Measuring and Building a Learning Organization: A Systems Approach

EVER before in our history has the rapid increase N in new knowledge and technology and in the pace of change itself demanded a learning response as massive as what is now required to remain competitive. As organizations strive to adapt to the many dynamic changes in today’s business environment, from rapidly evolving technology and diminishing natural resources, to increasing global competition and a more diverse work force, we all have much to learn. What’s more, the very nature of the learning process that we must go through is fundamentally different from the educational paradigm to which we are accustomed. In the past, as the waves of change rolled slowly, we could rely largely on our standard educational process, supplemented by occasional corporate training programs, to supply us with the necessary skills and knowledge. Not so any more! For organizations to survive and prosper on the whitewater ride into the 21st Century, we must adopt a new way of managing that is based on the very capacity of our organizations to learn and change, consciously, continuously and quickly. “Learning organization” is not just the new buzzword for business. Rather, organizational learning is a critical business capability for any company that wants to successfully negotiate the coming years. In real-trade terms, brain power is what matters, and so today, individuals and organizations alike must all become continuous learners. But how does an organization rise to the challenge? How does it move beyond the rhetoric of organizational learning and into action? How can it apply the theory to produce practical and powerful results? In seeking the answers to those questions, we took a careful look at the practices of those organizations that have taken successful action to address the immense learning challenges of the new world of business. We studied more than 30 successful Fortune 1000 companies in both the manufacturing and service sectors. Out of more than 200 practices and values, programs and structures that these companies employ to support and encourage continuous learning, we identified 100 fundamental practices applicable to most organizations. These practices, which comprise the core characteristics of successful learning organizations, can serve as a benchmark against which virtually any organization can measure its own capacity to support perpetual learning. Using the data from this research, we created a diagnostic instrument that measures the degree to which continuous learning practices are used in an organization. We then tested the survey with a representative sample of employees of a large U.S. insurance corporation. What we found was that this survey provided a wealth of data about which continuous learning practices were effectively in place and which ones were not. The truth is that there is no magic formula to bring about organizational learning. Each organization must discover or invent those practices that will work best for its unique characteristic. However, by starting with the practices that have successfully propelled other organizations into the leading edge of the marketplace, you can take a “diagnostic snapshot” of your own organization. This diagnosis can stimulate the necessary internal dialogue in which your organization must engage in order to identify and implement those practices that will lead to its greatest gains. As an ongoing practice, taking regular diagnostic snapshots will help you monitor your organization’s progress and identify continuous adjustments to enable the organization to move forward.