Developing a Learning Culture
There are many ways of approaching developing a learning culture in your organization.
Of course, most (if not all) of these ways involve organizational leaders examining closely what their personal (and professional) posture toward learning, development, training, and people management, has been since they started learning.
Following a Culture Self-Examination…
But following such a self-examination, where does the organizational leader look next?
In most cases, the leader is going to examine how her employees respond to learning new and challenging processes and procedures. If arms are crossed and resistance is high, the issue is not for the employees to get more training. The issue is for the leader to get more training in how to be more persuasive.
Or, to realize that sometimes, some people just aren’t going to be persuaded, and change needs to happen anyway.
The third area that the leader is going to examine involves the culture of her team that she has built over time, either by accident or on purpose. If the culture is one that is oriented toward change, maximizing efficiency, and viewing conflicts as positives rather than negatives, then training, development, and learning will be appreciated.
Or, if the culture is oriented toward threats, power abuse, deception, hostility, and lip service to talking about culture rather than performing the hard work of building a culture, then training, development, and learning will not only not be appreciated, but also it will be actively resisted.
Organizational leaders must look at themselves, the cultures they have built, and the employees they have hired, in order to develop the learning culture they would like to see.
