Joanna Swash Group CEO of Moneypenny. Moneypenny handles outsourced phone calls, live chat and digital comms.
One of the best ways an organization can stay resilient, agile and, most significantly, ahead of the competition is by nurturing a learning culture. This applies to organizations of any size, industry or country. It keeps you one step ahead, always looking forward and able to embrace challenges. Cultivating a learning culture can help you harness the power of your people and substantial advancements in technology.
What Is A Learning Culture In Business?
Leaders know that people are the key to a thriving, successful and sustainable business. They know that the key lies in recruiting, developing and retaining brilliant people—those who are right for the business and aligned with the values and purpose.
The capacity to learn, adapt and improve, continuously and effortlessly, are the attributes of any successful organization in the future—and at its core is a learning culture.
A strong learning culture is one that embeds learning into every element of the business, in “how things are done around here.” It is an implicit, shared understanding that learning happens every day for everyone. It begins with a robust strategy and effective leadership, aligned throughout processes, systems and values—everything an organization does.
By removing all barriers to learning and creating an environment for everyone to succeed, a learning culture sets an organization up to be constantly evolving and developing. In my experience, that can translate to increased employee motivation, engagement and retention, people and business resilience, increased innovation and problem-solving and ultimately improved overall business capability.
How To Nurture A Learning Culture
Learning is a valuable asset and it needs to be a key element of any organization’s strategy. It needs to be the mindset that underpins the way that the leadership team rolls everything else out. Before the ways in which you can implement a learning culture are even discussed, there needs to be a commitment to this way of running the organization. If there is disparity, it will likely not work in the long term.
At the heart of any brilliant business are brilliant people. This is the core of a learning culture. Value your company’s individuals and provide them with everything they need to become the best they can be, and collectively you can create a business that excels.
This means creating a safe environment for individuals to be heard and valued, where dialogue is encouraged, empowering people toward a collective goal with a clear vision and connecting people to that so they can clearly see the impact they are having individually on that goal.
Create systems and structures that embrace this collaboration and shared learning by ensuring there are opportunities for individuals to learn—and to fail—every day. Mistakes can provide you with all manner of knowledge, but you must take that knowledge and move forward.
Why A Learning Culture Is Vital For The Future
While people are the foundation of your organization, technology is the future. For example, advancements in AI will hopefully only improve and move forward as we look to tomorrow. Organizations need to establish a culture that embraces this and can harness this potential. Your people are the essential element to succeeding.
Organizations that recognize this and act upon it could be the ones that see technology as a key ally in business. Set your people and organization up to succeed by investing in a learning culture. Set the tone for the future, be transparent and show how new technologies such as AI, for example, can augment human intelligence for the better. In doing so, you open yourself and the organization up to new ideas and opportunities.
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