A Learning Organization – does it exist?

A Learning Organization – does it exist?

The question is, rather; are there any non-learning organizations?

No, of course not. At Heartpace, we believe it is essential to have a framework and a corporate culture that enables and inspires knowledge acquisition, dissemination, and sharing.?

We believe that it is positive if each employee thinks about his and the organization's learning, has tools and methods to spread his knowledge, and actively seeks other colleagues' knowledge.?

Furthermore, a reward system that supports daily education and the spread of knowledge. To create, accommodate and facilitate a higher "learning pace" than the competitors is a key survival factor today. It’s becoming increasingly clear to both our customers and to us.

"At Heartpace, we believe that a learning organization is not a system – but rather a point of view and an attitude, which is based on value."

It is essential to set the right level of ambition.

You never become fully educated. It is also not possible to develop a learning organization "ready-made." We can continuously improve, learn, share, and become more systematic and structured. Working based on the approach of being a learning organization and always having learning in focus means gradually changing your system. Having the right mental attitude to drive learning and spreading knowledge towards ever higher levels. Daring to challenge each other, think new, and rethink but also dare to fail.

You never fail until you stop trying.*

But it requires knowledge and insight into the current situation and one's own needs. The knowledge part is about finding out and discussing information and facts. Simultaneously, it is also about finding out who you are and your own values. It stimulates understanding and learning as a process.

To actively increase the learning degree, we believe it is essential to evaluate and pinpoint which parts should be improved continuously, challenge the target image, and ensure which control systems contribute to the culture being kept alive and the organization's development.

Pinpointing a vision for learning

To establish your organization's target image for learning, we suggest anchoring work in small groups to create a platform around continuous education. The employees themselves must rank and formulate what is desirable and undesirable behavior. Subsequently, all activities carried out in this area must aim to support the desired behavior.

"A person learns as long as she lives. An organization lives as long as it learns."

Essential questions to answer:

1. Why do we need to increase learning?

2. What skills do we need to clarify?

3. How should these skills be packaged?

4. How can we best find a good "transfer model."

5. Where do we store our knowledge?

What characterizes a learning organization?

• Knowledge-oriented strategy – learning in focus and prioritized by management
• Policies are designed jointly
• Information is available to everyone and facilitates the dissemination of new knowledge and building of knowledge bases.
• Educational accounting and reporting
• Internal exchange of knowledge through various planned activities
• External scouting and benchmarking
• Reward flexibility
• Flexible authority structures
• Learning climate is created by management
• Development planning includes all employees

How we do it at Heartpace

There are several steps to take and questions to process when establishing a true learning organization. To start the journey, these are some of the steps we have initiated internally in our own organization, so far.

1. Setting a foundation and analyzing the current situation

– How do we evaluate our strengths and weaknesses based on organizational learning today?

– What do our target image and conditions look like for increasing learning and the climate for knowledge dissemination?

2. Creating a vision for learning

– Once the current situation has been established, the target picture and the vision around learning need to be formulated

– Which behaviors are desirable?

3. Anchoring and creating motivation

– Anchoring is A & O

– Find the driving forces of our employees for learning and the will to participate in increased learning

4. Creating systems for knowledge dissemination

– What do our distribution channels look like?

– How do we think about simple documentation and accessibility and communication both electronically and physically?

– What does our reward system look like? Do they work to increase the willingness to share knowledge?

5. Getting the managers on board

– Managers must put learning on the agenda and use tools for active knowledge dissemination. How do we achieve this?

6. Increasing the abilities by creative methods

– Provide creative methods to work with. Knowledge exchange, Open Space, Lunch and Learn, and Network; learning styles can be some methods to create commitment and further development of the learning organization.

Would you like to know more about how to create a learning organization supported by digitalization? Then, have a look at the Heartpace HR system, which includes a great alignment tool that supports all your chosen directions and processes.

A true learning organization is the future!

(*= a quote supposedly from Albert Einstein meaning that as long as you actually keep on trying, all mistakes are only important learnings – never real failures.)