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... To combat this reality, people running organizations will have to make sure that their organizations keep learning. ...
Ever since Peter Senge wrote his famous book Learning Organization, top management, HR guys and business gurus have been using it as a buzzword. ...
To be a learning business, a business will need to have people who can guide the business towards continuous learning, while at the same time putting systems in place, to scale up the learning effort as and when the situation demands.
To bring about a Learning Organization, there are a few things that need to be done, which can nurture the soil in which people will grow.
The Learning Organisation (LO)
The emphasis in the LO is on creating the conditions in which individual and collective creativity may flourish and thereby contribute to the organization’s ability to achieve results. ... The aim is, for instance, to change the relationship between managers and staff to induce and reward learning behaviours. ...
Towards a learning organisation
Leadership must personally participate in developing a learning culture
Leaders need to ask themselves, "What did I learn today? ... Participation by leaders can go a long way in fostering this attitude in the whole company - an essential feature on which the foundation of a strong learning organization can be built. ...
Personal growth and continuous learning are needed at all levels. ...
Honest evaluation needs to be introduced into the organization in order to create a competency-based learning environment
Often people are terminated due to "position elimination" as the recent Bank VRS has shown. ... How can learning be encouraged without honest assessment and feedback about individual strengths, weaknesses and developmental needs? ...
Honest evaluation which promotes the learning culture must begin with open dialogue between supervisor and junior employee, if it is ever to take root in the organization. ... This must be avoided at all cost as it harms the progress towards a learning organization. ... This will create an environment in which people want to work, to learn, and to serve the needs of the business and thus can be the foundation on which the learning organization develops.
HR must convince leadership to commit resources for a strategic learning initiative
In a knowledge-based economy, learning is critical to growth. The costs involved with learning may be significant. However, it could be a wrong move to cut learning costs today, in order to impact the stock price tomorrow. The future value of investing in learning will allow companies to take advantage of competitive opportunities, and ensuring their competitive survival far outweighs the short- term advantages. ... Facing this reality, people must commit to continuous learning, or be left unemployable.
Although the HR guys and top management have responsibility for creating the environment in which people are able to learn, employees must accept the challenge of change and commit to personal growth through learning. ...
Supporting the needs of people in transition
Building a Learning Organization is a significant change initiative. Engaging employees in learning, triggers of in them feelings of vulnerability, failure, and stepping outside a comfort zone. ... These issues need to be addressed with utmost care - lest the project of developing a learning organization should flounder. ... However if a company is able to adopt a broader view and invest strategically in learning, such reductions in headcount could be minimized and made unnecessary as by training the excess staff in new skills they can be deployed elsewhere in the company. ... This will mark the beginning of a virtuous cycle as employees too learn to appreciate the benefits of a learning organization.
How to Create a Learning Organisation
It can be said as a four step process
The Building Blocks
Before a Learning Organisation can be implemented, a solid foundation can be made by taking into account the following:
Awareness
Organizations must be aware that learning is necessary before they can develop into a Learning Organisation. This may seem to be a strange statement but this learning must take place at all levels; not just the Management level. ... Individuals do not have a comprehensive picture of the whole organisation and its goals. This causes political and parochial systems to be set up which stifle the learning process. ...
Leadership
Leaders should foster the Systems Thinking concept and encourage learning to help both the individual and organisation in learning. ... For example, they need to help the teams understand that competition is a form of learning; not a hostile act.
Management must provide commitment for long-term learning in the form of resources. The amount of resources available (money, personnel and time) determines the quantity and quality of learning. This means that the organisation must be prepared to support this. ... This is unlike traditionally learning that involves a top-down structure (classroom-type example) which is time consuming.
Learning
Companies can learn to achieve these aims in Learning Labs. ... These managers are then responsible for setting up an open, flexible atmosphere in their organizations to encourage their workers to follow their learning example. ... This type of conferencing can also encourage different sites to communicate and share knowledge, thus making a company truly a Learning Organisation.
Implementation Strategies
Any organisation that wants to implement a learning organisation philosophy requires an overall strategy with clear, well defined goals. ...
It is clear that everyone has their own interpretation of the "Learning Organisation" idea, so to produce an action plan that will transform groups into Learning Organizations might seem impossible. However, it is possible to identify three generic strategies that highlight possible routes to developing Learning Organizations. ... These initiatives are ably described using Peter Senges Five Disciplines of Learning Organizations (Senge, 1990). The three strategies are:
Accidental
For many companies, adopting a learning organisation philosophy is the second step to achieving this Holy Grail. They may already be taking steps to achieve their business goals that, in hindsight, fit the framework for implementing a Learning Organisation. This is the accidental approach in that it was not initiated through awareness of the Learning Organisation concept.
Subversive
Once an organisation has discovered the Learning Organisation philosophy, they must make a decision as to how they want to proceed. ... Thus, while not openly endorsing the Learning Organisation ideal, they are able to exploit the ideas and techniques. ... The principles of Learning Organizations are adopted as part of the company ethos, become company "speak" and are manifest openly in all company initiatives.
The Golden Rules
As an organisation which learns and wants its people to learn, it must try to follow certain concepts in learning techniques and mould itself to accommodate for a number of specific attributes. ... "
- Tom Peters
The crux of this idea is that for a Learning Organisation to be achieved many changes must be implemented.
Approximate Word count = 5566
Approximate Pages = 22.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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