How does the culture of an organisation affect the learning of its employees? Romy Craig explores why a learning culture depends on helping people to understand how they contribute, and to feel supported and valued.
Google 'how to create a learning culture' and in under a second you'll be inundated with opinions - over 500 million hits at the time of writing.
Businesses across the world speak proudly about their organisation's learning culture - the celebration of curiosity, the amazing opportunities and the investment of time and money in ensuring everyone can realise their full potential. What we don't talk so much about is the impact an organisation's overall culture has on allowing that learning culture to thrive, to make an impact, or to feel like it actually exists to the people who it claims benefit from it.
Of course it's important that we're proud to be curious, to embrace change, and to role-model behaviours that champion learning and give people the opportunities and space to learn. But that isn't all it takes. For a learning culture that actually delivers, we need firstly to take a step back and look at the impact of organisational culture overall, and then a step or two down Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs to address the factors that allow its pinnacle to be reached.
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
At the top of Maslow's pyramid is self-actualisation - achieving full potential - the ultimate aim for an organisation with a learning culture. But what the Hierarchy of Needs illustrates perfectly is the other factors that need to be in place for that self-actualisation to be achieved.
If we can take it that the majority of organisations have the 'Basic Needs' (bottom two levels on the Hierarchy) in place then we can see that it's the 'Psychological Needs' above those - Esteem and Belonging - that need to be conquered before their learners have a chance of reaching the top.
In order to meet a learning outcome, people need to feel that it's something they can do and that they want to do. Some of this feeling is led by internal factors (self confidence, whether they feel that they already have good knowledge of a subject, their experiences of learning), but a large part comes from external factors - the environment they're in and the support from those around them.
Let's consider those two 'Psychological Needs' in the context of an organisation...
Belonging
To meet the need of belonging, people need to feel that they are part of something, and have clarity on what their role within that is.
Many employee surveys ask people how clear they are about their contribution to the organisation's success. Such surveys might not seem like something you'd relate to learning. But they are.
When people can see how their effort relates to overall business goals, they will be far more motivated to learn things that will enhance that contribution.
The feeling of belonging also comes from how someone relates to colleagues. If they know that they're in an environment where those around them have their best interests at heart, they will feel supported and reaching more stretching learning goals will feel far more achievable.
Esteem
There are two key elements to consider in meeting the need of esteem. Firstly, it's imperative that people believe their contribution is valued - by the people around them and by the organisation as a whole. This links back to someone having clarity on how they belong and is similarly motivating - when you know that what you do is valued, the motivation to learn things that will improve or add to your skills and knowledge increases.
The second element is ensuring a culture in which individuals know that others have confidence in their potential to learn and achieve. This results in what is known as the Pygmalion Effect - where someone's performance is impacted by others' expectations of them. When we know someone else believes in us, our self-confidence increases and so do our chances of success.
And there are other aspects which are essential to creating an environment in which a learning culture can flourish...
Celebrating achievement
There has been plenty of research showing the importance of recognition to employee engagement - analysis by Gallup showed that employees who don't feel they've been adequately recognised are twice as likely to want to leave an organisation within the next year. We know this, but again, how does it relate to learning?
Essentially, we are motivated by acknowledgement and praise. If we celebrate the effort and dedication that someone puts in to learning, what they've achieved by doing it, and the way in which that makes a difference, then people feel that they have benefited and are motivated to do more.
This is even more important when a learning requirement is of more obvious benefit to the needs of the organisation than to the individual - recognition can hold the key to improving engagement.
Growth
Learning leads to many types of growth, of course. And improvement through growth is exactly what a learning culture aims to achieve.
There will always be people who are intensely curious and delighted to learn (even if the personal benefit isn't immediately obvious). But there will also be a lot of people who don't share this level of motivation.
Organisations need to ensure that people can answer the question “What's in it for me?”. And that's not just about the individual “chunks of learning” about a new process or skill... ideally it's also about embracing learning in general. People need to see a clear path of personal development in order to build a desire to learn.
In summary, being an organisation with a learning culture is a proven path to success. And in order for that learning culture to be achieved, the organisational culture needs to be one where people know how they contribute, feel supported, celebrated and valued, know that others have confidence in their potential and have a clear view of a tangible growth pathway. Without these factors in place, the idea of a learning culture risks being something that exists only in corporate strategy presentations and not in the day to day life of an organisation.
