How can you create a culture of continuous learning and improvement in accounting?

In my experience Creating a culture of continuous learning in accounting is essential for team performance and professional growth. The dynamic nature of accounting demands adaptation to changing standards and technologies. This culture isn't a one-time event but a strategic and collaborative approach. Align learning with business objectives by understanding key skills and competencies needed, measuring impact, and effectively communicating this vision. Make learning an ongoing cycle for all levels, encouraging a mindset of constant improvement. Leadership, managers, and employees all play a role in fostering this culture. Leverage technology and modern tools for more effective learning programs. Promote a growth mindset, encouraging field.

At Warner Bros., when I supported the CFO/Finance org, we went through an exercise to first clarify business priorities, and from there, talent/learning priorities. Once those were defined, everything else fell into place- we had focus and the team's buy-in.

Creating a culture of continuous learning for us is about embedding learning into the everyday through cultivating a culture of adaptive growth mindsets. There are different challenges across industries for sure, some more inherently adaptive than others, however the cross organisational core focus remains the same: - Leadership Commitment - Set Clear Goals - Make Learning an Accessible Resource - Ensure Continuous Feedback and Recognition - Experiment and Innovate - Enable Collaboration and Inclusivity - Enable Flexible Learning Paths - Measure and Adapt when needed - Communicate and Share the wins! - Create a Supportive Culture

A culture built on trust, where team members have embraced a growth mindset & leaders enable a regular review process. Kolb's Learning Cycle provides a valuable & practical framework. Through taking time to identify what's going well & what could be better, drawing out the generalisations, applying & reviewing. The generalisations are the gold. In that they are the opportunities to be implemented in other areas/systems/processes & thus increase the value from the process. Use the framework for a weekly meeting (reflecting on the previous week) & then also run review meetings. Start on the smallest jobs/processes, demonstrating the benefits and then make it a regular process to build in to the way of working.

Institution based learning is always important at an entry level but customised learning actually helps us to excel in our field be it sales,accounts , operations or even leadership. In fact the leader has to always take care of his or her own learning curve along with that of the team. Today's business scenario has changed and such demands for not only fast but continuous learning. The advent of technology has fostered the communication and therefore continuous learning has become easier to deal with. In fact an employee doesn't want to earn only but learns simultaneously so as to add value to himself/ herself as well as the organisation which in turn helps the individual to grow faster .

There is only one way of doing that, and it is to encourage a culture of collaboration. And I mean collaboration on the things we don't know as well as our successes. It implies that it is okay to ask colleagues for help, and colleagues are glad to share what they know. This requires a world where individual performance is rolled up into team performance, and the organization focuses on overall success, not individual excellence, at the expense of the team. There should be small informal meetings peppered with larger more organized meetings to share successes and challenges. The focus is on doing a better job for the organization and the customer, nothing is more important.

A powerful tool for reflection and continuous improvement, is the “rose, thorn, bud” retrospective. It creates an opportunity to evaluate what worked well, what didn’t and what could be improved. It’s not about assigning blame or pointing fingers, so focus on solutions and problem-solving for the “thorns” and allow the team the opportunity to identify action plans.

Instead of conducting status updates as work update meetings, conduct feedback meetings. And close the loop as early as you can. That’s one best way to make sure everyone’s feedback is heard and valued and acted upon.

Feedback is very important. It critical to get feedback when the culture is going on to implementation, sometimes there is a gap or boundaries. That is why every feedback from the whole team in this case accounting team will give contribution to improve the culture and take a reflection for future action. SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, Threat) analysis can be a good and simple method for evaluation.

Use Earning’s Season’s as a platform for Learning. Rich lessons can be learned from company’s earnings and analyst calls. From companies that fall from grace to those that have constantly succeeded and adapted their organization’s to meet market realities. There are many ways in which to extract real-learn and apply it in practise. Lean-outwards to embrace learning.

Technology has an impact on communication to entertainment, healthcare to education, technology has revolutionized the way we live. With the rise of digital technologies, people from different cultures can now easily connect and share their experiences, beliefs, and traditions. While technology has made communication and information sharing easier, it has also led to a lack of attention, low creativity, delays in language and emotional development, physical inactivity, and poor sleep quality, reduced face-to-face communication and increased isolation. Therefore, it’s important to balance the use of technology.

It is not just about encouraging, it is about leading the way. If you′re a leader that always speaks, imposes things and judges during meetings, there is no way your team will be curious and experiment. If you′re a leader that first asks others′ opinions, co-creates and listens actively, the rest will follow this behaviour. Psychological safety can be improved in many different ways, but the primary way is leading by example.

Finance/Accounting professionals have a certain rigor that they naturally bring to their work. I have found this mindset often translates well into effective talent development work. The key, though, is to establish clear frameworks, processes, and expectations. Once the 'rules of the road' are clear, I've found teams really engage around this work.

Creating a culture of continuous learning in any field involves shifting the learning from a “have to” to a “want to” or “get to” mindset. How? A few suggestions come to mind: - Find out what type of skills and topics the employees are interested in, and focus some programs around those - Identify barriers to learning and work with leaders and sponsors to remove them - Be deliberate in connecting the learning opportunities to the WIIFM, don’t assume employees know how they would benefit - Share success stories. Did someone get promoted due to expanded learning? Did they solve a critical challenge? Don’t just reward them - share their win with the organization

Executive sponsorship is essential. In fact, it's the biggest predictor of successful change management. Success is really about doing 3 things right: 1) Create a good plan 2) secure sponsorship from the most senior leader, and 3) execute well.

Connect actions to short term and long term compelling goals weekly. 1. Create a ritual for reviewing what is not working well and celebrating quick wins, such that making improvements that are chunked down into bite size pieces becomes a way of life. 2. Balance initiatives that makes life easier for your team with larger products that brings greater value to the organisation. 3. Bring in help to do the extra grunt work and allow your team to take the reigns and do the easier steps.

Inspire team members to take responsibility for their personal and professional development. Set an example by doing the same. Ask yourself questions like: What did I learn today or this week? Share with the team. It can be as simple as something you learned about yourself, others, the organization or as rich as a new skill or knowledge. This demonstrates for the team that even leaders have more to learn. It will inspire them to have a learning mindset and to take action when opportunities arise — even for learning topics like accounting!

Learning is emotional. Through practice, I've found that learning occurs when we're genuinely interested, and growth happens when we're motivated. While online platforms and virtual communities offer convenient ways to connect, share knowledge, and engage in discussions, they often lack the emotional appeal that drives true engagement. Often, we participate in these activities out of routine, mandates, or expectations. To foster a continuous culture of learning and improvement, it's crucial to align goals and objectives with individual interests (WIIFM - What's in it For Me) and motivation (Why). By emphasizing these aspects, we can create a meaningful connection that ignites genuine curiosity and a drive to improve.