“Doing things in a new way is easy; we call this novelty. What’s challenging is to do things in a new way that eventually gets accepted by others; we call this creativity. What’s even more challenging is to do something in a new way that is ethical and advances the human condition; we call this ‘good work.’”
We are living in the midst of significant disruption, with new and emerging technologies and forces continually impacting our lives. The “learn first, then find work” model of postsecondary education is no longer effective for the majority of the population. Millions of learners have some college credit but no credential, are saddled with debt, under-employed, and left with feelings of failure or frustration.
At the same time, organizations and industries need skilled talent, and their employees need to be able to continually learn in order to thrive. They need both “learning as a way of being” (Vaill, 1999) – where learning is valued as the most critical skill – and also a model of working that integrates learning, so that learning is continual, relevant, contextual, and applicable to the work at hand and the jobs to be done.
The need to dismantle the systemic inequities and structural barriers that keep people out of quality learning opportunities and good jobs has never been greater.
Today, learners and earners need continuous learning — skilling, re-skilling, up-skilling — calling for a “60-year curriculum” that dismantles the false boundaries between postsecondary education and work. We need approaches that not only advance social and economic mobility, meet and adjust to labor market needs, and equitably prepare a well-educated citizenry, but that also serve to transform lives, organizations, communities, and future generations.
Nectary Solutions focuses on the “Good Work” needed to address these modern-day learning needs and to help rectify the systemic barriers clogging up today’s learn and work ecosystem.
We help organizations and postsecondary institutions do this Good Work that matters to learners and to employers: work that is human-centered, inclusive, relevant, and intentional, and that has quality, purpose, and impact.
