weLEAD Leadership Tip - What is a learning organization?

leadingtoday.org

Leadership Tip of the Month

December 2001

What is a Learning Organization?

A movement is slowly taking place in modern business. It must continue, and as it does it will produce the most positive and lasting change ever experienced in the workplace. What is this movement? It is the commitment to become a “learning organization”. This phrase has been coined by management experts to describe organizations dedicated to learn new things and use that knowledge to become more effective. Here is what this commitment means. Within these learning organizations all decisions are based as much on the desire to learn and gain knowledge as they are to achieve short-term performance.

What are some of the characteristics of learning organizations? There is a lot of emphasis placed on how to develop and understand why things work and how they can be refined. There is an attitude of continuous learning that supports the workplace environment. Resources are invested in people to promote learning, training programs, analyze processes and evaluate outcomes. Many leaders have recognized it is essential to develop people at every level of the organization by promoting learning and continuous improvement. The positive nature of this environment also benefits the worker outside of the workplace in a personal way! Within a learning organization a strategic focus is placed on discovering new knowledge and imitating the best practices of others. However, new knowledge is useless unless it is used! It is one thing to discover knowledge; it is another thing to use it effectively. This is where leadership can have a powerful influence.

Leaders value the learning organization concept. They understand that they have a vital role to play in nurturing the right environment. Here are some guidelines to promote a learning organization.

Demonstrate an appreciation for learning and flexibility - Every existing training activity in the organization should be examined to evaluate if it is still needed, or how it can be improved. If it is no longer effective it should be replaced with one that energizes the attendees. Organizational change is more acceptable to people who develop confidence and pride in their capacity to learn new things. Encourage all workers to evaluate their skills and tasks with flexibility and innovation.

Shape learning opportunities from surprises and failures - Most people tend to ignore or discount sudden information that doesn’t fit their expectations or assumptions of how things work. Yet, some of the most impressive discoveries of humankind have come about by accident. Encourage others to use unexpected results to reexamine their assumptions and expectations. Endorse these opportunities as a way to learn something new and apply it.

Promote and facilitate learning by individuals – Organizations can only learn when individual members of that organization are learning. As a leader, cultivate a culture that honors and respects individual learning. This includes the strong cultural values of personal development and lifelong education. Programs that provide financial assistance for outside education promote this value and reward individual workers who support it.

Encourage experimentation – Small-scale experiments provide a chance to try out new ideas without the risk involved in major change. People are also more open-minded to try new approaches on a small scale rather than completely abandoning traditional practices. Of course, how effective the experiment will be depends on how well it is designed and executed.

Acquire the “best practices” of others – Identify and adopt the best practices of successful organizations. This can be a useful source of innovation. However, be flexible enough to modify or evaluate the relevance of these practices for your particular organization. Don’t simply be an imitator, but improve and invent new approaches from the best practices of others.

As we can see, leaders should take an active role in advancing the culture of continuous learning throughout the entire organization and within individuals. This is an investment in the future that will help the organization to adapt more quickly, and with greater innovation to competitors and changing global markets.

For weLEAD, this is Greg Thomas reminding you that it was Herbert Spencer, who wrote, “The great aim of education is not knowledge, but action.”

Back to weLEAD Home Page