Learning Culture foundation for a learning organization
Don't focus on the learning itself, but on your "learning capacity"!
SOL is specialist in the field of developing, implementing and maintaining a Learning Culture.
Many cultural changes fail in good intentions. Our advice: don't change culture by changing the culture (see video above).
As SOL we have seen many organizational cultures change. But you often create the opposite if you focus primarily on this culture change itself. If you focus on an adjustment of the underlying structure, preferably with the input of all those involved, the results will come naturally!
Download directly the E-book The Magic of a Learning Culture for free
SOL Nederland supports the creation of a learning culture in which participants acquire skills 'on the job' with which they can participate sustainably in new (work) situations, in order to solve challenging issues there, in a continuously changing society.
A learning culture forms, as it were, the foundation for learning within organisations. In which we as SOL explicitly look at both formal and informal learning (learning on the job).
Our vision on this is expressed in an E-book (The magic of a Learning Culture / see link above). And jointly with other SOL countries we have worked on the realization of a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) with the same title. To this end, research has been conducted in various countries into the 'why, how and what' of developing, implementing and maintaining a learning culture.
The main conclusion from this research is that the most successful organizations do not focus on learning itself, but on facilitating learning. In this way they create a learning culture in a natural way and work on their learning capacity.
With the Organization Learning Foundation we focus on 6 areas of attention (see above). Each specialism is connected like a slice of pie with the other components in the field of learning. The specialism "Learning Culture" is elaborated in the following 4 focus areas and are explained in more detail below.
Free (online) Introduction Workshop Learning Culture
Regularly (once every 3 months) we organize a free introductory workshop with SOL on the Why, How & What of a Learning Culture.
In an online session of 2 hours, the participants receive an explanation of what a Learning Culture looks like in practice on the basis of the MOOC "The Magic of a Learning Culture". Why would you want to develop a Learning Culture? How to do that, develop, implement and maintain a Learning Culture. And what concrete results can a Learning Culture lead to?
More information about this can be found in this link.
SOL Pro: Guidance, coaching and training
Community of Practice: There are often 'forerunners' within organizations in the field of the learning organization. Mostly managers associated with HR, organizational development, LMS, etc
They see the potential of developing a learning culture for people, teams and the organization as a whole, and are eager to explore how they can make a positive contribution to this.
For them there is the (English) Community of Practice. A collection of specialists with the same drive and background who learn from, with and through each other. We bring them together as SOL and we facilitate learning. We meet monthly, whereby we ensure continuity and deepening through peer-2-peer contacts.
This Community of Practice is supported by a online learning environment / MOOC in which the development of a learning culture is central.
More information about this Community of Practice can be found in this link.
In Company program Learning Culture
As soon as the organization is 'ripe' for it, it makes sense to start a customized process. Of course focused on practice. With the possibility for experiments, but also training and coaching are among the possibilities.
We as SOL emphasize the focus on a systemic approach with a view on the whole. With measures aimed at people, teams and organisations.
learnathon
A Learnathon is an (annual) meeting with its own staff where learning projects are started, evaluated and/or terminated. With the help of a Learnathon, employees are personally involved in their own development and that of the organization.
Ideas for a Learning Culture are introduced, discussed and elaborated by the participants themselves.
More information about this can be found in this link.
What people say......
“I feel like diving in”
“On February 24, 2022, Patrick Bijman of SOL Netherlands enthusiastically and generously guided us through the MOOC 'The magic of a learning culture'. This MOOC, which was developed in the past year, contains lived knowledge about the path to a learning culture, through learning at the level of people, teams, organizations and ultimately even society.
Few people had come to the workshop, so we almost got private training and all our questions could be answered calmly. This led to an interesting and animated conversation. The explanation of the MOOC helps to estimate the valuable knowledge it contains. I'm excited to dive into it! Ask Patrick for the replay link.
I wish everyone with an interest in a learning culture a lot of learning fun with the MOOC! – Renate Beckers, ” ”
Renate Beckers
- Government consultant at the Ministry of the Interior
Patrick Bijman
Specialist Learning Culture
Patrick Bijman: Specialist Learning Culture
With the Organization Learning Foundation (SOL) we have divided the tasks in the development team. Patrick Bijman is responsible for the Learning Culture section.
Patrick's ambition is to make organizations more "alive". Organizations where it is nice to work. They change from static (re-active) to dynamic (pro-active). Where change does not take place abruptly through reorganisations, but more naturally through self-management or self-organization with a highly developed learning capacity.
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