Developing a
Culture of Learning
PART1
What is a learning culture? A Learning culture is an environment of expectations in an organization that shapes and supports desired results. It can be built by leaders and other key people in the process of learning from their own experience while influencing the learning of others at the same time. (Marsick & Watkins, 2003)
It can be classified into three levels: When organizations actively pursue these seven dimensions, they will tend to improve their performance both in terms of financial performance and knowledge performance (Chai & Dirani, 2018).
Individual
Team
Organization
These three levels are fundamentally interconnected. The combination and coordination of individuals’, teams’ and organisations’ learning makes it possible to develop a learning culture (Verbiest, 2003).
Why is it important? Generates a win-win relationship between company and employees
Because it stimulates innovation
Ensures results
Because when organizations actively pursue the seven dimensions of learning culture, they improve their performance in finance and knowledge
What are these seven dimensions?
1
2
3
5
6
7
Empower people toward a collective vision
Connect the organisation to its environment
Provide strategic leadership for learning
4
Promote Create Encourage Create inquiry continuous collaboration systems to and dialogue learning and team capture and opportunities learning share learning
Create continuous learning opportunities
1
Learning is designed into work so people learn on the job. Opportunities are provided for ongoing education and growth (Watkins & Marsick, 2003)
Feedback
Readiness for learning
Employees take charge of continuous learning by seeking feedback, comparing it to current and future performance expectations or by setting development goals and tracking their own progress.
2
?
Personal need
The steps people decide to take or not take to continuously learn depends or differs because of an individual’s readiness to learn and make time to reflect.
Continuous learning is often driven by a personal demand, in response to a certain need. This need is essential
Promote inquiry and dialogue
Inquiry is based on the open-mindedness of people to consider different solutions for a problem. Dialogue is about sharing ideas with others to create shared meaning.
Which can only happen if there is:
Psychological Safety
Appreciation of differences
Social leadership
Openness to new ideas
Opportunities for reflection
Encourage collaboration and team learning
3
Groups are expected to learn together and work together, and access different modes of thinking. Collaboration does not just happen when individuals are co-present, instead, individuals must make conscious, continued efforts to coordinate their language and activities with respect to shared knowledge but they need to be encouraged by:
Psychological Safety
Knowing they are part of a broader context
4
The emotional connection they have with their team
Create systems to capture and share learning
Learning must be captured and embedded in ongoing systems, practices, and structures so that it can be shared and regularly used to intentionally improve changes in knowledge performance.
Practices and structures like the COP (community of practice) are needed. What’s a COP? – a platform to:
Share information
COP
Give tips and tricks Share practices
5
Empower people toward a collective vision How? By aligning the collective vision with the personal vision of the employees Need for a wide network of quality relationships within the organisation. Important for the creation of an organisational culture By creating the right organizational culture
6
Connect the organization to its environment
People are helped to see the impact of their work on the entire enterprise, people scan the environment and use information to adjust work practices, the organization is linked to community (Marsick & Watkins, 2003)
For this, the role of a leader is key
They share up-to-date information Empower others Mentor and coach employees Create trust and motivate
LEADER
7
They are TRANSFORMATIONAL LEADERS, who ensure people about how important their work is and how it has an effect on the organization.
Are sympathetic and informal They create trust and respect people
Provide strategic leadership for learning
Transactional Leaders
Motivates employees by rewarding them and giving them freedom in how to do their task.
Transformational Leaders Inspire employees to help them transcend their self-interest for the sake of the bigger view of the company.
Companies constantly have to deal with the challenges of both change and stability. Therefore organizational learning sometimes thrives more under transactional leadership, at other times more under transformational leadership. This is why good strategic leaders need to possess both transactional and transformational leadership behaviors.
To create a positive learning experience, people should be convinced education is the right answer to the problem and offers a personal, social and professional value. Moreover, learning should be a joy and pleasure and not be perceived as a dull task imposed from someone outside. Employees need to be motivated to invest their time into learning. The required content must be in their own interests and be relevant and applicable in their jobs at that exact moment. They should be able to access the right training just in time whenever they need it. Only then employees will develop the right mindset of curiosity” (Baert et al., 2006).