equal learning.

Whether they are wearing headsets,

and regardless of the presence or absence of parti-
tions, staff members working at adjoining stations
may overhear discussions about other projects; but
that does not mean they have absorbed any informa-
tion that was exchanged within their hearing. On the
micro level in design firms, a standard frustration is
the reinventing-the-wheel activity, when staff
squander precious resources in pursuit of a solution
that has just been tested elsewhere and either been
perfected or found wanting. On the macro level,
a recurring tragedy is the relegation of teaching
and learning to ancillary activities, discrete and
unrelated to anything else in the office. Learning
requires thoughtful consideration, interpretation,
and, most important, sharing. Investigation, discus-
sion, and debate are already mundane elements of
practice. Raising participants’ consciousness of these
activities is a first step in enhancing their professional
development.

]
Business Excellence

From a simple business perspective, a continuing

Key Point
education program enhances the firm’s perfor-
A professional
mance. For one thing, a firm that invests in the pro- development program
fessional development of its staff also addresses an can and should be
age-old challenge for any service firm: staff attrition. designed to sustain
and replenish the
In his book, Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of
firm’s resources.
Organizations (1999), Thomas Stewart considers the
“fundamental conundrum of human capital: People
can be rented, but not owned.” He points out that,
“Valuable, hard-to-replace knowledge, the key to
competitive advantage, is forged in communities of
practice, but they and the human capital they create
are no respecters of shareholder value.” People who
Competitive Edge 7