Table of Contents

• Build a Learning Organization• Learn from Your Employees• Develop a Workforce

of Learners• Establish a Culture of Learning• Create Opportunities to

Learn & Grow• The Responsibility of a Leader

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How to Encourage Workplace Learning

Build a Learning OrganizationAs the world becomes more interconnected

and business becomes more complex and dynamic, work must become more “learn-ingful,” Peter M. Senge writes in The Fifth Discipline. It is no longer sufficient to have one person learning for the organization, a Ford or a Sloan or a Watson or a Gates. It’s just not possible any longer to figure it out from the top and have everyone else following the orders of the “grand strategist.” The organizations that will truly excel in the future will be the organizations that discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in an organization.

Learning organizations are possible because, deep down, we are all learners. Learning organizations are possible because not only is it our nature to learn, but we love to learn.

Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human. Through learning we re-create ourselves. Through learning we become able to do something we never were able to do. Through learning we re-perceive the world and our relationship to it. Through learning we extend our capacity to create, to be part of the generative process of life. There is within each of us a deep hunger for this type of learning.

This, then, is the basic meaning of a “learning organization” –– an organization that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future. For such an organization, it is not enough merely to survive. “Survival learning,” or what is more often termed “adaptive learning,” is important –– indeed it is necessary. But for a learning organization, “adaptive learning” must be joined by

“generative learning,” learning that enhances our capacity to create.

Perhaps the most salient reason for building learning organizations is that we are only now starting to understand the capabilities that such organizations must possess. What fundamentally will distinguish learning organizations from traditional authoritarian “controlling organizations” will be the mastery of certain basic disciplines. That is why the “disciplines of the learning organiza-tion” are vital.

Five “component technologies” are converging to innovate learning organizations, according to Senge. Though developed separately, each will prove critical to the others’ success, just as occurs with any ensemble. Each provides a vital dimension in building organizations that can truly “learn,” that can continually enhance their capacity to realize their highest aspirations:

• Systems Thinking. Business and other human endeavors are systems. They are bound by invisible fabrics of interre-lated actions, which often take years to fully play out their effects on each other. Since we are part of that lacework our-selves, it’s doubly hard to see the whole pattern of change. Systems thinking is a conceptual framework, a body of knowledge and tools that has been de-veloped to make the full patterns clearer and help us see how to change them effectively. Systems thinking also fuses the other four disciplines into a coherent whole that keeps them from turning into fads or gimmicks, and that is why it’s the all-important “fifth discipline.”

• Personal Mastery. People with a high level of personal mastery are able to

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consistently realize the results that matter most deeply to them –– in effect, they approach their life as an artist would approach a work of art. They do that by becoming commit-ted to their own lifelong learning. Personal mastery is the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focusing our energies, of developing patience and of seeing reality objectively.

• Mental Models. Mental models are deeply ingrained assumptions, gener-alizations, or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action. Very often, we are not consciously aware of our mental models or the effects they have on our behavior. The discipline of working with mental models starts with turning the mirror inward; learn-ing to unearth our internal pictures of the world, to bring them to the surface and hold them rigorously to scrutiny. It also includes the ability to carry on “learningful” conversations that balance inquiry and advocacy, where people expose their own thinking ef-fectively and make that thinking open to the influence of others.

• Building Shared Vision. If any one idea about leadership has inspired or-ganizations for thousands of years, it’s the capacity to hold a shared picture of the future we seek to create. When there is genuine vision (as opposed to the all-too-familiar “vision state-ment”), people excel and learn, not

because they are told to but because they want to.

• Team Learning. When teams are truly learning, not only are they pro-ducing extraordinary results, but the individual members are growing more rapidly than they otherwise would have. The discipline of team learning starts with “dialogue,” the capacity of members of a team to suspend assumptions and enter into a genuine “thinking together.” The discipline of dialogue also involves learning how to recognize the patterns of interaction in teams that undermine learning. The patterns of defensiveness are often deeply engrained in how a team oper-ates. If unrecognized, they undermine learning. If recognized and surfaced creatively, they can actually acceler-ate learning. Team learning is vital because teams, not individuals, are the fundamental learning unit in modern organizations. Unless teams can learn, the organization cannot learn.

Learn from Your EmployeesLearning continues to be exceedingly

important because the pace of change has never been faster; and it will never again be as slow as it is today, Greg Bustin points out in Accountability. How can you and your team keep up with learning all that you need to know? How do you know what you need to learn to do the job you’re supposed to do?

You are wise to look beyond your four walls to learn from changes occurring in the competitive, political, regulatory,

cultural, technological and financial arenas that will make an impact on your business. But before you look outside your organi-zation, first look inside. Learning doesn’t just come from the top. Nor does it come only from experts conveying information and training to your employees. Learning can and should be bottom to top and side to side, just like accountability in high-per-forming organizations.

Successful companies understand they can learn from their employees, so they survey their workforce to learn how employees feel about the company, to measure employee engagement, and to assess whether the company’s training, development and communication initiatives are working. More than anything, learning is an attitude, and it’s a way of thwarting complacency, attacking problems and spurring intellectual, skill-based and, ultimately, financial growth.

Leaders of high-performing companies share an expectation that the company will do its part to provide training, tools and development opportunities, and the employ-ees will do their part. Like everything else in the accountability equation, the responsibil-ity for learning is shared equally. Even when you hire great people with values that match your own and who share your enthusiasm for the work, you still need to invest time, money and patience to help them reach their full potential in your organization. Hire for values. Develop skills.

If you want to grow your business, you must grow your people.

Develop a Workforce of Learners

Developing and maintaining a workforce of learners ensures that the organization can navigate successfully through the choppy waters of constant change and intense competition, according to Linda Honold in Developing Employees Who Love to Learn. Increased adaptability to change, however, is just the beginning. There are many other benefits — to both the organization and the individual –– of building a workplace environment that is conducive to the kind of ongoing, self-directed learning required in today’s companies.

For the organization, encouraging and enabling workplace learning offers the following benefits:

• Increased productivity and quality. When people are learning, their per-formance and the quality of their work increase significantly.

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• Increased innovation. Employees who are learning are more inclined to inno-vate, especially if innovation is encour-aged and supported by the company.

• Competitive advantage. High produc-tivity and adaptability, as well as great-er quality of products and services, make a company more competitive.

• Fewer barriers to communication. Middle managers formerly acted as information gatekeepers. Knowledge was distributed on a need-to-know basis. In organizations that promote learning, middle managers are mentors and teachers, helping employees un-derstand as much information as they need to improve their performance and understand the importance and relevance of their jobs.

• Increased employee attraction and retention. A learning environment attracts knowledgeable, motivated new employees.

• Increased employee motivation. Pay is an extrinsic motivator. The opportunity to be engaged in one’s work as a result of a learning environment is a powerful intrinsic motivator — the motivation comes from within the employee.

• Increased benefit from education or training dollars. Informal learning (from mentors or new job experiences) is especially cost-efficient since it re-quires no additional structures or costs.

• Integration of learning into work. Classroom-based training is difficult to apply to the workplace. Learning systems that encourage learning at all times and places help workers inte-grate the learning into their jobs.

In the workplace, much learning is achieved outside of formal settings –– for example, in the middle of a project, when struggling with a thorny problem, or even in the midst of a conversation with a peer or mentor. Flexibility in setting is just one characteristic of learning in the workplace. Other key characteristics include

Responsibility for learning resides with the learner. Traditional learning places the responsibility for teaching on the teacher, who determines what students will learn and how. Workplace learning should be managed by the student/employee. Teachers act as facilitators, not imparters of knowledge.

Learning begins with knowledge about self. “What would you like to learn and why?” This is not a question on which most people spend much time. Effective learning, however, requires an understanding of one’s learning style, values, beliefs and interests.

• Learning occurs just in time for use. Unlike the structured, classroom learning with which many people are familiar, workplace learning often occurs on the spot— when and where it’s needed.

• Solutions are not necessarily known. The outcome of training is known, at least by the teacher. Workplace learn-ing often depends on experimentation. As an employee struggles to find a solution to a persistent problem, he or she is learning.

• Learning requires flexibility in approaches. Experimentation is one approach to learning. At other times, reflection or reading is required. A single “right” approach to learning in the workplace does not exist.

• New learning often involves unlearning. Learning often begins with the question: “What are we doing wrong?”

• Learning is integrated with work. Some workplace learning may occur in special classroom sessions or during off-site personal development events. Much learning, however, occurs while working, not before or after.

• Learning is a conscious process. Unstructured, just-in-time learning does not mean that learning should be “accidental.” Employees must make a conscious decision to be in a learning mode. Otherwise, they will pass up learning opportunities — or perhaps not even realize when they have learned something new.

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Corporate Learning Strategist Daniel Tobin, Ph.D., was recently interviewed as part of Soundview’s Executive Insights series. In this clip excerpt, Dr. Tobin talks with host Andrew Clancy about establishing a culture of learning.

Daniel Tobin: Companies need to establish what I call a positive learning environment –– with value learning at every level. Good ideas can come from anywhere in the organization, not just from the executive suite. The best way for an executive to create a positive learning environment is to demonstrate their own learning. In fact, in some companies, I’ve seen the CEO pick up a book, read it, and say, “You know this sounds very interesting. I wonder how we can apply it here?” And then get copies for all his direct reports and say, “I want you to read this by our next staff

meeting.” And then hold the discussion of, “Is there anything in here that can help us?”

I offer a challenge: What if in your company every manager at every level from the CEO on down started each staff meeting by asking this question: “What did we learn since our last meeting that helps us improve our performance?” Now, I think the first couple of times a CEO or manager on any level asks that question, they’d probably get a lot of blank stares and no responses. But if they ask it week after week, meeting after meeting, people are going to start providing answers. And they’re going to start providing good answers. Because they’re going to see that they are serious about learning.

People at all levels need to be learning every single day. “What did you learn at work today?”

Establish a Culture of Learning

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Create Opportunities to Learn & Grow

For many people, it is progress that distinguishes a career from employment that is “just a job,” we learn from Rodd Wagner and James K. Harter, Ph.D. in The 12 Elements of Great Managing. Employees who have an opportunity to learn and grow at work are twice as likely as those on the other end of the scale to say they will spend their career with their company.

A wealth of research –– at least 200 studies –– proves that challenging employees to meet goals motivates higher performance. One of the most interesting wrinkles in the research is that employees perform better when they are working toward a specific dif-ficult-to-attain target than when they are told simply, “do your best.” Whether a particular accomplishment is meaningful depends on an employee’s unique perspective.

When employees feel they are learning and growing, they work harder and more efficiently. Superior customer relationships and profits may occur because employees who are learning and genuinely interested in their work have better ideas.

Sitting in the same cubicle, doing the same job in much the same way without any meaningful new challenges causes employ-ees to languish personally and professionally.

While people differ dramatically in their drive to advance in a career, the need for progress seems to be nearly universal. There is plenty of evidence that progression accel-erates when properly nourished by regular opportunities and supportive managers.

The Responsibility of a LeaderIf you want to be a good leader, you’ve

got to be a good learner, John C. Maxwell points out in Leadership Gold.

As you seek to learn and grow as a leader, Maxwell offers these suggestions:

1. Invest in yourself first. As long as people are following you, they will be able to go only as far as you go. If you’re not growing, they won’t be growing — either that, or they will leave and go somewhere else where they can grow. Followers get better after their leaders do.

2. Be a continual learner. If you want to lead, you have to learn. If you want to continue to lead, you must continue to learn. This will guaran-tee that you will be hungry for even greater accomplishments. And it will help you to maintain credibility with your followers. Maintaining an at-titude of teachability is essential for being a continual learner. Successful people don’t see learning or achieve-ment as a fixed destination to head for; successful people continue to exhibit an excitement, a curiosity or a sense of wonder.

3. Create a growth environment for the people you lead. The road to success is uphill all the way, and most people are not willing to pay the price. Many people would rather deal with old problems than find new solutions. To be a lifelong learner, you have to get out of a stagnant environment and distance yourself from people who have no desire to grow. Seek out places where growth is valued and people are growing. It will help you change and grow. But as a leader, you have one more responsibility. You need to create a positive growth environment for the people you lead. What does a growth

environment look like? Here are 10 characteristics:

1. Others are ahead of you.2. You are continually challenged.3. Your focus is forward.4. The atmosphere is affirming.5. You are often out of your

comfort zone.6. You wake up excited.7. Failure is not your enemy.8. Others are growing.9. People desire change.10. Growth is modeled and expected.

If you possess any kind of leadership position, you are responsible for creating a growth environment for the people who work for you. If you can create a growth environment, not only will the people in your organization grow and improve, but people with great potential will knock down your doors to become part of your team. It will transform your organization.

Whether you are trying to cross over into the ranks of continual learners or you are trying to build an organization that possesses a growth environment, the secret to success can be found in the people who surround you. People’s attitudes and actions rub off on one another. Great people desire to bring out the greatness in others. Small people will try to put the same limits on you that they have put on themselves. v

You need to create a positive growth environment for the people you lead.