Becoming a Continuous Learning Organization

What is a continuous learning organization, you may ask? It is a company that is skilled at creating, acquiring, and transferring knowledge and information and modifying its own behavior to reflect new insights in the way employees get things done in the workplace. That’s a mouthful, for sure. In other words, it is a workplace where there is only one way to go – continual improvement. It involves translating new ideas, knowledge and technology into new ways of getting things done. These things change the way employees behave and think and can lead to great improvement for the entire organization.

Key Features of a Continuous Learning Organization

What does it take to be a continuous learning organization? Is your company one? Would you like to become a continuous learning organization? If so, these are the parts and pieces you’ll need:

• Flexibility – this is a core value of the organization
• People – they are respected and appreciated for their skills, values and work
• Staff Opinions – these are sought after and heard with respect
• Exchanging of Information – ideas are openly shared and experiences are encouraged
• Learning New Skills – applying new ways of doing things to enhance and improve services and jobs
• Opportunities – involves taking risks, reaching new levels of expertise, learning from mistakes
• Learning Occurs – at every level within the organization from the individual employee, groups and the entire organization

Two Types of Learning

Within a continuous learning organization, learning takes place regularly. It is a part of the fabric of the organization. There are two specific types of learning that take place: Maintenance Learning and Anticipatory Learning. Let’s take a look at each one.

Maintenance learning involves regular, routine in-services, talking about current practices, procedures, and tasks. It generally has a short-term focus and often misses changes that are taking place in the environment. It is learning that gets employees by. It is like going through the motions of training.

Anticipatory training, on the other hand, is about acquiring new skills and knowledge and then incorporating them intelligently in the workplace. The focus is not short-term but the long run and bigger picture. It drives the organization’s vision and mission, which makes it a very powerful force.

This type of training is also participatory and a joint venture. The group of employees act as a single unit. They explore ideas, alternatives, and consider how new knowledge can help them reach their goals at work. This enhances teamwork, leadership and communication. It is a very active and engaging type of learning and one that can be highly effective for your organization.

Continuous Learning Organization and Best Practices

Continuous learning organizations maintain a number of best practices in order to maintain improvement and momentum. They focus on long-term improvement or change. They seek to decrease organizational conflict that would distract them from their goals. They value “Revolutionary” over “Evolutionary” change and don’t settle for waiting around for things to improve. They practice self-mastery and maintain a single, shared vision.

The emphasis is on team learning and group self-awareness. Some best practices include heightened collective learning, greater cohesiveness, and enhanced creativity. Another is participative openness. Continuous learning organizations strive for consensus building, top-down and bottom-up flows of communication and value support over blame. All nice things, right?

Final Words on Becoming a Continuous Learning Organization

Education and training are important to any organization and there are many types and styles of delivering knowledge to employees. All modes of education and learning are not equal. Some organizations get by on holding regular maintenance training which focuses on “What we need to know now to do our jobs”. This is ok, to a degree, but it maintains the status quo. It doesn’t move the ball down the field very far. It may, in fact, not move the ball much at all. To really dig deep, and create a culture of learning, continuous learning organizations invest a great deal of time, effort, and probably money into Anticipatory Learning. This is about looking forward, driving the organization’s vision and mission, and exploring ways to improve how work gets done. Which type of learning would you rather have in your organization?

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