Post written by Rachel Rosenfeldt, Principal at Kotter International.
Automation, consolidation, digitization—what do these terms have in common? Each has become a watchword for how organizations can capitalize on economies of scale. For decades, businesses have pursued operational efficiencies through scale in this way. Some more recent articles have suggested scale may also improve an organization’s ability to learn quickly and adapt to changing circumstances.
In our own work with clients, we’ve seen proof that the more individuals who are engaged and enthusiastic about change, the more impactful the end result. Yet the idea of scaling learning throughout an organization too often devolves into a focus on scaling the acquisition of knowledge, without truly focusing on learning. That begs the question: do we really know how to learn?
For many of us educated in the United States, our perspective on learning in the workplace is informed by our experiences in school, both K-12 and into higher education. But nearly universally, these institutions are locked in an industrial-age model of education, designed to produce employees with near-identical skillsets who are interchangeable in the workplace. These institutions rarely teach students how to learn beyond the acquisition of knowledge, and often fail to foster lifelong curiosity.
To realize the full value-creation benefits of scaled learning within an institution, leaders will need to recalibrate their team’s approach to learning, keeping in mind three key truths in the process:
Illuminating the destination is more important than building the path. If you want to shift the approach and definition of learning within your organization, start by laying out a vision for what’s possible. Then invite staff from across the company to share in that vision, while building their own path to get there. An essential part of learning is finding your own path—creating the new “how” organically, rather than being supplied with a roadmap.
Technology is a tool, not THE solution. Most organizations still haven’t figured out how to leverage technology without defaulting into an operating mindset that looks at technology as the only solution; the silver bullet to solve the learning problem. In reality, improved outcomes in workplace learning are driven by culture, behavioral norms and cultivating different thinking processes. Technology is an enabler, but without these other pieces for support, it becomes a crutch at best, enabling the business to hobble ahead. At worst, it becomes a drag on the organization—causing distraction, frustration and a slowdown in advancing forward.
Getting impact from masses of people is more than a numbers game. Capturing the full benefit of mobilizing masses of people requires a unique kind of volunteerism. Leaders can craft a vision of success, but employees need to opt-in to new ways of learning and working in order for the organization to realize the full benefits. It is not just about belief, but rather about converting buy-in into action. It’s also critical to recognize the benefits of including a diversity of opinion, experience, function and level throughout the process.
Scalable learning can tackle some of the intractable challenges today’s business leaders are wrestling with, but we must be cautious in accepting any one solution as the be-all and end-all remedy. Without challenging preconceptions about learning and recalibrating the approach, organizations risk scaling knowledge instead of scaling the ability to learn…and the ability to learn is what we need now, and will need even more in the faster-changing world of the future.