Building an Innovative Learning Organization

What makes organizations successful? Today, most successful companies are learning organizations. Building an Innovative Learning Organization shows you how to join their ranks and bring your organization up to the head of the class. This book is a practical, actionable guide on how to boost performance, successfully manage change, and innovate more quickly. Learning organizations are composed of engaged, motivated employees who continually seek improvement, which leads to organizational agility and the ability to innovate ahead of the curve. When you encourage learning at every level, from the intern to the C suite, you gain a more highly skilled workforce with a greater ability to act in any situation.

Building an Innovative Learning Organization shows you how to create this culture in your organization, with detailed explanations, practical examples, and step-by-step instructions so you can get started right away. Written by a recognized thought leader in the training industry, this informative and insightful guide is your roadmap to a more effective organization. You will discover how to:

• Attract, retain, and motivate the best employees
• Become a more innovative and agile organization
• Create a culture of continuous self-improvement
• Encourage learning at all levels and translate it into action

Learning and education doesn't end at graduation—it's a lifelong process that keeps you relevant, informed, and better able to achieve your goals. These same benefits apply at the organizational level, making the culture self-sustaining: learning organizations attract top workers, who drive the organization forward, which attracts more top workers. If you want the best people, you have to be their best option. Building an Innovative Learning Organization gives you a blueprint for building a culture of learning, for a stronger, more robust organization.

Preface xix

What Successful People Have in Common xx

What Successful Organizations Have in Common xxi

About This Book xxiii

Chapter 1 Why Become a Learning Organization? 1

Key Changes That Affect Success 3

The Learning Advantage 10

A Framework for Building a Learning Organization 15

Chapter 2 Building a Learning Culture 27

How to Recognize a Learning Culture 30

How to Build a Learning Culture 31

The Right Leader 32

The Right People 36

The Right Behaviors 36

The Right Resources 39

Learn How You Are Doing 40

Chapter 3 Developing a Learning Plan 49

The Components of a Learning Plan 51

Form a Team to Develop Your Learning Plan 57

Chapter 4 Setting Learning Goals 65

All Goals Are Not Created Equal 68

How to Set Learning Goals 73

Chapter 5 Creating Competency Models 77

Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes (KSAs) 79

Four Types of Competency Models 81

Competencies for Today and Tomorrow 84

Developing Competency Models 87

Using Your Competency Models 92

Examples of Competency Models 95

Chapter 6 Selecting the Right Learning Methods 101

Formal versus Informal Learning 102

Five Primary Learning Methods 104

What’s the Most Effective Learning Method? 114

What Drives the Selection of Learning Methods? 115

Putting the Learning to Use 119

Chapter 7 Assessing the Results of Your Learning Plan 123

Key Assessment Questions 125

Assessment Methodologies 127

Chapter 8 Managing Your Organization’s Learning Operation 135

The Components of a Learning Organization 138

The Role of a Chief Learning Officer (CLO) 143

The Role of a Learning Management Service 144

Chapter 9 Call to Action! 151

Become an Activist in the Service of Learning 152

Be an Education Activist 161

Learning from Experts: Excerpts from Sarder TV Interviews 167

Authors and Educators 167

Learning Managers and Learning Professionals 189

Partial List of Chief Executive Officers, Chief Learning Officers, Chief Information Officers, Authors, and Thought Leaders Interviewed by Sarder TV 217

Notes 225

References and Resources 237

References 237

Useful Websites 238

Acknowledgments 241

About the Author 249

Index 251

RUSSELL SARDER is the CEO of NetCom Learning, a global leader in managed learning services, IT and business training, and talent development. Under his leadership, NetCom Learning has become a multimillion-dollar business. He is also the founder of Sarder TV an online media company providing exclusive educational interviews with top leaders, as well as motivational videos encouraging the public to succeed in their personal and professional lives. He is also a business practitioner and mentor for MBA students and alumni at Columbia University.

What do all of today’s most successful organizations have in common? How are they able to compete in a rapidly changing, highly competitive, increasingly global environment? They are all learning organizations, and Building an Innovative Learning Organization shows you how to join their ranks and bring your organization to the head of the class.

Learning organizations are composed of engaged, motivated employees who continually seek improvement, which leads to organizational agility and the ability to innovate ahead of the curve. However, in order to thrive, the highly sought-after employees in these businesses need a sophisticated learning environment, and this actionable guide gives you the practical know-how and techniques for turning any type of organization into a magnet for innovators who will drive your profits.

The author is an industry expert who developed this same approach at his own learning organization, which he built from the ground up when he was just 21 years old. Over a 17-year period, his award-winning company trained more than 90,000 people from 10,500+ unique companies over a 17-year period and has helped 80% of Fortune 100 companies build, maintain or modify a learning culture. Now he will show you how learning can give your organization the ultimate competitive advantage. The step-by-step guidance in this book walks you through a repeatable framework of industry-leading practices—from developing a learning plan to assessing that plan to managing organization-wide learning. Leaders in every industry know the value of being able to boost performance, successfully manage change, and innovate more quickly, all through the ability to learn. Keep your company at the leading edge by discovering:

• The key changes affecting an organization’s ability to succeed
• What it takes to build a culture that attracts the best employees and helps the organization continually improve
• How to create a goals cascade that aligns organizational, team, and individual learning goals with the business’s values, mission, and strategic goals
• The four primary types of competencies an organization needs
• The five primary learning methods for guiding people to strengthen their existing competencies and develop new ones

Never lose a step toward forward progress again by building a self-perpetuating learning culture with the proven blueprint in Building an Innovative Learning Organization.