The Architecture of the Learning Capability
The learning capability has become a top priority for organisations. Learning is now the force behind organisational design and performance caused by the shift in organisational competitiveness. Organisations are no longer in search of a holy grail that would keep them at the top once and for all, but they are rather interested in creating a response system that enables them to triage continuously and dynamically through the changes and challenges thrown their way. This transient (as opposed to sustainable) competitiveness is exactly what the learning capability brings to the table.
However, it is neither easy nor straightforward exercise to build and sustain an effective learning capability. To deliver results, learning must be integrated into the organisational design and be a part of organisational experience. The following six features help deliver that. They constitute the architecture of the learning capability:
Strategic mandate
Operating model
Content space
Workplace anchors
Learning brand
Learning stories
It starts with the strategic mandate*. The mandate comes from the top of organisation and brings clarity to the role, purpose and value of learning. It sets out expectations, creates key performance indicators and grants learning an authority to operate.
The strategic mandate is then put into practice through the operating model that secures the way the learning work is organised. The operating model is concerned with the division of roles and responsibilities as well as with the way the work is prioritised and executed by the learning agents. The L&D teams are the most commonly known learning agents, however, the HR teams and the middle(line)-senior management are equally important for their ability to inspire action and anchor learning in the workplace.
The operating model produces learning products (what ever they might be) which are harvested, preserved and made available with the help of the content space. The content space is a combination of digital, analog and experiential spaces where learning is consumed. It includes digital platforms, content libraries, curation algorithms, f2f training sessions and more. The composition of the content space is unique to the making of each organisation, and its purpose is to create access to the variety of the learning products.
As learning is gradually consumed by learners in the content space, it’s then tied to the daily work with the workplace anchors. These anchors are the workplace practices and routines that ensure the release of the full charge of learning. Often this is delivered by asking questions, prototyping, experimenting, debating, discussing and many other anchors, all of which help dispense learning into an organisational context. Line managers play a crucial here as they invite insights and challenge learners to apply their newly gained skills. Senior leadership is also instrumental for creating a safe environment of trial-and-error where initiative is rewarded and mistakes form valuable lessons.
The learning experiences and journeys are then captured in stories. Stories help capture and demonstrate the impact of learning and invite future participation. They build excitement and anticipation around learning, and ultimately turn it into much wanted and desired activity. Furthermore, storytelling can be also used to extend interactions within the content space and keep learning conversations alive.
All of this work unfolds under the strong and resilient learning brand. Brand denotes trust and trust stems out of empathy, help and attention to learners’ individual needs and interest. Seeing people for who they are and driving business success one person at a time is what reinforces grow and strengthens internal presence and value of learning.
Having introduced the six elements briefly, it is important to point out that each of them has an intricate internal architecture of its own. Therefore, each element needs to be individually tuned with the internal organisational harmony in order to perform in concert with others. This can either happen at the early stages (start-up) of organisational evolution or later on as each element matures, takes shape and is gradually folded into the existing fabric one by one. The collective work of the elements, working together and continuously building on each other, is what produces the learning capability of the organisation and ultimately defines the power to perform and deliver the desired competitiveness and success to organisations.
*I would like to thank Rahul Bhatt for inspiriting discussions on the topic.