Learning power in the workplace: the effective lifelong learning inventory and its reliability and validity and implications for learning and development

An organisation's ability to learn, to harness collective intelligence and to translate that learning rapidly into action in response to environmental challenges is the ultimate competitive advantage in the constantly changing context of the information age. It is an indicator of the organisations' resilience and adaptability in the face of uncertainty and change. Improving an organisation's capacity to learn will only have the desired impact on performance if it improves employee engagement at the same time. In this paper, we introduce the concept of learning power into the context of the workplace, drawing on what has been learned from its application in education and recent studies in the corporate and community sector in the UK and beyond. The seven dimensions of learning power were identified by Deakin Crick, Broadfoot and Claxton (2004, Assessment in Education Principles Policy and Practice, 11, 247–272) in the development of the effective lifelong learning inventory (ELLI), an assessment tool designed to enable learners to become aware of their own learning power and to turn diagnosis into strategies for improvement. We present the psychometric properties and the validity and reliability statistics of ELLI as the Learning Power assessment tool for learners in the world of work and community, based on an adult workplace population of over 5000. Finally, we explore the implications of these ideas and practices for learning in corporate organisations.