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Dear Krishnan,

In the knowledge driven economy that we are living in, the question is of utmost importance!

Well, to start with, the culture of learning manifests itself, but still at the background is a team of knowledge management experts (i know a few companies who have a KMC - knowledge management center) to build and sustain an internal "learning" culture throughout the organization.

Learning happens by itslef, well I dont think so.

One of the best ever examples that I keep on setting all across, is MindTree Consulting. The company has a wonderful internal learning structure. There are people who are dedicated to the cause. I was one of the batch of 300 campus recruits, and in a month's time you feel a proud MindTree Mind and are ready for your first assignment. And the learning is supported with proper data and the career graphical representations.

The web2.0 technologies provide the best platform for creating innovative internal learning tools for your organization.

One of the most innovative and cost effective ideas that I would like to share is a unique mix of web 2.0 and the mobile! There are case studies existing (though not many) for the same.

Whether a sales force or any type of organization, an innovative use of mobile and the web 2.0 platform can help you reduce your costs and be more effective in creating an effective learning culture, which if supported by artificial intelligence concepts, could be self manifesting and replicating!

Best Regards,
Paritosh Sharma

Hi Paritosh -

Thanks for the information. I agree with you that there are some really interesting ways one can leverage web 2.0. We at NuVeda Learning are innovating continuous learning solutions based on web 2.0 technologies. Thank you for pointing out Mindtree.

I have found the biggies like GE, TCS, Wipro, Cognizant and Infosys to have strong learning cultures - but have personally found that this kind of learning culture is manifested in the people that I interact with - with a strong bent towards learning and the humility to say "I don't know".

I'd be interested in thoughts from others as well..thanks!

Krishnan

Dear Krishnan,

Some of the initiatives that I have found being taken by the companies to bring the cutlute of learning is

a) having well defined role based set of training which are either class room or electronic.

b) The employees are mandated to complete the set of trainings for the role they are performing for example for fresh recruits a set is defined, similarly for Project Managers a training set is defined to be done. Please note that these trainings are not optional and must be completed by the employees and appraisals, promotions are all linked to it.

c) There are companies which do not promote an individual because of lack of trainings completed.

Now, this is what is being done in some of the most respected and huge companies like Infosys & Accenture. While certainly it is a way to bring the culture in the employee but is it the best way. I have my doubts. When we say culture, it really means that the employee wants to learn not the company wants him to learn. One flows from within and one is enforced. There is a huge difference. One is a mere formality and does not result in learning & changing while the others makes an employee better.

There are ways to ensure that learning becomes a culture rather then a mandate, I hope the good sense will prevail in corporates, someday...

Mr Krishnan,

Difficult to give identification traits of a learning IT co. except that learning cos do not repeat mistakes, and they grow by rapid transformation. Every contract loss is followed by another superior contract hurting the competitor in prev encounter...

Suggest read the two books by Subroto Bagchi of Mindtree: "High Performance Entreprenuer" and latest book launched 2 months back calles as "Go and Kiss The world".

My suggestions to transform and bring in learning culture

1. Prepare Definition doc ( 1-2 page for line of business), get it reviewed and publish inside your co for everyone to know purpose, blueprint and roadmap of the business dept

2. Project Plan, Change Management and Weekly Project Review must be done through docs only and across emails with written out feedback amongst stakeholders

3. Pre-sale pipeline  templates must be filled up on weekly basis and reviwed openly across the meetings with Co Head as well as Business Head , all sales people involved and Delivey Head and PMs. People should know how difficult is to retain a lead, and what sweat is called for develop each lead into hot or imminent stage from warm or cold stage

Organization vibrates only with high traction and heat. Stretch is called for at every stahe of business lifecycle. Documented tracking and reporting with open reviews can bring out the need of learning and the pace towards desired learning goal.

Humans by nature do not wish to change or learn, unless compelled with a interest or necessity. Learning comes up everytime there is a imminent threat or loss or faluire. Create that traction and learning goal as well as velocity come natural.

Top management must put in UNREASONABLE expectations down the teams. Then you see others countering it, by stretching or exceeding the targets....

Dear Sunil -

I completely agree with your learner-centric point of view. I find that when organizations mandate programs like Six Sigma across the company, they tend to forget the learner in the process. As a result, one is stuck with what six sigma experts would term "unsuccessful deployments".

Now, this is true not just for Six Sigma but for other training as well..

I am of the opinion that there is a grain of truth in "why someone doesn't take to the training/learning in as much as why someone does".  Listening to these supposedly "contrary" people will help grow the learning culture, in my view.

Cheers

Krishnan

Learning organization signs are :

1. As Krishnan says above, listening to Contrary Views, is important. Obviously that must be followed by top management/HODs taking action /testing it out sincerley with honesty.

2. They screen various options to get high performance, with urgency to get the CHANGE.

3. Everyday they try out methodolgies, (not in private with buddies) on INCLUSIVE basis with all stakeholders - common email announcments, getting on board for common review meetings etc., clarifications, mentoring all in public view ( avoiding private settlements) etc.

4. Rapid actions and not sparing anyone /manhours till issues gets closed validates the honesty of purpose in a learning organization

It is as simple as that ......to be business like, show results and performance quickly by attempting various approaches, with due considerations for sake of everyone's understanding ( each stakeholder need not be capable of grasping every steps of the initiative) with transparency..

That is LEARNING ORGANIZATION ...that flattens the organizations as well as removes every chance for trouble makers who keep on giving CONTRARIAN VIEWS for SAKE OF, with no personal passion. Poor learners transform into better leraners...

LEARNING ORGANIZATION is not a factory of new ideas with no results. It must SPARKLE everyday and month, with concrete impact on team and individual performance raising MOTIVATION LEVEL ACROSS...adding VIBRANCY....with increasing TOPLINE and BOTTOMLINE

Bala: Good inputs already. Here are my inputs:

1. Ability to "UNLEARN"

2. Accelerated change with minimal resistance

3. Continuous, SCALABLE and self-learning platform

4. Going beyond traditional training or eLearning

5. Ability to harness the collective intelligence (organizational learning)

6. Smoothness of flow of relevant knowledge

These above things make learning organization. To learn more, visit http://www.lpcube.com/perfectlearning/ and let me know if you have specific questions.

Hi,

I would share about about one of our key value called "we learn and earn", we emphasize on KNOWELEDGE AQUISITION MANAGEMENT, as per our company's requirement ,

1. In our CAD/CAE, IT - ERP, IT - Embedded depts., example/explanation

Acquired domain fields are identified and stored in the form of presentation with Project Examples and concern are asked to take up sessions.

(A) Transmission: Rear Axle Knowledge

(B) Steering System: (a) Steering Column (b) Rear Axle (c) Control Arm

Cross Functional: CAD /CAE /EMBEDDED people are encouraged to have KAM sessions.

(A) Embedded : ECU development project, acquired steering knowledge from CAD team.

Short Skills in the market are identified - KAM sessions by the skilled person within the team.

(A) CATIA V4   -  CAE

(B) STEERING COLUMN EXPOSURE

( C ) IDEAS SIMULATION - CAD / CAE Internal Grooming is being encouraged. 3 Freshers got grooming in BaaN 1 Fresher in WINDCHILL

2. NON-TECHNICAL / SUPPORT FUNCTION

EXAMPLE   - VISA KNOWLEDGE

a) Checklists

b) Specific format of, Invitations, covering letters. Fee structure list, website address for update

c) Getting handled independently if required (in case support staff/team is not there).

d) Country wise all inputs recorded

2. EXAMPLE   - COST REDUCTION

Activity break up for each Admin. heads. • Admin Expense Sheet

Requisition oriented ordering management i.e. Before Ordering check on quantity, cost, requirement etc, Stock Management of all type of items.

So that at execution level it precise and clear.

Hope my practice give some points to your query/thought.

Regards,

Jyoti

I think if you are in certain spaces (products for example), you need to be a learning organization. Getting a learning culture in an organization takes time. You need support from top level. I will list a few things we try at the developer's level.

What are some of the signs?

1. People are always encouraged to try something new - a new tool, a new programming language, a new framework, a new technique, a new business model.

2. People are encouraged to share their learning experiences (we use learnlogs) with others.

3. When trying a new library or method, people are encouraged to experiment with a couple of alternatives, do some simple prototype or tests (for performance) and decide which one to use.

4. People are encouraged to explore and try some projects outside the mainstream. This is a luxury for many small organizations but worth the effort.

5. There are regularly scheduled interactive, collaborative learning events (almost every week or month) with both internal and external experts.

There may be many more. I use a simple test to learn how much people know by using one slide - a tag cloud of the latest trends and see how many people know all the concepts.

Sir,

I agree with you that an organisation has to be learning culture oriented and it takes time, to imbibe the same in every individual in the team and especially top mgmt, core team and line managers of course including the HR Manager has to be more proactive and determined toward these activities that they will make sure people are encouraged to share, experiment and trained.

Its through the ongoing encouragement and enviornment given to the team that an organisation has to be a learning organisation, and i feel 1,2,3,5 are there and 4 will also gain the momentum in coming days in my organisation.

Regards

Jyoti

Hi Jyoti, Rajendra and Dorai - Thanks for your valuable and insightful comments. In the current scenario of a downturn, the genesis of a learning culture is all the more relevant. In addition to knowledge sharing, the ability to "unleash the power of employees" through innovation and creativity is becoming critical.

Please comment and share experiences in organizations that you are involved in or know of.

Regards,

Krishnan

What blocks individuals and organization from learning continuously?

Lakshman,

I think it could be one of several reasons.

1. Lack of motivation (both personal and professional)

2. Lack of recognition of learning as an important investment

3. Lack of metrics or recognition and help

4. Lack of tools, events, resources, opportunities inside the organization

5. Pressure of deadlines where you need to use proven methods to deliver faster

6. Lack of vision at the management level

7. Some times success

Are some industries more prone to have a learning culture than others?

Hello Lakshman Sir,

As per my experience and thought process,

As such nobody stops anyone from learning but in an organisation to promote learning culture or to create an enviornment, following would be the hinderance factors,

Individual

1. Having an attitude problem OR narrow mindset, towards not sharing his/her knowledge or skill - this can be only broken through line managers/team leaders to ecourage such problem child to be grounded.

2. No inclination to try new areas or to take an intiative, such outlook has to be changed, it can only happen in an organisation where learning culture is encouraged.

3. No motivation towards work.

Organisation

1. Mundane working, no review, no inputs from respective teamleads/reporting head to their down the line team/individuals.

2. Priorities are not structured and in the process learning culture/enviornment gets no focus, it become whenable and doable.

And Dorai Sir has put majority of the points, which i agree with.

Regards

Jyoti

Dorai & Jyothi: Thanks a lot for valuable inputs.

Is there any work (mundane or whatever) that doesn't require learning?

Hi Lakshman,

This may not really be an answer to your question, but there may be some overlap of concepts. I want to talk about turning what you learn into habits - idiomatic usage. It happens in English as well as software.

To become more efficient, you take something new you have learned and make it into a habit.

In software, these are idioms (just as in English) and patterns. The reason to use idioms is to take a well (time) tested code sequences and just reuse them. The same thing happens with design patterns (like MVC) even though they are used a lot less.

So when you learn a new language, after learning the basic concepts, syntax etc, first thing is to find idioms for the particular language.

I think as you gain experience, you learn less if you work with the same tools in the same domain. Driving, writing software etc. may be some examples.

Another useful thread of discussions would be:

"How do you make learning a habit, for individuals and organizations"

"What is Accelerate Learning? And how do you encourage it"

I am cheating a bit here. I read a book titled "Accelerated Learning for the 21st century" about 8 years ago. Since then, I have been really interested in how I learn and how others do and why we learn something better than other things and why some people learn better than others.

You may often see many people in your co with great ideas on every thing under the sun, with no self doing or lead capability......Orgn or sr management who feel they are inspiring by giving giving opportunities and creatively are killing themselves.....they are not learning or taking advantage of any lessons of past expertise

Attitdue problem and motivation etc are most confused words in IT Industry. Often it is balloned by HR people.

In fact you may see same issues vanish when working in well structured cos. That is so simply because of deeply validated work process, systems and template driven work culture. SMEs must build such systems to enable get the best yield from younger creative workforce rather than worrying on attitudes, inclinations etc.

Creative energetic workforce look for systems which is respected by sr management on 24 x 7 basis. They want to fullfil their aspirations for which they are recruited and they joined for. With no structured systems, they become loose for no fault of theirs. Obviously with lean work load and systems, they do and share what they feel like.

It is not their attitude and motivation we should worry about. Rather it should be looked at sr management and business champions who drive business. Repeatable, consistent and pro active direction from them makes everyone comfortable with day today routine.

Only then learning starts. In a chaotic environment every idea and action is creativety or initiative. Forcing rest of the stakeholders to listen and learn from that is highly misleading. 

Learning starts only when you have a stable, consistent work process in the organization. Then next stage emerges towards setting tough business goals and rush to achieve that.

learning comes from street battles of business competition, on daily basis based on pricess, delivery pulls, delight, and what extra beyond contracts......that process is the REAL LEARNING SCENARIO, and when sr management start sweating to close deals or close sign off/project closures , learning process starts in the organization with younger people reviewing, assessing the threat scenario and thinking deeply....( in other words LEARNING)

That is LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. Without customer and business pressure, there is no learning.

Other point of significance is LEARNING HIGH PERFORMANCE approches. Many things we may know or work with ease in business /office. But are they BEST PRACTICE based or HIGH PERFORMANCE based???

Unless we review and scrutinise ourselves everyday, we are not helping create a LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. In a LEARNING CO, sr management must set role examples by their methods and approches....when results come, when clients sign in and when you beat toughest competitor, even pantry wallah starts learning ....message, sense of urgency and commitment seeps across.....every person at every slot across gets the message.....

Building such LEARNING ENVIRONMENT is whose job ....rather that should be the core search for this discussion thread.

I conclude that Learnings Orgns are spotted by order books, churning of client wins and project closures, spreading market space and segments, domestic to overseas and ability to pick high hanging fruits which compells WoW from stakeholders internally as well as competition.

2 terrorists at Oberio last week provided whole of India  LEARNINGS,  not that we did not know. Simply the powerful decsionmakers at top management level were sleeping. Same way, providing vibrancy and getting into pro-active actions with showcase results gives us a LEARNING LESSONS as well as TRAINING....

Why not now take this thread forward by narrating yr experience in Learning Environment building ...good, bad, WIP, disappointing or successful for others to LEARN from you...and make this space and thread as a LEARNING HIGHWAY....

Hello Lakshman Sir,

Thanks for the word of encouragement.

Sir, i feel any work starts with learning, and when it becomes mundane, it needs to be rejuvenated, simple household example, if anyone plans to buy a washing machine or any gadgets, it require one to study the features, compare prices, check dealers etc, now after purchase one needs to learn the features, how to operate etc, so everything in life (personal and professional)need to be learnt, after such work becomes regular the learning curve finishes, the possibility of rejuvenating it depends on type of work, e.g. operating same brand of washing machine, driving...still there are so many brands in market that one keep on doing R/D and learning...

Professionally, i think, there are work which becomes mundane but there's always a scope of improvement, which pushes to think newly, brainstorm, and incorporate, which probably becomes learning.....e.g. i use to start my day with "to do" list for a particular day, now its planned structure (as per me and my boss), where already allocation of day is there, which covers all gamut of activities which are sub parts of function. Each Activities are broken in Work Breakdown Structure...still i feel i need to be more structured, in the process, learnt to prioritize the work, tried to made it time oriented with some target, so its continuous learning....

And Dorai Sir, has put it all, I agree with him completely.

I am really sad why Rajendra Sir, is sounding against attitude, motivation, inclination.....and trying to labeled it on HR fraternity...."Often it is ballooned by HR people."

Sir, an organization is a group of individuals (human beings) after that only organization structure comes, if the inclination of senior management is not to encourage learning environment then no system / process (quality - ISO, CMM, Six Sigma... = it will work merely for certification) can create an environment for learning, its that outlook, attitude, motivation (to drive) which has to be there in senior management to bring in the so called learning culture. And its not worry areas, it's needed (motivation, attitude...) for everyone from top to bottom level in an organization.

"Learning Organization are spotted by order books", Sir,  there's learning even in failure too, we learn from our mistakes......as far as business is concerned, up and down will be there and specifically SME's challenges are more, as they are in process of stabilizing themselves in the market and creating the resources as per the business requirement, do I understand from your points that where business is going through dull phase (less orders) then there's no learning in an organization, I completely disagree, in my organization we are hitting this time more for knowledge sharing sessions, more internal training on technical and non technical topics (because there are less projects). Even out of our order failure, we again strategize the call, renew our targets and take the work forward - it comes through that positive attitude and fire in the belly factor.

YES, I agree with your fantastic point "Unless we review and scrutinize ourselves everyday, we are not helping create a LEARNING ENVIRONMENT" and your emphasis on Senior Management to be more concerned and systematic about it.

Regards

Jyoti

Hello Lakshman Sir,

Thanks for the word of encouragement.

Sir, i feel any work starts with learning, and when it becomes mundane, it needs to be rejuvenated, simple household example, if anyone plans to buy a washing machine or any gadgets, it require one to study the features, compare prices, check dealers etc, now after purchase one needs to learn the features, how to operate etc, so everything in life (personal and professional)need to be learnt, after such work becomes regular the learning curve finishes, the possibility of rejuvenating it depends on type of work, e.g. operating same brand of washing machine, driving...still there are so many brands in market that one keep on doing R/D and learning...

Professionally, i think, there are work which becomes mundane but there's always a scope of improvement, which pushes to think newly, brainstorm, and incorporate, which probably becomes learning.....e.g. i use to start my day with "to do" list for a particular day, now its planned structure (as per me and my boss), where already allocation of day is there, which covers all gamut of activities which are sub parts of function. Each Activities are broken in Work Breakdown Structure...still i feel i need to be more structured, in the process, learnt to prioritize the work, tried to made it time oriented with some target, so its continuous learning....

And Dorai Sir, has put it all, I agree with him completely.

I am really sad why Rajendra Sir, is sounding against attitude, motivation, inclination.....and trying to labeled it on HR fraternity...."Often it is ballooned by HR people."

Sir, an organization is a group of individuals (human beings) after that only organization structure comes, if the inclination of senior management is not to encourage learning environment then no system / process (quality - ISO, CMM, Six Sigma... = it will work merely for certification) can create an environment for learning, its that outlook, attitude, motivation (to drive) which has to be there in senior management to bring in the so called learning culture. And its not worry areas, it's needed (motivation, attitude...) for everyone from top to bottom level in an organization.

"Learning Organization are spotted by order books", Sir,  there's learning even in failure too, we learn from our mistakes......as far as business is concerned, up and down will be there and specifically SME's challenges are more, as they are in process of stabilizing themselves in the market and creating the resources as per the business requirement, do I understand from your points that where business is going through dull phase (less orders) then there's no learning in an organization, I completely disagree, in my organization we are hitting this time more for knowledge sharing sessions, more internal training on technical and non technical topics (because there are less projects). Even out of our order failure, we again strategize the call, renew our targets and take the work forward - it comes through that positive attitude and fire in the belly factor.

YES, I agree with your fantastic point "Unless we review and scrutinize ourselves everyday, we are not helping create a LEARNING ENVIRONMENT" and your emphasis on Senior Management to be more concerned and systematic about it.

Regards

Jyoti