An article from the site Virtual College questions the learning corporate culture. In other words, how to become a learning company? How to set up a culture adapted to the development of skills, and this continuously? How to push employees upwards permanently? To make them adopt a "Growth Mindset", that is to say an open, evolving mentality, which pushes them to surpass themselves?
[READ ALSO: [MANIFESTO] The definition of the learning company]
In fact, if it is difficult to establish such a state of mind in a company, it is because it requires accepting to make mistakes and take risks. Which is far from obvious! However, it is necessary to move towards a learning corporate culture, help employees grow, build a relationship of trust and loyalty, encourage teamwork and stimulate creativity... But then, how do we do it?
Not decreeing the learning corporate culture
The learning company is in fashion. But be careful, positioning your employees as learners means that they can develop their know-how in this or that way. It is shaking up established beliefs about skills development. We know how difficult it is to change all that, which is why A learning corporate culture cannot simply be decreed.
Prioritize people
The culture of continuous learning is ultimately very personal, which is why a company cannot claim to be a "learning" company if this state of mind is not anchored in each employee. It is therefore essential to involve in the process processing towards the learning model. Conduct surveys, creativity or design thinking workshops…
Using learning to promote change
Continuous learning, and therefore training, are at the heart of the learning corporate culture. They are therefore naturally the starting point. But be careful, forget about traditional training and seminars here. On the contrary, you will need to anchor learning in the daily lives of employees. Mobile learning, microlearning, etc.: these formats allow the sharing of good practices, beyond formal training moments.
In fact, skills and knowledge are everywhere in your company. And you need to know how to capture them! social learning is therefore also an avenue to explore. Indeed, it seems increasingly essential to equip companies with platforms where employees could deposit their knowledge and skills, in order to share them with all teams. They can build training courses there, propose ideas and share their monitoring. What is surprising is that social learning is struggling to establish itself, while we all train ourselves thanks to online articles, YouTube tutorials or conversations with our peers. A learning culture can be established in companies when training is no longer just a matter of face-to-face or seminars, but rather a continuous and collaborative system. In short, a daily practice.
Communicating with the right words
Words matter when it comes to changing mindsets. For example, moving to a learning company culture will require you to change the way you give feedback. You will need to value the efforts rather than intelligence, intentions and risk-taking rather than certain results. There is no point in trying to move to a learning culture if you operate as a company that values knowledgeable people above all else.
Do what you say
Like all changes affecting corporate culture, the shift to a learning culture must be carried by your top management. If they don't do what they say, how can we follow them?
Stay convinced
Get ready, the transition to a learning corporate culture will be long: be persistent and patient, and remain convinced that you have chosen the right direction. Communicate the benefits of the new processes you are implementing. Indeed, it will be easier for teams to follow you if they understand the daily benefits, both short and long term, of these new ways of working and collaborating.
