Building a learning organization with Learnster

What is a learning organization?

A learning organization adopts values and behaviors that enable knowledge to be shared across the entire organization. It is a thriving ecosystem where employees learn from each other as part of their daily work. In learning organizations, opportunities for learning are initiated top-down, bottom-up and peer-to-peer. This gives individuals and larger parts of the organization more ownership of their own skills development.

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Learning organization definition

Peter Senge, Systems Scientist and Lecturer at MIT, defines learning organizations as follows:

"Organizations that acquire knowledge and innovate fast enough to survive and thrive in a rapidly changing environment."

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Why a learning organization?

Being a learning organization has gone from being a nice-to-have to a must-have and contributes to companies’ competitiveness. In today’s business landscape, economies of learning are considered the new economies of scale. The term refers to competition through the pace of learning.

As well as an improved employee experience, learning organizations are in a strong position to excel within the following areas:

• Organizational resilience

• Future-proofed skills and knowledge capital

• Learning across multiple generations

• Scaling valuable knowledge

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How to build a learning organization

So how do you build a learning organization? For many organizations, it starts with a growth mindset and a curiosity of our dynamic world. What remains a challenge is manifesting the attitude and putting it into practice in the organization. Building a learning organization requires an enabling infrastructure, which encourages positive behaviors and leverages the internal knowledge.

One vital factor, according to us at Learnster, is cross-organizational knowledge sharing. Learning opportunities should be initiated top-down, bottom-up and peer-to-peer.

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This playbook aims to provide inspiration and practical tips on how to build a learning organization using Learnster's LMS.‍