Strategic Learning

Learning Organizations

Do these scenarios sound a little too familiar?

• Training for 100 employees is delivered in one session at the lowest cost.
• After a slide-review of standard operating procedures, nothing changes.
• Two divisions are fighting; morale is low.
• You are asked to provide team-building.

What is the return on investment? Did any learning actually happen? While a dynamic trainer may receive good evaluations, knowledge and skills are unlikely to change.  Typically, organizations do not organically develop into learning organizations.  The decision to become a learning organization is often the result of external pressures (growth, competition) or internal forces (inadequate training, restructuring).

Benefits of becoming a dedicated learning organization include:

• Linking appropriate resources to customer needs
• Increasing innovation and competitive advantage
• Improving response to external pressures
• Embracing the pace of change within the organization
• Improving quality of outputs and outcomes at every level
• Enhancing organizational image by becoming more people oriented