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Learning ArchitectureA strategic approach

Hello,Hello,

LAB SSJ’s experience in developing LAB SSJ’s experience in developing learning solutions aligned with business goals shows us that the creation of a development culture is indispensable and strategic to increase competitiveness and face the complex challenges of today’s business world.

We have increasingly observed that the learning process must cease to be the domain of just a handful of T&D professionals and needs to be dealt by executives as one of the most important strategic pillars of business.

In this pocket book’s seventh edition, we bring essential concepts from the book Designing the Smart Organization, by Roland Deiser, showing that corporate leaders can expand their repertoire creating a culture that establishes organizational learning as a primary source of strategic sustainability for business.

Enjoy!

Global competition, changes in the workforce and the need for greater understanding of the worldwide scenario have placed organizations before a range of unprecedented challenges.

Today, the production of knowledge and learning has been increasingly considered a competitive advantage. Companies of all types, sizes and from all sectors are seeking innovation, productivity and growth - factors that greatly rely on the ability to translate knowledge into business results.

In this manner, learning not only becomes essential, but also takes

context

on a new dimension and a new meaning. More than the individual empowerment of professionals, there is a need for an ongoing and wide-ranging learning structure capable of promoting dialogue, stimulating the ability to constantly challenge the status quo, carry out the management of change processes and even transcend business models.

Hence not only the collaborators and the teams need to learn continually, but so does the whole company. This capacity for learning is what allows companies to make better decisions and to keep up with the pace of constant change in the present scenario.

This is how corporate learning comes to be seen no longer as a cost, but rather as a strategic initiative to generate results on a range of levels within the organization.

Thus the challenge to management and to areas responsible for development and training lies in facilitating learning for implementing the business strategy, proposing initiatives and complete experiences that lead to the development of efficient and innovative abilities in the collaborators.

context

Strategic learning is one that produces Strategic learning is one that produces results, and is transformed into real results, and is transformed into real action and facilitates execution of the action and facilitates execution of the business strategy.business strategy.

From this perspective, learning becomes From this perspective, learning becomes intimately connected to a non-stop intimately connected to a non-stop process of creation, formulation and process of creation, formulation and implementation of strategic positioning, implementation of strategic positioning, ensuring the company always is renewed.ensuring the company always is renewed.

It is in this sense that the role of It is in this sense that the role of corporate education and development corporate education and development initiatives need to cover a broader scope initiatives need to cover a broader scope than that of merely sharing knowledge or than that of merely sharing knowledge or providing training that fails to aggregate providing training that fails to aggregate value. The purpose must be to create value. The purpose must be to create experiences that lead to change and experiences that lead to change and learning processes always aligned with learning processes always aligned with the business strategy.the business strategy.

learning as a as alearning as alearning

strategic forcestrategic force

All of the 85 most senior leaders of a company employing more than 460 thousand individuals took part in a week of intense talks regarding the future of the company, while simultaneously questioning their own patterns of behavior in coaching sessions.

They were exposed to new perspectives on the development of the long-term strategy and they discovered that a creative environment of open learning provided the possibility of discussing challenges and developing commonly held perceptions and ideas for improvements.

The fact that all of the top executives were involved in the program sent a powerful message to all levels of the organization, showing that the company took the learning and the development of its leaders seriously.

The project had a significant effect on the company’s mentality and culture, thereby promoting strategic and organizational dialogue. The initiative also led to the creation of a valuable network of leaders committed to the future planning of initiatives for organizational learning within the company around the world.

Case studyLearning promotes strategic dialogue

Some benefits of learning aligned with strategy:

• High performance with a

competitive edge

• Innovation

• Greater capacity for

dealing with change

• Committed and

motivated team

• Better relationship

with customers

• Greater resilience

• Cultural reinforcement

If the development departments have credibility – and the power this brings – to design architectures for dialogue such as this one, and if they are capable of winning the support of the main stakeholders in the company, they may serve as true agents of change – not only as motivators, but as the true driving force behind strategic and organizational transformation.

Source: “Designing the Smart Organization: How Breakthrough Corporate Learning Initiatives Drive Strategic Change and Innovation”, Roland Deiser, 2009.

scholars sayWhat the

Chris Argyris & Donald Alan Schön (1978)

David Garvin (1993)

Mary Ann Glynn; Theresa

K. Lant & Frances J.

Milliken (1994)The organizational learning process

as an integral part of performance and learning

Peter Senge (1990)The concept of an

“organization that learns” as a goal, a situation that can be achieved

Organizational learning as a process

George P. Huber (1991)

“An entity learns if, through its processing

of information, the range of its potential

behaviors is changed.”

David Schwandt & Michael J. Marquardt

(1999)

“Organizational learning occurs in

companies that are in constant change, where groups and individuals continually engage with new learning processes to obtain and maintain a competitive edge.”

“A place where peoplecontinually expand their capacity to create results

they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of

thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free and where people are

continually learning how to learn.”

“An organization skilled at creating,

acquiring, and transferring

knowledge, and at modifying its behavior

to reflect new knowledge and insights.”

How does one implementa learning culture?

“Changes in social systems are brought about by the learning process and are related to cultural standards and basic suppositions.” – Talcott Parsons

In order for learning to play its strategic and guiding role within the company it is important for it to be part of the culture within that organization. It is the culture that constantly molds and stimulates the formation of the team skills, as well as dictating habits and ways of thinking and behaving within the company.

In this sense, understanding the importance of creating a learning culture requires more than just the usual efforts in training and development. For learning to become an integral component of the company’s culture, it is essential to create a common drive by way of goals, language and values.

“Changes in social systems are brought about by the learning process and are related to cultural standards

Talcott Parsons

In this sense, understanding the importance of creating a learning culture requires more than just the usual efforts in training and development. For learning to become an integral component of the company’s culture, it is essential to create a common drive by way of goals, language and values.

“Changes in social systems are brought about by the learning process and are related to cultural standards and basic suppositions.” – Talcott Parsons

In order for learning to play its strategic and guiding role within the company it is important for it to be part of the culture within that organization. It is the culture that constantly molds and stimulates the formation of the team skills, as well as dictating habits and ways of thinking and behaving within the company.

In this sense, understanding the importance of creating a learning culture requires more than just the usual efforts in training and development. For learning to become an integral component of the company’s culture, it is essential to create a common drive by way of goals, language and values.

How does one implement

Building a collaborative

culture

Case study:

analysis sessions and decision processes aimed at all of the collaborators, not only to the management and executives. The leadership’s guidance and the autonomy and motivation of the collaborators to create new values were decisive.

This case is a good demonstration of how change is instigated less by the broadcasting of messages within traditional environments than by designing a wide-reaching organizational process that introduces dialogue and reflection regarding the essence of the company as a whole. This experience shows that change is not so much a question of “teaching” content within traditional contexts, but rather designing an all-encompassing organizational learning process.

Administrating integration and cultural unity represent a major challenge when dealing with mergers, acquisitions, fundamental changes in leadership or strategic direction. In such cases, the company undergoes major structural changes before finding its balance.

In the wake of a merger, a certain German public utilities company, with 21 thousand collaborators and more than 6 million customers experienced years of cultural conflicts. The solution came when the academy of corporate education led a broad-based initiative to redefine the company values from the bottom up, inviting more than a thousand collaborators to take part in the campaign.

Based on a culture of dialogue, the academy created and provided a number of workshops,

Source: “Designing the Smart Organization: How Breakthrough Corporate Learning Initiatives Drive Strategic Change and Innovation”, Roland Deiser, 2009.

The role of

leadershipthe leaders who must establish learning and development as a strategic priority. The direct support of management in actions and words is fundamental to determining whether learning is to be applied or ignored by the company’s collaborators.

Leaders are to promote learning initiatives that stimulate the involvement of all for the good of all, since change depends on the participation and understanding of the business on the part of the collaborators.

For this reason, besides

What internal processes and policies stimulate the company’s learning culture? Which skills and competencies are essential for the collaborators to achieve the strategy? Are the collaborators involved in finding and implementing solutions to problems?

These and other questions need to be on the radar of all leaders that seek to build an environment that favors learning.

This environment open and receptive to learning is created from the top leadership. It is

understanding the business strategy and the direct importance of the organizational culture, leaders and professionals that work with learning need to make use of the knowledge that is often existent in the company.

In this sense, it is essential to motivate and engage personnel. By stimulating collaboration and the exchange of knowledge the company provides a space where collaborators may act with autonomy and responsibility. In this way, the individuals begin to work as a united team, capable of responding and adapting to constant changes.

It is important to underline that the companies that best develop the capacity to learn and to

translate knowledge into action are those that understand the power of common sense and the strength of simplicity: in language, in structure, in concepts.

Thus, leaders should promote open dialogue within their teams, allowing mistakes and seeking new possibilities among the collaborators who exercise a direct influence. It is through this active work that they will be able to construct organizations that facilitate collaboration and the exchange of knowledge throughout the company.

In short, some factors that help to constantly generate individual and collective learning are:

Encourage participation in formal learning initiatives and demand results.

Stimulate the exchange among your team and other areas.

Use of storytelling as a practice for connection and sharing of knowledge.

Have leaders as teachers

Have leaders as role models and adopt behaviors that promote learning, with reflection, questioning and activities integrated with performance.

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“Why” before “how”Learning the “why” in terms of general guidance for action, instead of learning the “how” in terms of detailed and technical practices and behaviors.

“Knowing” comes from “doing” and teaching others howLearning is best done by trying lot things, learning from what works and what does not, thinking about what was learned, and trying again.

Action counts more than elegant plans and conceptsWithout taking some action, learning is more difficult and less efficient, because it is not grounded in real experience.

There is no doing without mistakesEven well planned actions can go wrong. All learning involves some failure, something from which one can continue to learn.

How leadersturn knowledge

Source: “The Knowing-Doing Gap”, Jeffrey Pfeffer & Robert I. Sutton. Harvard Business School Press, 2000.

Fear fosters knowing-doing gaps, so drive out fearTo turn knowledge into action, leaders must inspire respect, connection and admiration, but not fear.

Fight the competition, not each otherPractices that intensify internal rivalry affect performance in general. Through cooperation, each member’s success is linked with other’s and the result become the product of common effort.

Measure what matters and what can help turn knowledge into actionIt is not always efficient to measure everything. It is better to establish a few measures that are directly related to the strategy than a plethora of measures that produce a lack of focus and confusion about what is important and what is not.

What the leaders do, how they spend their time and how they allocate resources mattersThe job of leaders is to help build systems that facilitate transformation of knowledge into action in a smooth, reliable way.

into action

Results-Driven methodology

D1 Define business outcomesThe learning goals must be established based on business needs.

D2 Design the complete experienceIt is necessary to consider the phases of learning, from the goals of the program to confirmation of the results.

D3 Deliver for applicationThe contents must be relevant and useful to the learner in order to be assimilated and applied in the workplace.

Translating knowledge into results requires tracking and supervision of the corporate training that ensures the strategic effectiveness of learning.

In this sense, the 6Ds methodology proposes a complete learning experience aligned with business goals. Consisting of six disciplines, it guarantees the transfer and application of learning to the daily work routine, thereby increasing the effectiveness of development initiatives with an impact on the results.

The book 6Ds shows how it is possible to design learning initiatives with a procedural, disciplined approach, carried out with consistency, commitment and excellence to achieve strategic goals.

D4 Drive learning transferActions of tracking and supervision must provide support for the transfer in order to learning is effectively translated into action.

D5 Deploy performance supportManagerial support for the performance of the participants is vital to increase the possibility of transferring the learning and its value to the business.

D6 Document resultsMeasures and documentation are essential to show the initiative has brought results.

Relevant: just in time, just for me, intelligently responsive

Compelling: learning environment stimulates heightened sense of engagement and curiosity

Collaborative: access to expertise and knowledge enables innovation and deepens community

Continuous: Blend of formal and informal learning; lifelong

Outcome-based: tailored and adaptive learning paths drive performance in a dynamic world

must bemust be

Roland Deiser, authorRoland Deiser, authorRoland Deiserof “Designing the Smart Organization”

”

To create the strategic competence to sustain industry leadership — or just mere survival — companies now need comprehensive learning architectures that go way beyond people qualification.

“

DEISER, R. Organizações Inteligentes: Como a Arquitetura da Aprendizagem Sustenta a Estratégia Corporativa. Campus-Elsevier, 2011.

PIETERSEN, W. G. Strategic Learning: A Leadership Process for Creating and Implementing Breakthrough Strategies. Wiley, 2010.

POLLOCK, R.; WICK, C. & JEFFERSON, A. 6Ds: As Seis Disciplinas que Transformam Educação em Resultado para o Negócio. Évora, 2011.

SCHWANDT, D. & MARQUARDT, M. J. Organizational Learning. CRC Press, 1999.

SENGE, P. M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organization. Doubleday, 1990.

VAN DEN STEEN, E. On the Origin of Shared Beliefs. MIT Sloan School of Management, 2005.

Bibliography

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