This guidebook is intended to be a handy, easy-to-use reference for your day-to-day work as a manager. Whether you work in a large or small business, a nonprofit service organization, or a government agency, I want to provide you with some ideas and strategies that will help you enhance learning within your organization.
But I do not want to mislead you. Organizational learning is not a simple process and it is not about relying on your training department to teach you what you need to know. It is not simply following someone else’s recipe either; it is becoming a chef. Organizational learning must become embedded in the culture of the organization. Leaders must constantly reexamine these ideas about how to be effective and engage in long-term effort to change the day-to-day behaviors and practices of individuals, groups, and the organization as a whole. This kind of learning requires commitment and leadership.
I have organized the ideas and strategies into three levels: individual learning, small-group learning, and whole-organization learning, but many of the techniques can be applied effectively at more than one level. The categorization simply makes it easier to identify and select strategies that fit problems, challenges, and needs as they arise within your organization.
The strategies outlined in this Pocket Guide have helped private organizations in business and industry, government agencies, and the nonprofit sector. However, nobody can tell you what will work best in your organization. You have to be willing to experiment, try a strategy, evaluate its impact on learning, and make changes if it does not have the impact you want, and try again. Take the time. There are no quick fixes.
This is not an operations manual and it is not meant to be an exhaustive resource. I have tried to provide you with enough information to help you identify potentially useful learning strategies. If something sounds like it might have a useful application in your organization, read more about it in the resources section of the book. If you can, talk to people who have implemented an organizational learning approach in their own organizations. Then, work with a team of employees in your organization who can help you adapt the strategy to your particular circumstances. Try it out in a small way first; then evaluate the results, and make changes before you introduce it to the whole-organization.
Part One explains the meaning of organizational learning and why it should be important to you. Part Two provides short descriptions of organizational learning strategies organized into three levels: individual; small-group and team; and whole-organization. Part Three suggests some ways to create a culture in the organization that supports continuous learning. Part Four presents a list of additional resources about organizational learning and about each of the strategies described in Parts Two and Three.