How To Create Self-Driven Learning Culture Within Organization?

I did my detailed research by talking to industry experts, reading different published material, and adding my experience about the question of “ How to bring the self-driven culture of learning within the organization’. I came to the conclusion that if you want to nurture curiosity and learning in your organization, there’s no need to rely on the organization’s formal learning and development programs.

Showcasing your company own curiosity as an organization towards learning at all levels, hire people with high learnability and a hungry mind, make learning one of the core ingredients of PMS, set a clear growth roadmap for every single role, reinforcing or reward positive learning behaviors, conduct regular 1*1 check-in, lead by example (practice what you preach as supervisor), conduct knowledge sharing programs (Hackathon, boot camp, monthly knowledge sharing sessions) are all likely initiative to create a stronger learning culture within team and organization.

High-Level Prerequisite For L&D Function:

There are a couple of prerequisites to implant a seed of learning in our organization:

1. Proper career ladder of every function (JDs and Skills Matrix)
2. Must have a strong Performance Management System in place on the ground. Make learning as part of PMS (Must have some weight in overall PMS, may add Leaning and Development KPI, give 10% to learning)
3. Make learning part of the hiring process too (Hire people who are inclined toward learning, most importantly at Manager and above level)
4. Must have strong people managers in place on all functions across your company.

Quick Action Items For L&D

1. Make learning one of the core values of the organization (must be in the priority list of all key stakeholders most importantly CEO, VPs, and team managers) and it should be communicated across the organization.
2. Most importantly hire the right people within the team who have a thrust for learning especially at lead and above level hiring.
3. Must have a strong Performance Management System in place on the ground. Make learning as part of PMS (Must have some weight in overall PMS), may add Leaning and Development KPI, give 10% to learning.
4. Managers should create clear KPIs, communicate the same to employees, and do regular OKRs and Performance check-ins. The purpose of check ins should be revolving around coaching and mentoring.
5. Proper career ladder of every function (JDs and Skills Matrix) from Entry level role to highest role within your organization. Everyone within the organization should be aware of his/her career ladder (what will make a person move from one level to the next level).
6. Manager and above should have a habit of learning things, reading books, taking courses, etc because it's all about preaching what you practice then people will follow you.
7. Hire coaches to train managers on the function and people side.
8. Conduct knowledge sharing sessions on a monthly basis across the company. Start in a small close group with managers and later take it down to the team. There should be token of appreciation for the volunteer who will present for session. Ideally the CEO should lead from the front all these sessions to create the importance of sessions.
9. Must have strong people managers in place in all functions across your organization. If you don't have then hire new managers and move current managers to other roles.
10. Build a learning function in your current HR team to streamline learning initiatives
11. Make an event calendar of Hackathon, Bootcamps, and Workshops. At Least conduct one Hackathon or vice versa in six months
12. Make a plan to identify Hi-Pos from teams and build an accelerated roadmap to manager level or Technical Role.
13. Identify people with an organization who have good technical people, lack managerial capacity and capabilities, and stuck in their career within your organization. Put them in a technical role rather than on the managerial role
14. Draft learning and development budget and handover budget to team managers to use.
15. Launch LMS across your organization.

The most important thing revolves around hiring the right people at the right place. If you need any help, you can ping me on LinkedIn, I will give you free advice and tips to put things in execution. If you have liked my blog, please share it in your groups, maybe someone gets help from it.