Organizations that support a learning environment are structured and focused on doing so. Each of my clients who is learning focused – a learning organization – has the following in place:
- Less hierarchical structures and a flatter organization enabling for decision-making at the lowest levels of the organization. These organizations tend to use cross-functional teams to accomplish goals and promote innovation through enabling for and supporting creativity and risk taking within the organization.
- A way to share information and knowledge throughout the organization. This might be through a portal where employees can collaborate, share ideas, share articles from external sources and brainstorm together. Best practices are shared in the portal and employees learn from each other, thereby improving how the work gets done in the organization.
- Performance and reviews that are focused on long-term development, acquiring new knowledge/skills and sharing knowledge with others. Feedback is a regular part of the conversation between employee and manager and doesn’t just happen once a year during a formal process.
- Leadership that supports learning through providing employees time and support to try out new ideas, take calculated risks and take on leadership and decision-making roles in the organization.
These are just a few ways that learning-focused organizations support continuous learning among employees.
Is your organization a learning-focused organization?
