5 ways to build a culture of learning
5 ways to build a culture of learning for your team
A guide to growing a culture of learning for your team
The term "culture of learning" can often be controversial. So before we get started, let's set some expectations. What do we mean by a culture of learning? In its simplest form, culture is how people think and behave. While culture isn't limited to businesses, every company has one. Your company's culture is vital to your success. Negative cultures can drag the entire company down. On the other side of the coin, companies with positive cultures will attract and retain top talent. If a culture is about how people think and behave, a culture of learning exists when the people on your team feel encouraged to think about personal growth. But it doesn't stop with thinking about how each person on your team can better themselves each day. A culture of learning thrives when your employees act on those thoughts—when your team starts taking initiative to find innovative ways to solve new challenges. This happens when the behavior of your team is so wrapped around improving each day that it's ingrained in what you do. When a project doesn't meet expectations, it's not a complete failure. Instead, it's a chance to learn from what went wrong so it doesn't happen again. As simple as this sounds, in practice it can prove challenging.
| 2
If you expect your team to be vulnerable with what they need to learn, the best way to gain your team’s trust is to put yourself out there and be vulnerable first.
#1: Audit your team For many, learning requires being in a position of vulnerability. Your team needs to admit what they don't know before they can learn it. That can be a touchy subject. Before embarking on the challenge of building a culture
Take notes diligently and use this information to help you know what your exact next steps will be. It's worth noting that not everyone on your team will have the same starting point. In fact, it's going to be rare to have a team where everyone has the same skillset. #2: On the job learning
of learning for your team, you need to get an idea of
Armed with the knowledge of where your team is at
what your team needs to learn. Instead of trying to do
right now, you can start offering your team members
this on your own, you can help grow your connection
the ability to grow their skills in a lot of different ways.
with your team by getting input from them. This helps your team buy into what your decisions will be while at the same time giving you the opportunity to get an idea of what roadblocks lay ahead.
One popular method a lot of companies use is to assign a mentor to new team members. This helps newer people on your team grow faster while helping mentors solidify their own skills through the teaching process.
Have your team describe what they think a culture that
As a nice side bonus, it helps build trust between your
encourages learning would look like. Or what does a
team members.
culture that blocks learning look like? What are the things your staff wants to learn to help with their jobs, and what are they already learning on their own? If you’re having a hard time getting people on your team to open up, try kicking things off yourself. If you expect your team to be vulnerable with what they need to learn, the best way to gain your team’s trust is to put yourself out there and be vulnerable first. Starting this discussion with your team can lead to some
Another method for helping to encourage learning is to assign team members projects that require them to learn something new. Don't throw them into the deep end, but rather offer chances for incremental growth. And when they have questions, make it clear they can come to you or whomever their mentor is. Of course, this means you need to know your team's current skills well. But the continual growth opportunity will help your team in the long run.
eye-opening things your company may already be doing that's helping or hindering your team's ability to learn.
audit your team • on the job learning | 3
In the world of tech, what works today isn't necessarily going to work tomorrow. Rather than setting your team up for impending failure, encourage your team to challenge the status quo.
#3: Challenge established theories One of the most detrimental things to a culture of learning is the idea that "We've always done it this way." In the world of tech, what works today isn't necessarily going to work tomorrow. Rather than setting your team up for impending failure, encourage your team to challenge the status quo. Hack days are a common way of doing this. If your company is doing hack days, see if your team can start participating. If your company isn't, you can still do hack days on a smaller scale with your team. A great way to do this is to give your team a set day per month or quarter (as your schedule allows) where all
monotonous processes. Or maybe it's finally taking the time to fix the printer's PC Load Letter error. If you've got multiple teams innovating, take some time at the end to have each smaller team present what they accomplished and learned to everyone else. A lot of teams will push this presentation to the next day to let the hack day be distraction free. It's a good idea to set some clear expectations that not every innovation may go beyond the initial stages, but the act of coming up with ideas outside the box is fertile grounds for personal and team growth. And you're likely to have some great solutions to challenges pop up from these mini hack days as well.
they do is innovate. Depending on the size of your team, you may need to break up into even smaller teams. The only goal of these is to have it push your team forward in some way. Maybe it's coding a new tool to automate
challenge established theories | 4
THE #1 MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO
In 2015, Pluralsight partnered with CEB, Inc. for an independent study of 2,000 subscribers. We asked employees the top things managers could do to enable learning: make learning more a part of the company's culture
#4: Project debriefs It's unlikely Julius Caesar knew what he was starting when he wrote his Commentarii de Bello Gallico sometime in the 50s BC. His book, which translates to Commentaries on the Gallic War or sometimes simply
reward or recognize my learning investment
block days or time for training
of what happened on a mission. There's two types of
Although in the world of tech we're not tasked with
AARs. One is a formal AAR, which is conducted on
the same sort of missions as the U.S. Army, Agile
larger missions and with higher-ranking officials. Then
retrospectives are strikingly similar to AARs.
you have the informal AAR, which is typically done after smaller missions.
The reason for this similarity is because of something Caesar was certainly aware of. There's incredible value
The Gallic War, offered an account of what happened in
In both cases, the purpose of an AAR is the same.
in recounting what just happened, both good and bad,
the Gallic Wars he had just finished.
According to A Leader's Guide to After-Action Reviews:
so we can learn from it. Even if you're not using the
It was a chance to reflect on what had happened,
Key is the spirit in which AARs are given. The
and it's been the subject of study since. Fast forward
environment and climate surrounding an AAR must
thousands of years, and we're still using similar tactics
be one in which the soldiers and leaders openly
Two key advantages will surface with regular debriefs
of recounting what happened so we can learn from it.
and honestly discuss what actually transpired in
after projects.
In the U.S. Army today, the after-action review (AAR) is a process that closely mimics what Caesar did with his book. AARs are a process that helps get to the bottom
sufficient detail and clarity that not only will everyone understand what did and did not occur and why, but most importantly will have a strong desire to seek the opportunity to practice the task again.
Agile methodology with your team, there are benefits to planning retrospectives.
One is to offer a place for each team member to speak openly and honestly with the rest of the team. This is a crucial step to building trust between team members.
project debriefs | 5
For this reason alone, a lot of teams find retrospectives
opportunities. The more chances you can give
great for team health.
your team to grow, the more they'll be able to take
Another key benefit is the natural tendency for
LUNCH 'N' LEARN
advantage of it.
retrospectives to promote growth and learning for the
To help spark your creative side in coming up with
team. As indicated in the U.S. Army's official description
ways you can help your team foster a culture of
of AARs, when you offer your team the chance to
learning, we surveyed a variety of team leads to find
discuss what happened on a project, your team's
out how they're helping their teams learn. Here's are a
willingness to tackle similar projects again will improve.
few of our favorite ideas:
Especially if this time they'll know what to do better. As
Lunch 'n' learn: Offering your team the chance to
the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20.
teach the rest of the team can be a fun way to help
Furthermore, when professionals attend out-of-office training, they learn set topics. If those new skills aren’t
Offer to pick up the tab for
needed immediately when they get back to work, it’s
lunch in exchange for one of
likely they’ll get forgotten to make room for whatever
your employees teaching the
#5: More learning opportunities
rest of the team something.
everyone grow. Offer to pick up the tab for lunch in exchange for one of your employees teaching the rest of the team something. It can be as involved as explaining the code that squashed that nasty bug, or showing how to find and add to the documentation. Or it could be as simple as tips and tricks for being productive using email. Can't find someone to host?
So far we've talked about a handful of ways you can
Try finding something online to learn.
help your team grow their skills. Naturally, not every idea we've mentioned so far will be something you'll be
Proprietary tools: Most companies have proprietary
able to implement with your team.
tools of some form. Whether it's custom software or an intranet, being able to navigate proprietary
In an ideal world, we'd all have perfect learning opportunities on a continual basis. In the real world, though, life and external deadlines happen. One of the best ways to deal with the unknown, while
tools can make your team more productive. And it's something your team often can't learn anywhere but at work. Find someone in your company who can hold classes to get your team up to speed.
still helping to make sure your team feels encouraged to grow their skillset, is to offer multiple learning
more learning opportunities | 6
Little things mean a lot: A lot of times, the little things
perpetual results. The ever-changing variables of life
get overlooked. How to log into your computer, get
make it hard to say anyone has ever mastered a culture
your email going, who to go to for various things, etc.
of learning.
This can be especially daunting for new hires. Make it fun. When your new hire starts, have each person on your team introduce themselves, share what they do and one little thing to help your new hire be successful. Learning day: Everyone's learning on a daily basis, but it can be a refreshing break to set aside a day a month (or as often as you can) to do nothing other than learning something new. Block off all meetings
Sort of like it's hard to say you can learn to program to its fullest. Whatever technology comes tomorrow will require different techniques and methods than today. Instead of trying to make it to the finish line of a mythological utopian culture of learning, you'll find the actual benefit when you and your team are constantly on the lookout for new ways to grow.
and projects and let your team members just focus on
As the saying goes, "Life is about the journey, not
learning a new tool or subject.
the destination."
Stretch your wings: Sometimes when your team
Developing a culture of learning is very similar. When
members work on similar projects a lot, they can get
your team starts hitting the goals you have set for it,
lumped into a niche role. This can lead to developing a
technology will have changed enough to mean you'll
comfort zone that's hard to break. You can help avoid
have another goal right behind it.
this by putting your team on different tasks than they typically tackle. This'll let them build their skillset while
And that's to be expected.
helping your team know you're thinking about them
In the end, the task of building up your team with a
and trust them with other types of work.
culture of learning is a journey instead of a destination.
The journey of learning
It's a continual process that’ll grow and evolve as your team does. As you dedicate the time to nurturing a
As cyclical as it sounds, a culture of learning isn't
healthy learning culture, both your team and your entire
something that you can actually learn to do and expect
company will reap the benefits.
the journey of learning | 7
Powerful technology training you can trust to keep your organization competitive. Get started today and request a free pilot for your entire team: [email protected] 1.888.368.1240 | 1.801.784.9007
Sources 1 A Leader's Guide to After-Action Reviews. U.S. Army, September 1993. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/tc_25-20/tc25-20.pdf. 2 The Gallic War. Julius Caesar, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.html3 2013 Research Institute of America study
0869-15
3 Effective Sprint Retrospectives. David Starr on MSDN, July 2012. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj620912(v=vs.120).aspx
A guide to growing a culture of learning for your team
The term "culture of learning" can often be controversial. So before we get started, let's set some expectations. What do we mean by a culture of learning? In its simplest form, culture is how people think and behave. While culture isn't limited to businesses, every company has one. Your company's culture is vital to your success. Negative cultures can drag the entire company down. On the other side of the coin, companies with positive cultures will attract and retain top talent. If a culture is about how people think and behave, a culture of learning exists when the people on your team feel encouraged to think about personal growth. But it doesn't stop with thinking about how each person on your team can better themselves each day. A culture of learning thrives when your employees act on those thoughts—when your team starts taking initiative to find innovative ways to solve new challenges. This happens when the behavior of your team is so wrapped around improving each day that it's ingrained in what you do. When a project doesn't meet expectations, it's not a complete failure. Instead, it's a chance to learn from what went wrong so it doesn't happen again. As simple as this sounds, in practice it can prove challenging.
| 2
If you expect your team to be vulnerable with what they need to learn, the best way to gain your team’s trust is to put yourself out there and be vulnerable first.
#1: Audit your team For many, learning requires being in a position of vulnerability. Your team needs to admit what they don't know before they can learn it. That can be a touchy subject. Before embarking on the challenge of building a culture
Take notes diligently and use this information to help you know what your exact next steps will be. It's worth noting that not everyone on your team will have the same starting point. In fact, it's going to be rare to have a team where everyone has the same skillset. #2: On the job learning
of learning for your team, you need to get an idea of
Armed with the knowledge of where your team is at
what your team needs to learn. Instead of trying to do
right now, you can start offering your team members
this on your own, you can help grow your connection
the ability to grow their skills in a lot of different ways.
with your team by getting input from them. This helps your team buy into what your decisions will be while at the same time giving you the opportunity to get an idea of what roadblocks lay ahead.
One popular method a lot of companies use is to assign a mentor to new team members. This helps newer people on your team grow faster while helping mentors solidify their own skills through the teaching process.
Have your team describe what they think a culture that
As a nice side bonus, it helps build trust between your
encourages learning would look like. Or what does a
team members.
culture that blocks learning look like? What are the things your staff wants to learn to help with their jobs, and what are they already learning on their own? If you’re having a hard time getting people on your team to open up, try kicking things off yourself. If you expect your team to be vulnerable with what they need to learn, the best way to gain your team’s trust is to put yourself out there and be vulnerable first. Starting this discussion with your team can lead to some
Another method for helping to encourage learning is to assign team members projects that require them to learn something new. Don't throw them into the deep end, but rather offer chances for incremental growth. And when they have questions, make it clear they can come to you or whomever their mentor is. Of course, this means you need to know your team's current skills well. But the continual growth opportunity will help your team in the long run.
eye-opening things your company may already be doing that's helping or hindering your team's ability to learn.
audit your team • on the job learning | 3
In the world of tech, what works today isn't necessarily going to work tomorrow. Rather than setting your team up for impending failure, encourage your team to challenge the status quo.
#3: Challenge established theories One of the most detrimental things to a culture of learning is the idea that "We've always done it this way." In the world of tech, what works today isn't necessarily going to work tomorrow. Rather than setting your team up for impending failure, encourage your team to challenge the status quo. Hack days are a common way of doing this. If your company is doing hack days, see if your team can start participating. If your company isn't, you can still do hack days on a smaller scale with your team. A great way to do this is to give your team a set day per month or quarter (as your schedule allows) where all
monotonous processes. Or maybe it's finally taking the time to fix the printer's PC Load Letter error. If you've got multiple teams innovating, take some time at the end to have each smaller team present what they accomplished and learned to everyone else. A lot of teams will push this presentation to the next day to let the hack day be distraction free. It's a good idea to set some clear expectations that not every innovation may go beyond the initial stages, but the act of coming up with ideas outside the box is fertile grounds for personal and team growth. And you're likely to have some great solutions to challenges pop up from these mini hack days as well.
they do is innovate. Depending on the size of your team, you may need to break up into even smaller teams. The only goal of these is to have it push your team forward in some way. Maybe it's coding a new tool to automate
challenge established theories | 4
THE #1 MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO
In 2015, Pluralsight partnered with CEB, Inc. for an independent study of 2,000 subscribers. We asked employees the top things managers could do to enable learning: make learning more a part of the company's culture
#4: Project debriefs It's unlikely Julius Caesar knew what he was starting when he wrote his Commentarii de Bello Gallico sometime in the 50s BC. His book, which translates to Commentaries on the Gallic War or sometimes simply
reward or recognize my learning investment
block days or time for training
of what happened on a mission. There's two types of
Although in the world of tech we're not tasked with
AARs. One is a formal AAR, which is conducted on
the same sort of missions as the U.S. Army, Agile
larger missions and with higher-ranking officials. Then
retrospectives are strikingly similar to AARs.
you have the informal AAR, which is typically done after smaller missions.
The reason for this similarity is because of something Caesar was certainly aware of. There's incredible value
The Gallic War, offered an account of what happened in
In both cases, the purpose of an AAR is the same.
in recounting what just happened, both good and bad,
the Gallic Wars he had just finished.
According to A Leader's Guide to After-Action Reviews:
so we can learn from it. Even if you're not using the
It was a chance to reflect on what had happened,
Key is the spirit in which AARs are given. The
and it's been the subject of study since. Fast forward
environment and climate surrounding an AAR must
thousands of years, and we're still using similar tactics
be one in which the soldiers and leaders openly
Two key advantages will surface with regular debriefs
of recounting what happened so we can learn from it.
and honestly discuss what actually transpired in
after projects.
In the U.S. Army today, the after-action review (AAR) is a process that closely mimics what Caesar did with his book. AARs are a process that helps get to the bottom
sufficient detail and clarity that not only will everyone understand what did and did not occur and why, but most importantly will have a strong desire to seek the opportunity to practice the task again.
Agile methodology with your team, there are benefits to planning retrospectives.
One is to offer a place for each team member to speak openly and honestly with the rest of the team. This is a crucial step to building trust between team members.
project debriefs | 5
For this reason alone, a lot of teams find retrospectives
opportunities. The more chances you can give
great for team health.
your team to grow, the more they'll be able to take
Another key benefit is the natural tendency for
LUNCH 'N' LEARN
advantage of it.
retrospectives to promote growth and learning for the
To help spark your creative side in coming up with
team. As indicated in the U.S. Army's official description
ways you can help your team foster a culture of
of AARs, when you offer your team the chance to
learning, we surveyed a variety of team leads to find
discuss what happened on a project, your team's
out how they're helping their teams learn. Here's are a
willingness to tackle similar projects again will improve.
few of our favorite ideas:
Especially if this time they'll know what to do better. As
Lunch 'n' learn: Offering your team the chance to
the saying goes, hindsight is 20/20.
teach the rest of the team can be a fun way to help
Furthermore, when professionals attend out-of-office training, they learn set topics. If those new skills aren’t
Offer to pick up the tab for
needed immediately when they get back to work, it’s
lunch in exchange for one of
likely they’ll get forgotten to make room for whatever
your employees teaching the
#5: More learning opportunities
rest of the team something.
everyone grow. Offer to pick up the tab for lunch in exchange for one of your employees teaching the rest of the team something. It can be as involved as explaining the code that squashed that nasty bug, or showing how to find and add to the documentation. Or it could be as simple as tips and tricks for being productive using email. Can't find someone to host?
So far we've talked about a handful of ways you can
Try finding something online to learn.
help your team grow their skills. Naturally, not every idea we've mentioned so far will be something you'll be
Proprietary tools: Most companies have proprietary
able to implement with your team.
tools of some form. Whether it's custom software or an intranet, being able to navigate proprietary
In an ideal world, we'd all have perfect learning opportunities on a continual basis. In the real world, though, life and external deadlines happen. One of the best ways to deal with the unknown, while
tools can make your team more productive. And it's something your team often can't learn anywhere but at work. Find someone in your company who can hold classes to get your team up to speed.
still helping to make sure your team feels encouraged to grow their skillset, is to offer multiple learning
more learning opportunities | 6
Little things mean a lot: A lot of times, the little things
perpetual results. The ever-changing variables of life
get overlooked. How to log into your computer, get
make it hard to say anyone has ever mastered a culture
your email going, who to go to for various things, etc.
of learning.
This can be especially daunting for new hires. Make it fun. When your new hire starts, have each person on your team introduce themselves, share what they do and one little thing to help your new hire be successful. Learning day: Everyone's learning on a daily basis, but it can be a refreshing break to set aside a day a month (or as often as you can) to do nothing other than learning something new. Block off all meetings
Sort of like it's hard to say you can learn to program to its fullest. Whatever technology comes tomorrow will require different techniques and methods than today. Instead of trying to make it to the finish line of a mythological utopian culture of learning, you'll find the actual benefit when you and your team are constantly on the lookout for new ways to grow.
and projects and let your team members just focus on
As the saying goes, "Life is about the journey, not
learning a new tool or subject.
the destination."
Stretch your wings: Sometimes when your team
Developing a culture of learning is very similar. When
members work on similar projects a lot, they can get
your team starts hitting the goals you have set for it,
lumped into a niche role. This can lead to developing a
technology will have changed enough to mean you'll
comfort zone that's hard to break. You can help avoid
have another goal right behind it.
this by putting your team on different tasks than they typically tackle. This'll let them build their skillset while
And that's to be expected.
helping your team know you're thinking about them
In the end, the task of building up your team with a
and trust them with other types of work.
culture of learning is a journey instead of a destination.
The journey of learning
It's a continual process that’ll grow and evolve as your team does. As you dedicate the time to nurturing a
As cyclical as it sounds, a culture of learning isn't
healthy learning culture, both your team and your entire
something that you can actually learn to do and expect
company will reap the benefits.
the journey of learning | 7
Powerful technology training you can trust to keep your organization competitive. Get started today and request a free pilot for your entire team: [email protected] 1.888.368.1240 | 1.801.784.9007
Sources 1 A Leader's Guide to After-Action Reviews. U.S. Army, September 1993. http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/army/tc_25-20/tc25-20.pdf. 2 The Gallic War. Julius Caesar, translated by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn. http://classics.mit.edu/Caesar/gallic.html3 2013 Research Institute of America study
0869-15
3 Effective Sprint Retrospectives. David Starr on MSDN, July 2012. https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/jj620912(v=vs.120).aspx
