Grow your people, grow your organization: 2 effective learning strategies leaders should use to help their people thrive.

Grow your people, grow your organization: 2 effective learning strategies leaders should use to help their people thrive

Organizations that do not seek to unleash the potential of their people through developing a learning culture, lose their competitive edge. If the leader does not intentionally and relentlessly create the environment for people to thrive, the organization will not be competitive.

The need therefore is for strengths-based leaders to create a learning organization. They do this by building a culture where groups of people regularly collaborate to expand their capacities to create results they care about.

Here are 2 strengths-based leadership strategies to nurture a culture of ongoing learning and discovery:

1.????“You don’t have to read the book”.

This is a book club with a twist. Only one person on the team reads the book for that month. At the meeting, they present a summary of the book, with key take-aways and insights. Importantly, they show how what they have learned from the book can tie directly to the current and/or future needs of the organization. A rigorous discussion occurs about the ideas and how they can be used to improve the organization. This takes the pressure off people too busy to read, and gives them the opportunity to dive into a book without actually reading it. The application to the organization sparks great conversations about change and innovation.

2.????Innovation challenge.

Teams of 3-4 people are created. They can be made up of people from different parts of the organization. They study an organization from a different sector to identify several of the organization’s innovative practices. Then they are tasked with connecting those to their organization and explain how they could be implemented. This encourages team work and collaboration. It also offers up a review of current practices and identifies potential opportunities for creative change within the organization.

These simple, yet effective strategies when implemented with regularity, intent and fun, will create a culture of collaboration, curiosity and change.