How to create a learning culture within your organization

A learning culture within the corporate culture is one that encourages and appreciates learning. Every company has their own culture, which is formed by the perception that employees have of the actions that management takes, and the values that they have themselves. It consists of the beliefs, norms, and values of the organization, and it is created in the course of time.

Developing a culture that supports learning is definitely an investment, but it offers major advantages for your organization. We previously wrote a how-to-guide that helps you put learning on the policy agenda. This is important, because a learning culture in your organization helps your employees maximize their potential and allows your company to grow. From your employees’ involvement to increased productivity.

Changing your corporate culture into one that encourages learning, is not something that happens overnight, but there are a few steps that you can take to move into the right direction. In this blog we discuss 8 practical ways to create a learning culture within your organization.

1. The learning organization

Employees need to feel like management fully supports a learning culture, in order for it to be successful. A way to do this is by making learning a clearly defined core value, these values guide the decision making process and the actions you undertake as an organization. Committing to learning also means that your company should provide the needed tools to support the learning and development of your employees. You turn your organization into a learning organization.

2. Develop personalized learning plans

Personalized learning plans make learning more relevant for your employees. Establishing learning goals and developing a strategic plan helps achieve these goals, and it ensures that your employees are more involved with the learning process. It is not about completing a fixed route, but instead about following an individual learning path. You facilitate your employees to help achieve their career goals, within the Rakoo environment you can do so by creating Learning Playlists.

3. Offer personal career coaching

Usually, the motivation to learn stems from career ambitions. If your organization offers one-on-one coaching, you can help your employees define their career possibilities and develop the aforementioned personalized learning plans. Coaching can also be an effective way to guide your organization to continuously learn, explore available sources, and keeping your employees responsible.

4. Setting the right example in learning

As a member of the board of directors or management, you have an influential position. Being committed to and involved with your own continuous learning process strengthens the learning culture. A few way to do this are:

• Setting your own learning goals

• Talking about a course you followed

• Being open to feedback

• Reflecting on past mistakes

5. Stimulating the learning culture with the right rewards

Rewards can be a valuable addition to creating a learning culture when they are introduced in the correct way. This can vary from public acknowledgment of an employee’s success to financial rewards. Lots of online academies offer badges or other virtual rewards for learning success, like a certificate in the Rakoo online academy. The rewards do not necessarily have to be expensive, but the fact that you offer them can stimulate your employees’ learning efforts.

6. Provide the right learning environment

The learning environment that your organization uses should both facilitate and support learning. It should be user friendly and offer possibilities for sharing knowledge between employees and their interaction. Rakoo’s online academy takes all of this into account, and you can, for example, share knowledge with other online academies.

7. Encouraging knowledge sharing

Social learning is an important aspect of creating a learning culture. When employees are encouraged to and rewarded for sharing their knowledge, they are more involved with their learning process.

8. Start during the recruitment process

One of the best ways to create a learning culture is by recruiting people with the right mindset. You can achieve this by discussing the learning culture within your company as well as the learning possibilities (and obligations) that you offer as an employer during the recruitment process. This is how you present yourself as an appealing employer for the right people.

In short

The way we learn in the workplace is changing. It is less about following individual courses or workshops, and more about social learning, continuous learning, and creating a learning culture to support this. Developing a learning culture takes time, but it is definitely worth the investment!

The extensive possibilities of our online academy make it possible for you to take a massive step into the right direction in a short time. With our complete online academy you immediately have access to a library filled with a wide range of courses that you can add your own content to. Do you want to create a learning organization yourself? Our Customer Success Team helps to from beginnen to end to make the most out of organization with an online academy.

Download the whitepaper 'Benefits of an Online Academy' today and start growing!