Elearning - April/May 2008 - (Page 23)

courses. That becomes very mechanical. Employees — managers especially — have to be evaluated on their coaching and support for learning. Managers must presume that energy comes in large part from learning and growing. They must really think about their own “learning quotient” (their interest in, and capacity for, learning new things) and the learning quotient of their employees. Also, a learning culture cannot encourage knowledge hoarding, but rather knowledge sharing. If I know that I’m going to be rated on what I know, why would I share information with someone else — which would give them an advantage in the appraisal system, especially with companies that rate on a curve? If I come up with a brilliant idea and share it with everybody, I should get credit for sharing it, even though the idea then would not be to my exclusive benefit. The design of a performance appraisal system has to balance any kind of required rating and ranking with criteria that focuses on knowledge-sharing, learning and teamwork. BENEFITS >>With a good learning culture in place, the first apparent benefits are higher employee satisfaction, morale and — probably — retention. Employees are more motivated and more inclined to do a good job when they feel their ideas are heard, when they can share and be recognized for what they know, when other people are available to help them, when they learn from mistakes rather than being punished. >>A company with a good learning culture tends to surface ideas more efficiently. Employees are not hesitant to come up with ideas for fear that they’ll be shot down. The simplest example of a learning culture is the old suggestion box. When management ignores suggestions, they are discouraging employee participation. But when management welcomes ideas, the culture changes and even more ideas are generated. >>Another benefit of a good learning culture is reduction of redundancies. If two people or teams are working on the same type of project in different parts of the business, a good learning culture might expose those people to each other, thereby combining resources and ideas to eliminate the redundancies and concentrate more creativity and brainpower on the critical needs at hand. >>A good learning culture has the potential to yield an improved reputation in the business community for the organization itself, plus a better value proposition for that organization’s training department. among employees. Some people are more comfortable and some less. The more computer technology is imbedded into their work, the more comfortable they will be in using it to learn. So we have to take special care in helping develop these skills and a comfort level. Over time, that usually works out, especially if you design the interfaces and technology right. Building a learning culture will become more and more a key skill area for top managers. You can’t do it for them, but you can help them do it. If a The more computer technology is imbedded into [employees’] work, the more comfortable they will be in using it to learn. >>Finally, a good learning culture will integrate a company’s talent management strategy. Learning will not be separated from incentives, rewards, pay, working conditions, tools, recruiting, selection, retention, selection, and long-term employee support. All of those factors seem to be merging in the business community, and without a learning culture you have a big gap in your talent management strategy. STARTING FROM SCRATCH You can’t turn around an organization — or its learning culture — overnight. You have to start developing the culture where employees are more apt to be supportive of learning. There may be groups of people who are too autocratic and too top-down oriented for a true learning culture, so I would start by looking for opportunities where people are more inclined to build this kind of a culture — even if it’s in a small part of the business —and showcase it. Let everybody else see the benefits. If you are thinking about significantly increasing the level of technology in your overall learning strategy, one of the initial problems you may encounter is the differences in the levels of computer savviness key manager is not inclined to working in this area, there may be others who are, which gets back to choosing the right projects, because you have to find a place to demonstrate value, and then it’ll take off. But certainly, everyone can benefit from analyzing what your cultural situation is and whether the training function is even organized right and sending the right messages. All the well-best, well-intentioned, well-designed learning and training programs run great risks of failure of they’re implemented in a lousy learning culture. It’s a two-pronged attack: create the best, most valuable programs, both in the classroom and in the workplace; and get the organization to value learning as a strategic initiative. That’s the learning culture imperative, as important — if not more so — as anything else we do in our field. —Marc Rosenberg, Ph.D., is a management consultant and expert in training, organizational learning, e-learning, knowledge management and performance improvement. He is the author of the best-selling book, “Beyond E-Learning” (Pfeiffer). For more information, visit the Website www.marcrosenberg.com. Elearning! April / May 2008 23 http://www.marcrosenberg.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Elearning - April/May 2008

Elearning - April/May 2008 Editor's Note Contents News Targeting Africa Locating Courseware People in the News Upcoming Events Deals Trendlines Web Services Building a Learning Culture Measuring the Learning Experience Making Learning Fun and Social LMS's 2008: What You Need To Know Learning Leader: CA Case Study: AVI Case Study: IBM Case Study: QualComm WBS Case Study: National Center for State Courts Case Study: Grundfos Pumps Case Study: Virginia Tech Pop Quiz Last Word

Elearning - April/May 2008

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