Best Practices of Learning Organizations

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Best Practices of Learning Organizations Results
of a Global Survey
CSTD Conference, Nov, 2003 Presented by Dr Tammy
Dewar Dr Dave Whittington
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Session Goals

• Explore the results of a global survey about
  learning organization practices carried out by
  Calliope Learning.
• Compare these results with the 2003 Conference
  Board of Canada Training and Development Outlook
• Discuss how your organization measures up against
  both of these survey results.

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Why did we do the survey?
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Learning Organization Research Results

• 127 responses to an online survey emailed to
  several learning, training and e-learning lists
  in December, 2002

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Learning Organization Research Results
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Learning Organization Research Results
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Learning Organization Research Results
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Learning Organization Research Results
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Training and Development Outlook 2003

• Survey completed by the Conference Board of
  Canada June, 2002 (published June 2003)
• 158 Canadian organizations representing primarily
  medium and large sized organizations operating in
  all major regions and industries

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Question

• How important is being a learning organization to
  you personally?
• How important is being a learning organization to
  your organization?
• Extremely Important
• Very Important
• Important
• Somewhat Important
• Not Very Important
• Not Important At All

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Learning Organization Research Results
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Conference Board of Canada

• Actual training expenditures in 2001 in Canada
  were 768 compared to the US at 1137 (both in
  CAD)
• Only 30 surveyed predict increases in formal
  training expenditures while 15 forecast a
  decrease
• 30 of employees do not receive any formal
  training at all

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Question

• How successful is your organization at being a
  learning organization?
• Extremely Successful
• Very Successful
• Successful
• Somewhat Successful
• Not Very Successful
• Not Successful At All
• Why or why not?

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Learning Organization Research Results
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Learning Signature (Business Lab, 2002)
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Extremely Successful (12)

• 3 were independent consultants and attributed
  their success to individual motivation and
  learning characteristics.
• The remaining 9 were in education and attributed
  success to things like high educational
  standards, quality instructors and materials,
  ongoing research and classes, a diverse number
  of courses offered, or high grade point averages.

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Comments

• Almost 10 percent of ABC freshman class ranks
  in the top one-half of 1 percent in the nation in
  SAT and ACT scores.
• ABC ranks in the top five in the nation among
  all comprehensive public universities in National
  Merit Scholars enrolled per capita and in the
  graduation of Rhodes Scholars.
• ABC had 288 Sooner Scholars, or 64 percent of
  OU student athletes, who earned above a 3.0
  cumulative grade point average last semester.

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Very Successful (17)

• 16 in education
• The majority of responses pointed to retention
  rates, assessment strategies or passing exams
  100 of the time. One response, we are
  teachers is the most striking example of people
  interpreting learning organizations as teaching
  organizations
• 3 organizations moved beyond this narrow
  interpretation to note things like improvement of
  employee skills, involvement in jobs, sharing
  learning on the job, reviewing daily job
  processes for learning, and lower turnover.

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Successful (18)

• 7 were from the education sector, and the
  remaining were from industry
• The majority noted the importance of leadership
  support and staff buy-in to the importance of
  learning. Several noted that although commitment
  was there philosophically for being a learning
  organization, size and geographical diversity
  made things difficult to implement and change.

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Comments

• The level of success depends on the buy-in of
  each staff member. (Staff includes dept. chairs,
  supervisors, and first-line employee.) Some
  supervisors emphasize learning organizations more
  than others do.
• This is a concept that has been implemented in
  the last 2 years of our 70-year history. We are
  still working our way through the integration of
  technology and the needs of the organization.

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Somewhat, Not, or Not at all Successful (75)

• Even mix of education, government and industry.
• This group of respondents provided the most
  insight into the characteristics of learning
  organizations (addressed all 4 learning signature
  quadrants)
• Implicit in their responses was an understanding
  of the issues that must be addressed when an
  organization shifts from a training or teaching
  culture to that of a learning culture.

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Comments

• The culture of our workplace must adapt so that
  informal learning becomes just as prominent and
  valued as formal learning.
• Becoming a learning organization is something
  that is talked about but there is no general
  agreement about the definition or what this
  actually looks like for the organization - what
  changes? How can this be measured?
• There is still a real mental block at the top. We
  facilitate students to understand what learning
  is and how it can assist organizational
  development and competitiveness. However, we do
  not 'walk the talk' in our own organization.

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Comments

• There isnt wholesale buy-in or indeed
  understanding as to what the learning
  organization looks like. It is easier to target
  aspects such as e-Learning.
•  
• There is little effort to promote organizational
  intelligence. Expertise is often not shared, nor
  is learning by individuals captured so it can be
  available to all and contribute to the overall
  organization.

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Summarizing Success

• Its interesting to note that there seems to be
  some correlation between how well an organization
  rates itself and the narrowness of their
  interpretation of learning organizations.
• Many educational institutions rate themselves
  very highly, but at the same time focus mainly on
  the testing and measurement of learning in formal
  classroom settings (and teaching) and less so on
  other aspects such as organizational culture and
  reaching out to the extended enterprise.
• The exceptions here are smaller consultancies,
  where the culture of the organization is in the
  hands of a few individuals.

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Success Best Practices

• Organizations struggling with broader definition
  of learning organization mentioned the importance
  of
• Shifting emphasis from training to learning
• Leadership and organizational commitment to
  learning
• Buy-in and motivation for learning
• Developing a culture of learning
• Informal learning and knowledge sharing
• Linking learning to organizational performance

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Conference Board of Canada (2003)
Percentage of Organizations Classifying
themselves as Learning Organizations

• Garvins definition of an organization skilled
  at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge
  and at modifying its behavior to reflect new
  knowledge and insights.

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Report Card on Organizational Learning (CBC)
Majority agreement in more than 50 of
statements Majority agreement in less than 40
of statements
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Question on measurement

• Do you measure the success of being a learning
  organization?  
• Yes
• No
• Somewhat
• Not Sure
• Please provide comments

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Learning Organization Research Results
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Comments

• The majority of comments about how measurement
  was completed pointed to attendance numbers and
  feedback received on evaluation forms
• A few mentioned performance reviews, market
  share, goodwill
• Its clear that organizations are struggling to
  measure the learning organization concept as no
  best practices really emerged from our data
  analysis

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Conference Board of Canda
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Question

• What learning organization books, tools or
  processes are used in your organization?
• Are these books, tools or processes linked to
  overall business strategy?
• Yes
• No
• Somewhat
• Question Not Applicable

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Learning Organization Research Results
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Tools and Processes used

• Majority of respondents listed types of training
  they have
• Next group mentioned various initiatives related
  to performance reviews, balanced scorecard
  approaches, QA initiatives, knowledge management
  systems, and technology enhanced training
  programs
• Of those who mentioned anything specific to
  learning organization concepts, 13 referred to
  Peter Senges ideas

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Question

• As part of your overall learning organization
  strategy, are you using any form of e-learning?
• Yes
• No

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Learning Organization Research Results
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Conference Board of Canada
Delivery methods as a of all training time
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Conclusions

• The global scene is very similar to the Canadian
  scene
• Theres a particularly limited understanding of
  organizational learning in the education sector
• Few organizations in our study had a systematic
  approach to organizational learning and its
  measurement
• Senges ideas still provide some guidance for
  people
• The use of technology continues to be important
  to many organizations

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Contact Info

• Full report at http//www.calliopelearning.com/res
  ources/
• Powerpoint presentation also online at the above
  address
• Feel free to email us at info_at_calliopelearning.com
  or [phone]