How to Build a Learning Culture with the Flywheel Effect
“I don’t have time for learning.” How often have I heard that feedback from an employee? However, in my experience as a long-time Learning and Development (L&D) leader, the issue is rarely actually about time. Employees who are passionate about their own development will find the time regardless of their own busy schedules. Instead, the issue is more likely one of prioritization and the support that employees perceive that they have to take the time for their own development. In other words, employees who don’t feel like they have time for their own development generally work in an environment that lacks a strong learning culture.
Over the last couple of decades, I have given a lot of thought to how to build a strong learning culture. And like most interesting problems, the solution is complex, and it’s work that I will probably never really feel is finished. So to tease out my own thinking on how to build a strong learning culture, I decided to borrow from a beloved business concept: the flywheel.
What is a learning culture and why does it matter?
But before we dive into my ideas around a learning culture flywheel, let’s start by level setting on what a learning culture actually means and why it’s important. Simply put, a learning culture is an environment where employees are encouraged to focus on their growth and development. In a learning culture, acquiring and sharing knowledge, information, and skills are both valued and recognized.
It’s a set of organizational values, practices, and processes that encourage and support continuous learning and development of employees. A learning culture isn’t just about providing training courses or e-learning modules; it’s about creating a mindset and an environment where learning is seen as a strategic asset, a source of competitive advantage, and a way of enhancing performance and innovation.
A strong learning culture can help organizations adapt to changing markets, customer needs, and technologies. It can help attract and retain talent, foster collaboration and creativity, and improve employee engagement and satisfaction. According to LinkedIn, companies that cultivate strong learning cultures see higher retention rates, greater internal mobility, and a more solid management pipeline compared to other companies.[1] And a study by Bersin by Deloitte found that organizations with strong learning cultures are 92% more likely to innovate, 52% more productive, and 17% more profitable.[2]
What is the flywheel effect and how can it help build a learning culture?
The flywheel effect is a concept popularized by Jim Collins, the author of the best-selling book Good to Great. According to Collins, a flywheel can be set in motion by a series of small and consistent pushes. At first, the flywheel moves slowly, but as more pushes are applied, it gains momentum and speed, until it becomes unstoppable.
The flywheel effect can be applied to building a learning culture by identifying and implementing a series of actions that reinforce and amplify each other, creating a positive feedback loop that drives the learning culture forward. ?
My learning culture flywheel
There is no one-size-fits-all formula for creating a learning culture flywheel, but here is the learning culture flywheel that I recently developed.
Starting at the top of the diagram above, I want to Spark Curiosity and Interest in Learning. To do this, I look for ways to ignite employees' desire to learn and grow professionally. This usually means working with my L&D team to dive deep to understand what is most relevant useful for our employees. This part of the flywheel also requires a level of organizational transparency so that employees feel safe, connected, and informed. We need to demonstrate leadership-level commitment to L&D, develop and communicate a company-wide career mobility strategy, and consistently drive learning engagement through targeted campaigns.
Once employees are interested in learning, I want to help them focus on how best to learn by Fostering Learning Agility within the company. At every opportunity I want to encourage everyone – from frontline employees to the CEO – to be open to new experiences and be willing to share what they have learned from both success and failure. To do this, I want to focus my L&D team on helping to build key skills across the organization, including effective communication, emotional, intelligence, building trust, and applying lessons learned for continuous improvement.
领英推荐
Once employees feel confident about and open to learning, I need to make sure that we are Clarifying Development Needs. In other words, once employees know how to learn they need to think about what to learn. Employees (and their managers) can more easily identify these development needs when we continuously improve related talent mechanisms, such as focal reviews, career development conversations, career pathing, consistent job descriptions with defined competencies, and skilling strategies. We also strive to consistently weave company values, behaviors, or other expectations into the employees’ day-to-day lives. And all of these mechanisms should be as employee-centric as possible to ensure that they focus on development as opposed to corrective action. ??
One of the core responsibilities of any high-performing L&D team is to Ensure Inclusive and Equitable Access to Development. When it comes to learning, inclusion is everything. If employees don’t feel they are welcome in your learning environment, then the flywheel will fail.
This means that building learning isn’t enough on its own. We must also ensure that opportunities for development are clear and discoverable for all employees. We want to provide a variety of development channels and create consistent mechanisms to celebrate progress and achievement. Employees should always feel clear ownership over their own development. And underpinning this sense of equity and inclusion is an effective learning data architecture. In today’s tech-enabled world, if your data house isn’t in order, then you cannot guarantee equal access to learning or to the recognition and progress that comes with it.
A sister step to inclusive and equitable access is to Provide High-Quality Development Experiences. To keep the flywheel turning, more is not always better. I prefer that my L&D team offers fewer, targeted and relevant learning choices rather than a kitchen sink filled with options. I also want to be sure to offer learning experiences that are learner-centric, social, and collaborative. And to maintain our credibility as an L&D function, I need the learning experience to be consumer-grade. We are always competing for our employees’ attention, so our learning experiences need to meet the expectations that have been set across their media-rich lives.
And, of course, all of our development opportunities should have a both a high value and clear impact to the business, which enables us to Measure and Communicate Impact. When it comes to communicating impact, I generally think of it across two facets: employee impact and organizational impact. Employees and their managers should always be able to track their progress against relevant skill development and see clear indicators of improved job performance. Under the right conditions, they will also see job progression and increased job satisfaction. L&D organizations should also be communicating clear business impact for all of their programs and initiatives. In addition, L&D can report on company-wide progress on closing the gap towards building key skills, as well as L&D’s contribution toward increasing overall employee engagement and a reducing regretted attrition.??
Getting your learning culture flywheel to spin
Putting your learning culture flywheel in motion is not a quick or easy process, but it can be done with the right mindset and commitment. If you don’t have your own learning culture flywheel, you can use mine and tell me what you learn.
Here are some steps to get you started:
Building a learning culture is not a one-time event, but a continuous journey. By applying the flywheel effect, L&D teams can create a virtuous cycle of actions that reinforce and amplify each other, creating a momentum and a force that drives the learning culture forward. And in doing so, L&D becomes a strategic partner in helping their organizations achieve higher levels of performance, innovation, and growth. So, what’s in your learning culture flywheel?
Thank you for sharing your insights on fostering a learning culture. It truly is a complex journey, and your experiences shed light on important strategies. Engaging teams in dialogue about their learning needs can be incredibly powerful. What specific challenges have you encountered in this process?