Mark’s most recent two co-written books are:
The Learning Imperative
‘The Learning Imperative’ has been named the winner of the HR and Management category of The Business Book Awards 2019.
In ‘The Learning Imperative’ Mark Burns and Andy Griffith examine the key ingredients that ensure effective learning, and offer leaders step-by-step guidance on how they can achieve it in their own teams and organisations.
Learning is central to the long-term success of any team and is far too important to dismiss or to relegate to a nice to do list. In ‘The Learning Imperative’, bestselling authors Burns and Griffith explore the common barriers to effective learning and present a range of practical tools and strategies to help teams bring about and reap the benefits of a more positive culture around training and development.
Together they map out the key stages of the learning journey and provide a comprehensive guide for team leaders and managers who want to improve learning in their teams. They also share essential advice on the design and delivery of effective training programmes, and punctuate their instruction with a range of illuminating case studies drawn from real-life contexts across the public, private and third sectors.
The book has been split into three sections. Part I sets out why creating and maintaining a learning team needs to be a high priority, and provides an easy-to-use framework to help leaders establish their team s starting points. Part II is designed to assist leaders in fostering an open-to-learning mindset in their teams offering tools to diagnose any closed-to-learning mindsets and supplying straightforward strategies to facilitate team members development in becoming habitually reflective, curious and responsive to feedback. The final part of the book concerns the designing and leading of effective learning, whether it is packaged within a one-off session or a multi-session programme, and will help leaders ensure that the learning their team participates in is engaging, appropriately challenging and, most importantly, will develop their performance.
Whether you are an experienced leader or just starting out in the role, this user-friendly manual will empower you to boost your team s performance and to make a powerful impact on their learning.
‘The Learning Imperative’ was also a finalist in the 2018 INDIES Book of the Year Awards in the business and economics category.
The book is available in paperback, audio and ebook format here.
Teaching Backwards
Published in 2014, Teaching Backwards, consistently a best-seller, has been translated into several different languages.
Those teachers who teach backwards, start with the end in mind. This means that they know in advance what levels of knowledge, attitude, skills and habits they expect their learners to achieve.
The most effective teachers:
- Create a high expectations culture in their classrooms
- Establish and activate learners’ prior knowledge
- Model/Explain the process required to achieve excellence
- Check for understanding through effective questioning and probing
- Develop high challenge environment
- Ensure effective feedback is given and received
Teaching Backwards ensures that learners consistently make great progress over time, and offers a practical, hands-on manual for teachers to further develop their attitudes, skills and habits of excellence both for themselves and for their learners.
This book is the follow-up to the best-selling Engaging Learners. It is based on the analysis of thousands of hours of primary and secondary lessons, part of Osiris Education’s Teaching Intervention programme over the last seven years.
The book is available in paperback, audio and ebook format here.