How do you create a culture of continuous learning?

As with any sort of assessment, it is important to have a few ways to measure. In addition, I would encourage anyone attempting to assess an organization to audit whose voices you are hearing, and who you are not. One lens is along personal demographic lines, such as years in the organization, gender or race. Another is along role, level and department. Knowing who shares their views and who doesn't is important data you will need to create a targeted plan.

Creating a culture of continuous learning isn't just about implementing structured processes or programs; it's also about understanding the inherent mindset of your employees. According to Laible and al. (2020), it's essential to assess personality to predict lifelong learning decisions. Individual's personality greatly influences the tendency of individuals to seek out or engage with opportunities to learn (openness to experience in particular). By understanding both the structured and inherent aspects of learning, organizations can craft a more holistic approach. It's not only about the opportunities you provide but also about whether the people in your company are naturally inclined to take them.

In my experience, the Culture of Continous learning in any organization is more prevalent if it is top-down. We can always have programs run by HR that encourage or even reward the employees to learn new things but it would be great if this culture comes naturally to the employees. If the Sr. Managers are continuously practicing new learnings and sharing their experiences and learnings with the teams, this will indirectly provide motivation to the team members to enhance themselves as well and share their experience. This will also subconsciously motivate the team members, as senior executives are always looked up to in the organizations as trendsetters, it would create a culture of learning in the organization.

I worked for a couple of companies that consulted natural healthcare practitioners. One of the smartest things they suggested to each client and they practiced this themselves was to have an internal training department focused on continual learning. Everyone was expected to continue learning and they allowed for part of the work week to be utilized for this. They understood that training equals control over the position and that control over the position directly affects the gross income (top line revenues) of any company. Smart.

As the manager for our LACE, it is important to set expectations from the top down - We have to start with leadership first and help them understand the benefits of a continuous learning culture We start with a Business Agility assessment to get a baseline of where we are now and make the data available for everyone.

Clear is kind. I like to use a simple framework. 1. What do they want to learn? 2. Why should they learn it? 3. How will they learn it? 4. When will they learn? The best learning sessions are co-created and not top-down. It's powerful when the teams identify a gap and then leaders are responsive to those needs. The key here is to ensure that employees are bought in. So they're not twiddling their thumbs. Oh, and try to make it fun.

It's essential to tie the design of the overall learning strategy back into the mission, vision and values of the organization as mentioned here. Having amazing content and groovy learning tech that doesn't really lead back to solving big picture business problems or serve to reinforce an overall culture of the org can add to learning clutter and build resistance that erodes adoption. It also risks building resistance with key stake holders to support the programs.

Just as core values shape the identity of a business, having a culture of learning distinguishes an employee within an organization. It elevates and enhances the quality of work, allowing teams to be the best version of themselves. However, a challenge (or barrier) to achieving this type of culture are managers who value process over people. Being so operations-minded sometimes shoves professional growth and development to the back burner—a detriment to employees. Balance is key. Productivity and efficiency are desirable, but not at the expense of gaining and sharing knowledge. Top management should embrace learning as part of company culture, and encourage leaders to prioritize, value, and reward opportunities to do so.

I concur with this statement! You must design, define, simplify, and then implement. Everything is a team effort, from the bottom up. You need to have everyone on board or it’s doomed for failure.

As the LACE, we define our vision and goals for a desired learning culture as it is crucial for fostering continuous growth and development within an organization. Some ideas that we use: - Access the current state - Involve stakeholders - Align with organizational values - Set a clear vision statement - Measure progress - Celebrate success

Despite their popularity, learning styles — the idea that people have a dominant way of learning that suits them best — are largely debunked by research. Nancekivell and al. (2020) emphasized that beliefs about learning styles are more complex than previously thought. Moreover, Newton (2015) found that though 89% of research papers appear to endorse learning styles, especially the VAK and Kolb inventories, the concept has been repeatedly discredited. Similarly, Newton and Miah (2017) discovered that many people and academics believe in learning styles. Most agreed that the theory behind learning styles is fundamentally flawed. Yet, some educators and companies still cling to these beliefs despite the lack of evidence.

?? Tip: Be transparent about the process. One thing I’ve found helpful when designing and delivering is to co-author with your audience. This increases buy-in and engagement throughout. Plus, you’re taking their feedback and implementing it. If you choose to collaborate, be open about it. Share how the initiative was impacted and how powerful their feedback is. This will create a virtuous circle, allowing the team to continuously iterate based on the needs of the organization. Likewise, as you design and deliver, measure and track the performance. This will help with allocating budget and priority.

The final step is to recommend it not be the final step. This should be an on-going process to keep relevant, current and to promote a continuous learning culture.

Another way to motivate employees to learn continuously is by allowing those who have gained knowledge (or a particular expertise) take the lead on showcasing the skill. This can look like a 10 minute presentation during a team meeting. The advantage is two fold: ? The lead employee feels empowered. ? The attending staff feel the value, weight, and importance placed on learning by leaders. This may inspire further experiences.

Every organization needs to maintain a commitment to continuous improvement, seeking ways to enhance the learning culture and keep it aligned with the organization's evolving needs and values.

Being a lifelong learner is a mindset and an attitude. Like Newton once said,” I do not know what I may appear to the world, but to myself I seem to have been only like a boy playing on the sea-shore, and diverting myself in now and then finding a smoother pebble or a prettier shell than ordinary, whilst the great ocean of truth lay all undiscovered before me.” A thirst for knowledge and an intrinsic self-discipline is essential for fostering the spirit of continuous learning. The journey of continuous learning is one of “excelsior” or ever upward!

Creating a learning culture requires 2 pillars: psychological safety and accountability. - Psychological safety: this entails fostering an environment where employees can take risks without fear of punishment. - Accountability: people should be held accountable for both their actions and results. Unlike performance cultures, which focus solely on outcomes, learning cultures evaluate the depth of decision-making processes. For learning cultures to flourish, there's a need for both psychological safety and accountability. Imagine a 2x2 matrix: Having accountability without psychological safety places individuals in a high-stress area, while psychological safety without accountability can trap them in a comfort bubble.

The risks of not having a continuous learning culture: - Organization becomes stagnant - We fail to keep up with our competitors - failure to align with business stakeholder expectations - Fall out of compliance - Your workforce starts leaving for better opportunities - Your organization becomes irrelevant