what they are trying to do.

Like doctors, we must take care never to harm the patient (or client).

When a superior asks us to do something unprofessional, we take a stand. You don’t tell your doctor how to take our tonsils. You don’t tell your accountant how to account to off-shore slush funds. (Let me take that back, for that’s what happened at Enron and WorldCom.) Your EVP should not be asking you to buy a thousands of CD titles from this nice guy he met on the golf course, let it be known that from a learning perspective, there are sounder choices.

Scope depends on the scope of the professional. If you’re down in the trenches, your responsibility might extend to preparing the coffee or mentoring someone after a workshop.

A CLO is responsible for developing the talent required for organizational success. This might involve installing better lighting, putting wi-fi in the cafeteria, or reinforcing a change of corporate culture.

I’ve asked a number of people if a CLO is responsible for helping employees with learning disorders. Assuming there’s a decent cost/benefit ratio, I’d say they should take it on. Everyone I interviewed shifted the responsibility to another department. Most frequently, they didn’t want to invade the individual’s privacy. Should we begin treating the infirm and the blind the same way? “It’s not my department” under these circumstances sounds unprofessional to me.