The other day we were discussing how can we build an environment where everyone in the organization will continuously learn from each other.
I feel there are three key elements to build a learning organization.
- Technology: This in my view is relatively the easiest component to set up. While it is the easiest, care must be taken to ensure that the technology solution chosen is easy to use and flexible enough to change with the times. It also helps if there is one common platform across the different departments of the organization.
- Framework: By this I mean a process framework that makes it easier to share and learn. These could include defined project wash-up meetings, periodic forums that invite people to share what’s happening in their area of work, or defined networking groups that allow exchange of ideas.
- Culture: The most critical element of a learning organization and perhaps the hardest to build. The culture of sharing is where people share without fear, where the greatest reward for sharing is more sharing by others.
Any idea of what technology… basic frameworks… and examples of culture that would support you ven diagram?
Technology could include IM/chat, document management systems, employee portals, discussion forums, internal social media portals like Yammer etc.
Frameworks include periodic meetings to share project learnings, forums that expect inter-department communication, process defined project-end meetings etc.
Culture includes a perception whether the employees are willing to share their knowledge, do bosses prefer prevent/discourage or encourage their subordinates to share info with other departments, is there a culture of competitiveness that prevents collaboration or the culture encourages collaboration etc.
Hello… it seems the second point (Framework) has a few words missing at the end…
Thanks for pointing that out Rakesh.
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