Organizational Learning: Competence Awareness and Training
An organization that values learning is usually the organization that handles change without turning every new method, technology, or customer requirement into a crisis. Training is not just a class on the calendar. It is the operating discipline that keeps competence, awareness, and confidence growing together.
Job-related training matters, but a broad approach to educational opportunities is what promotes a real learning culture. Learning should not be done haphazardly. The path should be carefully selected, tied to company needs and employee goals, and reflected in the organization’s budget.
What Is Organizational Learning?
Organizational learning is the way a company builds, shares, and improves knowledge so people can perform their jobs more effectively. It includes direct job training, professional development, competence awareness, cross-training, and the systems managers use to connect employee growth to business objectives.
The point is not training for its own sake. The point is to make sure each associate understands what skills are needed, where their current competence stands, what support is available, and how their development connects to the organization’s mission, vision, strategy, and objectives.
Create a Learning Plan
The first step to effective training is to create a learning plan for each member of the organization, from the top executive to the cleaning staff. The learning plan should address direct job-related learning as well as professional development and general education goals.
To set job-related training goals, assess employee skill and competency needs. That means looking at the work the position actually requires, the systems and procedures the person must use, and the knowledge gaps that could affect quality, productivity, safety, or customer satisfaction.
Employee Competence
While a variety of education and training should be encouraged, the most important aspect of organizational learning is making sure the employee is competent in their job. Competence also means expanding the skills and knowledge needed to work more effectively in the pursuit of continuous improvement.
A competence plan should be practical. If a role depends on a procedure, system, regulatory requirement, customer handoff, or quality checkpoint, the employee should know what good performance looks like and how to get there.
Employee Learning Plan
The learning plan should describe what kind of training program is needed to improve or develop particular job skills and knowledge. It should also describe where and how the training can be achieved, what time frame is expected, and what resources are available.
In other words, create a set of clear objectives. Sometimes a competency matrix is used to describe the skill needs of a position and the current skill levels of an associate in order to perform a gap assessment.
It is important to frame this exercise properly. Associates should never be made to feel deficient or lacking. The focus should be on improvement and getting better. Once again, organizational culture plays an important role. If learning and improvement are valued across the organization, associates are more likely to view their assessment and learning plan in a positive light.
How Do Competence and Confidence Work Together?
The manager should review the learning plan with an associate at least once a year. During this review, it should be made clear what training the associate is responsible for finding and attending, what budget is available, and what training will be scheduled for them.
Other education and training goals, such as professional development and general education, should be discussed and documented as well. The plan should not be a file that appears only during an annual review. It should be a living guide for how the associate builds competence over time.
Educational Goals
Consider whether particular goals can be accomplished formally or informally in-house, or whether external classes are appropriate. This is also a good opportunity to encourage associates to set and work toward educational goals and to make sure they are fully aware of company programs that encourage education, such as tuition reimbursement.
For organizations with quality-management expectations, this is not just a good management habit. OSHA’s education and training guidance also reinforces the broader management principle that training helps people understand procedures, hazards, roles, and expectations before work problems become performance problems.
Educational Benefits
The benefits of direct job-related training are too numerous to cover in great detail here, but one aspect of a well-trained worker is often overlooked. Knowledgeable, well-trained employees do their job with a sense of confidence.
We can all draw upon personal experience to relate to the difference between working with someone who displays confidence in taking on a task and someone who seems hesitant and doubtful. Confident workers are also much more likely to realize, and experiment with, innovative methods and new technologies.
What Training Resources Should You Use?
Learning does not have to be expensive. Training opportunities exist in-house and can be done for little expense. There are several key facets to consider with internal training. The first, as discussed above, must deal with developing key skills and competencies needed for top-notch job performance.
Cross-Training
Cross-training is a great way to disperse organizational knowledge, strengthen knowledge management, and create informal networks. It also provides trained backups for key positions in the organization.
Understanding your internal customer needs or the capabilities of your internal supplier can be a key factor in successfully aligning processes. What better way to understand suppliers and customers than to wear their shoes for a while?
If the order-entry group knows exactly what the shipping department does, and vice versa, the result can be improved interdepartmental cooperation and understanding. If possible, you may want to set up similar exercises with external customers and suppliers. There are numerous ways to make use of internal expertise and knowledge.
Training Alternatives
Two useful examples of low-cost training alternatives include mentoring and brown bag luncheons. Mentoring lets experienced employees show new hires the lay of the land. Brown bag luncheons let internal experts give informal presentations on topics of broad interest.
Of course, mentors and presenters might require training to prepare them for their tasks. That preparation is still part of the learning system. The organization should not assume that a strong performer automatically knows how to teach others.
Why Is Awareness Part of Organizational Learning?
Another important learning consideration is communicating the organization’s vision, mission, strategy, and objectives. Employees at all levels should be encouraged to create their own mission and objectives that align with the overarching goals of the organization.
How can they align their own objectives and tasks to the overall organizational strategies if they don’t even know what they are? Awareness and understanding of the organization’s goals by every member should be a top priority of an organization’s leaders.
This is where competence awareness becomes more than a training checklist. Employees need to understand which skills matter, why those skills matter, and how their work affects the next person in the process. That awareness turns training from an event into a management system.
How Do You Find and Use Good Learning Providers?
Whether it is communication skills, process training, or using technology, there are plenty of external sources for learning. Besides Bizmanualz, a useful place to look is the local community college or university. Most offer a wide variety of relevant business classes during the day and evening.
For example, employees can learn database or programming skills, or they can enhance their presentation skills. Allowing them to attend classes during working hours should not automatically be excluded, even though it often is. Perhaps they could attend an early morning class and still be at work at a reasonable time.
Find innovative learning incentives, such as an automatic raise for degree or certificate completion, or a day off for successfully completing an evening class. The right incentive depends on the company, but the signal is the same: learning is expected, recognized, and connected to performance.
Learning Culture
It is most important to influence learning by first creating a culture of learning. The next important step is to make the most of the time and money you invest into learning.
That involves creating thoughtful plans and strategies that combine direct training with more general education from a mix of internal and external sources. A learning plan should set goals and identify priorities. There are many ways to increase your training performance, but the work has to start with a plan people understand.
Everything cannot be accomplished at once. It may be a multi-year process to achieve all the learning goals identified, let alone new requirements discovered along the way. The most important thing is to get started on the learning path and keep nurturing a learning culture.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is Organizational Learning?
Organizational learning is the process of building, sharing, and improving employee knowledge so the company can perform better. It includes job training, professional development, competence planning, and awareness of company goals.
Why Is Competence Awareness Important?
Competence awareness helps employees understand which skills their role requires and where development is needed. It makes learning plans more practical because training is tied to real work requirements.
How Often Should Managers Review Learning Plans?
Managers should review learning plans with associates at least once a year. More frequent reviews are useful when roles, systems, procedures, or business objectives change.
What Are Low-Cost Training Resources?
Low-cost training resources include cross-training, mentoring, brown bag luncheons, internal process reviews, and presentations from experienced employees. These methods help spread organizational knowledge without relying only on outside classes.
How Does Learning Culture Support Change?
A learning culture makes change easier because employees expect to build new skills and understand why the work matters. That confidence helps people adopt improved methods, technologies, and procedures.
