Article: 9 success indicators of a learning organization

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9 success indicators of a learning organization

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In an increasingly digital world, success lies in evidence-based decision making. Here are some indicators that simplify the best practices of leading learning organizations.
9 success indicators of a learning organization

For a number of years, organizations used talent and learning frameworks such as the Skillsoftt Learning Growth Model to understand and evaluate their learning strategies. In the age of digital transformation, these measures have increased in scope and the tools to measure success have become manifold. Organizations today are increasingly turning to the idea of the self-developing organization, which puts the individual’s ability and initiative at the center of their learning agendas. 

In this article, we take a look at some of the success indicators from some of the best organizations in the world. In each of these indicators are principles that align with organizational goals, which focus not only on the learning function but also relevant business outcomes.

  1. Focus on culture: Employer review sites like Glassdoor, Comparably, PayScale, Job Buzz have created a space online for job seekers to access data and perspectives that were previously not publicly available. Such sites allow potential employees to scrutinize a company’s culture and evaluate whether its professed value proposition matches with what employees say about it on social media. Organizations with acclaimed cultures need to have leaders who understand people prosperity.

  2. Integrated HR strategy: Successful HR teams are not only aligned to the business objectives, they are also highly integrated into their approach to solving people problems – whether this has to do with recruitment, learning and development or assessing supportive processes. HR teams that articulate their strategy while keeping their problems in mind tend to be more successful.

  3. Catalyze employee ownership: Organizations that are able to catalyze employees to take ownership of their development needs in line with the organizational goals are on the higher end of the maturity spectrum. They encourage self-learning and encourage managers to operate as coaches. They are also flexible in terms of their job roles and are open to dynamic change.

  4. Study consumer experiences: Companies that closely monitor their consumer end experiences and work to reduce any friction in the UX tend to be successful. More mature organizations also ensure that their workforce does not distinguish between talent and learning systems—they deliver a seamless user experience across platforms.

  5. Build smart technology systems: Companies that are on the higher end of the maturity spectrum tend to have comprehensive staff profiles that inform talent and learning software. They also maintain an enterprise competency dictionary and they leverage big data algorithms that are capable of building smart systems that are more intuitive over time.

  6. Focus on elective participation rate: A company’s learning and talent strategy can be assessed by the degree of elective participation that it receives from the employees connected to the talent and learning offerings. Leading organizations tend to emphasize on the “pull” factors as opposed to “push” campaigns. They do this by turning to end-user advocates and engagement tactics fueled by big data to encourage voluntary participation.

  7. Understand governance frameworks: Mature organizations implement controls that ease decision making; create forward-looking plans and manage resources and cost. HR plays a crucial role in instilling the right governance frameworks.

  8. Provide adequate funding: Organizations with leading best practices pay attention to their budgets in human capital, which often exceed industry benchmarks. Even when the organization’s strategy matures and rationalization efforts are made, they view training as an investment and not as a cost.

  9. Measure the impact of learning and talent programs: With increasing emphasis on productivity measures and data–driven decisions, organizations on the higher end of the talent maturity framework tend to create a self-discipline towards evidence based decisions. They even create a dedicated practice for sophisticated data visualizations, statistically oriented software and predictive data modeling.


Articulating a talent and learning framework in these lines not only helps clarify milestones for each of these indicators, it also enables organizations to benchmark themselves against their peers. 

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Topics: Learning & Development, #GetSetLearn

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