Is the concept of learning organizations and culture a myth? Here’s a blog that throws light on how organizations can foster a culture of learning.
Learning Culture in organizations as a subject had everyone in L&D (called T&D) up in a frenzy when Peter Singe, a professor at MIT published a book, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization, in 1990. Peter presents 5 disciplines that he claims will foster three core learning capabilities of learning – kindling desire, engaging in reflective conversations, and abilities to comprehend complexity. The five disciplines according to him are personal mastery, mental models, building a shared vision, team learning, and system thinking which integrates the other four.
He goes on to list 7 learning disabilities which are an individuals’ mindset that retard their learning ability and concludes with 11 laws of the Fifth Discipline which are essentially rules to learn better.
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Table of Contents:
- What Does Learning Organization & Learning Culture Mean?
- How to Build a Learning Culture — The Concept of Shared Value & Shared Vision
Looking Forward to Fostering a Learning Culture in Your Organization?
Here are 5 disciplines that can lead the way:
- Personal Mastery
- Mental Models
- Building a Shared Vision
- Team Learning
- System Thinking
Read on to explore more…
What Does Learning Organization & Learning Culture Mean?
I was a young training manager in large agrochemicals company in India when everyone was talking about Learning Organization and Culture. I managed to get hold of a copy and went through it. I confess I hardly understood a word of it at that time. Fortunately, there was no social media or webinars and for that matter, proper websites, so the topic died a natural death. When I read again the book many years later, I found that the concepts, though always in existence in various fields of management and leadership, were brought together rather creatively into an attractive mental model. Organizations have been practicing these concepts for quite some time but not in a holistic manner.
Here are a few tips to build and nurture a healthy corporate learning culture.
How L&D And Business Can Align to Conquer The Future Of Work
Bridging the Gap Between Organizational and Individual Goals!
- Learning Strategies Shaping the Future
- Changing Role of Learning Professionals
- Learning to Solve Business Challenges
- And More!
How to Build a Learning Culture — The Concept of Shared Value & Shared Vision
I read about “shared values” in McKinsey’s 7-S framework of effective management which was published in the 1970s! Shared Values are the foundation of a Shared Vision. Without shared values, there can be no shared vision. Organizations across the world talk a lot about shared values and vision. But I greatly doubt if their employees can even recite them from memory, much less demonstrate their understanding and acceptance. Without a shared vision that is understood, accepted, and practiced by the whole organization, the very first piece will be missing, where is thelearning organization or learning culture that it is supposed to foster? Peter was quite emphatic that all five elements are needed to bring into existence a learning organization and it is easy to agree with him.
I can go on in the same vein about the other four. I am not trying to criticize or dilute what organizations are doing on these fronts – systems thinking, mental models, team learning, and personal mastery. I am only objectively reporting my observations during the last 3 decades, working within and without organizations worldwide.
There is a lot of work our customer companies do every year on all the 5 elements of Learning Organizations. But I did not come across even one that works in all these areas with the objective of building a learning organization or culture. They are practiced more in isolation and for different objectives like maximizing the top and bottom lines. To increase sales revenues, decrease costs, optimize resources and processes, and develop certain skills are the goals of systems thinking, learning new ways of doing things, group learning, and so on.
Building a learning organization is not a child’s play. You might come across multiple challenges.
Watch this video to equip yourself with strategies to counter key challenges while building a learning culture in your organization.
The Way Ahead to a Continual Learning Journey…
“The single biggest driver of business impact is the strength of an organization’s learning culture” — Josh Bersin, Learning Industry Analyst & Author. When the individual’s learning is delinked and misaligned with that of the organization, I don’t think the real learning culture will ever come into being. In today’s dynamically evolving corporate world, it’s crucial your L&D teams align with the business goals to craft learning and development programs that help employees as well as the business thrive. Here’s an eBook that provides actionable insights on how L&D and business can align to conquer the future of work. Download now!
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on September 19, 2022, and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
