Speaker 1: Welcome to this lesson on how to build and promote a learning culture in your organization. So, just why does a learning culture matter so much to an organization? Jack Welsh said, an organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the greatest competitive advantage. A culture of learning, or learning culture, is one in which employees continuously seek, share, and apply new knowledge and skills, to improve individual and organizational performance. Characteristics that define learning cultures can vary, but talent development leaders describe such essential traits as, closely aligned business and learning strategies, organizational values, that affirm learning's importance, and an atmosphere in which learning is so ingrained, that it simply becomes a way of life. In such organizations, employees develop growth mindsets, and seek out new opportunities to learn, and to share knowledge with their colleagues. Creating a learning culture within your organization, will take you one step beyond just acquiring the skills that you need, to deliver its products and services. It would empower your people to achieve dramatically improved results, compared to more traditional organizations, as it enables staff to easily adapt to change. Actually anticipate change. Be more responsive to the marketplace. And, generate more energetic, loyal and goal-oriented employees. To become a learning organization is to accept a set of attitudes, values and practices, that support the process of continuous learning within the organization. Training is a key element in the business strategy of an organization, dedicated to continuous learning. Through learning, individuals can reinterpret their world, and their relationship to it. A true learning culture continuously challenges its own methods, and ways of doing things. This ensures continuous improvement and the capacity to change. According to a study by Bessin and Associates, entitled, High Impact Learning Cultures, organizations which invest significantly in learning and development, tend to significantly outperform their peers in several areas. Firstly, they are 32% more likely to be first to market. They have 37% greater employee productivity. In addition, they have a 34% better response to customer needs. They have a 26% greater ability to deliver quality products. They are 58% more likely to have skills to meet future demand. And finally, high impact learning organizations are 17% more likely to be a market share leader. The typical benefits associated with a learning culture in an organization include. Maintaining high levels of innovation and remaining competitive. Having more motivated employees. Being better placed to respond to external pressures. Having the knowledge to better link resources to customer needs. Improving quality of outputs at all levels. Improving corporate image by becoming more people oriented. And learning cultures typically also gain a competitive advantage that translates into improved financial performance. In order to build a learning culture, we suggest there are five pillars to put in place, including. Leadership commitment. Visible leadership commitment to learning or modeling the way. Vision. The clarity of an organization's vision, and the extent to which learning is part of that vision, play important roles in creating and sustaining a learning organization. Learning systems. An effective organizational learning system provides the resources and technologies which make learning easy, and enable the optimization of learning investments. Knowledge management and infrastructure. Learning organizations have systems and structures in place. To ensure that important knowledge is collected, collated, stored and made available to those who need it. And finally, learning investment. Learning organizations support internal learning, by investing in formal training and informal learning, for the development of all employees. Let's first consider leadership commitment. A learning culture can be developed in an organization only when, senior management is committed and deeply involved. Learning and development are considered as strategic investments. Senior management become coaches and mentors. Managers are recognized and rewarded for their commitment to learning. And employees are encouraged to challenge existing ways of doing things. And finally, innovation is embraced and nurtured. Leaders also can play an active role. The idea that everybody coaches or mentors is an important one. When managers are encouraged to mentor, they share their knowledge with their staff and staff from other units. The second pillar is vision and goals for learning. The organization's vision and goals should be visible to all. The learning culture should be a corporate goal, and stated at the highest level of objectives. Learning objectives should be part of all business unit plans. Learning objectives should be part of all employees' personal annual goals. And finally, the ROI of learning should be continually evaluated and demonstrated. The third pillar, knowledge management, is the process of capturing, developing, sharing, and effectively using organizational knowledge. Knowledge management is an enabler of organizational learning and focuses on encouraging the sharing of knowledge. Typical features of knowledge management systems include lessons learned databases, expertise locations, and communities of practice. Let's look at each of these. Lessons learned databases attempt to capture and to make accessible knowledge that has been operationally obtained, and typically would not have been captured in a fixed medium. In the knowledge management context, the emphasis is typically upon capturing knowledge embedded in persons, and making it explicit. The military has become an avid proponent of the lessons learned concept. The phrase the military uses is, after action reports. The concept is very simple. Don't rely on someone to make a report. Lessons learned databases are particularly important for project teams, and are commonplace nowadays, in major corporations. If knowledge resides in people, then one of the best ways to learn what an expert knows, is to talk with that expert. Locating the right expert with the knowledge you need, though, can be a problem. The basic function of an expertise locator system is straightforward. It is to identify and locate those persons within an organization, who have expertise in a particular area. Such systems were commonly known as yellow page systems in the early days of knowledge management. In recent years, the term expertise locator, or expertise location, has replaced yellow pages, as being rather more precise. Finally, corporate intranets can be highly effective systems for enabling expertise location. The third element of knowledge management is communities of practice. COPs are groups of individuals with shared interests, that come together in person, or virtually to tell stories, to share and discuss problems and opportunities, discuss best practices, and talk over lessons learned. Communities of practice emphasize the social nature of learning within or across organizations. Conversations around the water cooler are often taken for granted, but in geographically distributed organizations, the water cooler needs to become virtual. The classic example of the deployment of communities of practice is that of the World Bank. When James Wolfe Ensign became president in 1995, he focused on the World Bank's role in disseminating knowledge about development. To that end, he encouraged the development of such communities. A community of practice might, for example, focus on road construction and maintenance in arid conditions, and the point would be to include not only participants from the World Bank and the country where the relevant project was being implemented, but also participants from elsewhere, who had expertise in building roads in arid conditions, such as staff from the Australian Road Research Board. The fourth pillar is to apply learning systems, including, for example, training needs assessments, learning management systems, competency framework, career development, talent management, succession planning, online learning, and knowledge management and sharing. The final pillar is the investment you need to make in training and development. So, how much should you spend? The National Association of Manufacturers recommends 3% of payroll. We recommend you do the needs analysis to make sure the learning is relevant. Develop in-house capabilities, such as mentoring and coaching. Use non-formal learning where possible. Use online and distance learning. Evaluate learning continually. Encourage employee ownership by, for example, asking employees to contribute 25% towards their longer-term career development studies in higher education. Quantify the return on investment, such as reduced absenteeism, higher retention, higher productivity, etc. This will help you justify your investment to stakeholders. And finally, adopt a longer-term perspective. Consider the results of your investment to accrue over a one-year or longer period. The goal of creating a training and learning culture in an organization is to create an environment where everyone teaches, everyone learns, and everyone enhances their exceptional abilities. A training and learning culture devoted to the development of knowledge gives several key benefits, including more engaged employees, a more innovative and responsive environment. Leadership capabilities become visible at every level of the organization. The organization can attract and retain the best and brightest. In addition, the organization will experience enhanced employee motivation and well-being. And finally, increased productivity and value creation. Employees increasingly value a workplace that nurtures learning. The new generation of employees entering the workforce has grown up in a world of constant change and innovation. Employees want to learn continuously, and expect that their employers value and nurture their potential. The global, mobile, transient nature of this new workforce makes it easy for employees to jump ship for organizations that offer more growth and development opportunities. To become the kind of employer that attracts and retains talent, organizations need to create a high-impact learning culture. Want to learn more about creating a high-impact learning culture and other essential management skills? 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