By Debbie Craig - MD of Catalyst Consulting

1. ACCELERATED
© Debbie Craig & Kerryn Kohl
Creating a Learning Culture
Debbie Craig & Kerryn Kohl

2. The Book
PART 1: Paradigm shift for Accelerated Learning
• The need for accelerated learning
• Paradigm shifts in learning
PART 2: Whole brain, whole person approach to learning
• Unique learning profiles
• Neuroscience of Learning
PART 3: Creating a Learning Culture
• Creating a learning culture
• Learning through coaching
• Learning through authentic conversations
PART 4: Designing Accelerated Learning Programs
• Learning architecture
• Learning design
• Gamification of learning
• Learning assessment
PART 5: Making it real – case studies on
talent, change and leadership
2
What’s new: inviting readers to engage, accelerated learning
through gamification mechanics and brain-break activities. Rabbit-
hole of resources, tools, status, rewards, social media, forums

3. Topics
Elements and benefits of a learning organization
Paradigm shift required for a learning culture journey
Dynamics of accelerated learning
Key activities required to build a learning culture
Critical success factors and key learnings
www.catalystconsulting.co.za @CatalystSA

4. ACCELERATED
© Debbie Craig & Kerryn Kohl
CHANGE CHALLENGE
25% success rate on
harnessing value of change
why can’t we harness
our natural learning
ability to change?
LEADERSHIP CRISIS
Leaders continue to make
poor decisions
why can’t we learn to
make better decisions?
TALENT GAP
Global talent crisis – top 3
why can’t we match
learning pathways to
strategic challenges?

5. What no longer works
THUD FACTOR
HEAVY TEXT
ONLY ONE
“EXPERT”
DEATH BY POWERPOINT
BORING LONG
CLASSROOM SESSIONS

6. New world of work
Skills shortage
Education &
unemployment crisis
Aging workforce
Continuous
change (VUCA)
Economic uncertainty,
mechanization,
political instability
New breed of
learner
Hyperlinked, social,
visual, self-directed,
JIT, multiple roles

7. “With tougher competition, technology
advances, and shifting customer
preferences, it’s more crucial than ever that
companies become learning organizations.
In a learning organization, employees
continually create, acquire, and transfer
knowledge—helping their company adapt
to the unpredictable faster than rivals can”
Garvin

8. Learning Culture Definition: Senge
“Learning organisations are organisations where people continually expand their
capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive
patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free and
where people are continually learning how to learn together” Peter Senge, Fifth
Discipline1
5 Dimensions distinguish the Learning Organisation innovate learning organizations. They are:
• Systems thinking – don’t only focus on the “close by’ solutions – small actions tend to snowball
resembling compound interest
• Personal mastery – lifelong extension of your vision not just your competence
• Mental models – examine and explicate your internal picture of the world and open it up to a
“learningful conversation”
• Building shared vision – the capacity to hold a shard picture of what we want to create. This not
only uplifts but encourages experimentation and innovation
• Team learning – requires personal mastery and a shared vision to develop the capacity of the
team to create the results they desire – it is based on dialogue amongst members of the team

9. Learning Culture Definition: Garvin
Activities of a learning organisation
• Systematic problem solving:
• thinking with systems theory; insisting on data rather than assumptions; using
statistical tools
• 2. Experimentation with new approaches:
• ensure steady flow of new ideas; incentives for risk taking; demonstration projects
• 3. Learning from their own experiences and past history:
• recognition of the value of productive failure instead of unproductive success
• 4. Learning from the experiences and best practices of others:
• enthusiastic borrowing
• 5. Transferring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organization:
• reports, tours, personnel, rotation programs, training programs
9
• “A leaning organization as "an organization skilled at creating, acquiring, and
transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behaviour to reflect new knowledge
and insights”. David Garvin
Source: "Building a Learning Organization", David Garvin, Harvard Business Review, Aug. 1993

10. Dialogue is the cornerstone
• The word "dialogue" comes from the Greek "dialogos".
• "Logos" meaning "the meaning of the word" and
• "Dia" meaning "through".
• In a learning organization, our purpose for dialogue is to let the meaning of
our words permeate through the group, or, to develop fully-shared, even
synergistic understanding of important information, experiences, goals, etc.
among all the people involved.
10
• Dialogue is not merely a set of techniques for improving organizations, enhancing communications,
building consensus, or solving problems. It is based on the principle that conception and
implementation are intimately linked, with a core of common meaning. During the dialogue process,
people learn how to think together-not just in the sense of analyzing a shared problem or creating new
pieces of shared knowledge, but in the sense of occupying a collective sensibility, in which the thoughts,
emotions, and resulting actions belong not to one individual, but to all of them together." Issacs,
William, The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook

11. Reasons To Build A Learning
Organization
1. Because we want superior performance
2. To improve quality
3. For customers
4. For competitive advantage
5. For an energized, committed workforce
6. To manage change
7. For the truth
8. Because the times demand it
9. Because we recognize our interdependence
10. Because we want it
11Source: The Fifth Discipline Field book, Peter Senge
“The litmus test of a learning organization is that it seldom makes the same mistake twice.” Garvin

12. Organisations with a strong learning culture outperform
their peers
Sources: Bersin & Associates, High Impact Learning Culture: The 40 Best Practices for Creating an Empowered Enterprise

13. “The ability to learn
faster than your
competitors may be the
only sustainable
competitive advantage.”
Arie De Geus
“Fire yourself on a Friday and re-employ yourself on a Monday.” Andrea Jung

14. New breed of learner
hyperlinked
multi-taskers
visual
experiential
short attention spans
very social
different roles
“just in time” learners
immediate feedback
independent - teach
themselves
construct own learning
Digital
native
Connected 24/7 via PC/ mobile
device - highly engaged user of a
broad range of social media tools
on a frequent (daily) basis.
Reader/
partici-
pant/
creator

15. neuroplasticity
Learning organisation
MPPP - UCLA
15One of the biggest shifts we are seeing is a move toward Accelerated Learning

16. Sugata Mitra: school in the cloud
“Education as we know it is obsolete” Sugatra
Mitra (School in the cloud)

17. Building Blocks of a learning
organisation
17
Supportive learning
environment
Employees:
• Feel safe disagreeing with
others, asking naive
questions, owning up to
mistakes, and presenting
minority viewpoints
• Recognize the value of
opposing ideas
• Take risks and explore the
unknown
• Take time to review
organizational processes
Concrete learning
processes
A team or company has formal
processes for:
• Generating, collecting,
interpreting, and
disseminating information
• Experimenting with new
offerings
• Gathering intelligence on
competitors, customers, and
technological trends
• Identifying and solving
problems
• Developing employees’ skills
Leadership that reinforces
learning
The organization’s leaders:
• Demonstrate willingness to
entertain alternative
viewpoints
• Signal the importance of
spending time on problem
identification, knowledge
transfer, and reflection
• Engage in active questioning
and listening

18. Example companies

19. 19

20. Craig & Kohl: Elements of a Learning Culture
20
LEARNING
CULTURE
Supporting
learning
Strategic &
Systemic
Thinking
Leaders
diving the
culture
Organisation
learning
Individual
learning
Team learning
Community
learning
Start with why:
Business Case
Measurement
Individual Learning
Support
Organisational
Learning Support
Technology Learning
Support
Clear Purpose
Leadership Brand
Leadership Learning
Building culture is a
core focus
Embrace Change
Collaboration
Knowledge
Management &
Innovation
Talent Centric
Enculturation
Clear expectations
Performance&
growth dialogue
Leadership and
Learning
Team development
Team facilitation Techniques
Team Dialogue
Cross boundary collaboration
Engage stakeholders
Community Dialogue
Learn from
Competitors
Engaged Employee
Communities
Clear Learning
Strategy
Systemic and strategic
thinking
Learning Structure
Long term investment

21. Knowledge
What the change looks like
Journey map
Ability
Knowledge, skills, behaviours, mind-sets
Process alignment
Desire
Visible Leadership commitment
Desire for change by Employees
Change Journey example
Awareness
Why important to change
Reinforce
Measure, monitor, manage
• Awareness of the need to change
• Desire to participate and support the change
• Knowledge of how to change (and what the
change looks like)
• Ability to implement the change on a day-to-
day basis
• Reinforcement to keep the change in place
Communication sessions
- Town hall sessions
- Culture pulse survey
- Manager’s feedback
- Newsletters, etc
Engagement sessions
- World Café values activation
session to build desire and
get input
- Leadership session with next
level leaders to get input on
LS behaviours
Team alignment sessions
- Exco team alignment session - role in
leading the culture journey
- Divisional team alignment sessions -
share and discuss values - what does it
mean to our team, what needs to
change and our plan to hold each
other accountable (including which
processes, rituals or symbols need to
change)
Learning sessions
- Lead Others and above: Leadership
development session and coaching on
LS behaviours
- Lead self: Self-leadership and how to
align with & live the values
- Process alignment of HR & business
processes & rituals
Monitoring
- Leadership 360
- Manager’s feedback at
talent forums
- Culture/values survey
- Feedback & action

22. Step 2
Alignment
Step 1
Diagnostics
Step 3
Strategy
Step 5
Talent
Step 4
Leadership
Understand the
business
Where are
we?
Where are
we going
and how?
What leadership
behaviour will
get us there?
Who will
take us
there?
Strategic Projects
&
Change journey
Good to Great Journey - example

23. CULTURE TRANSFORMATION JOURNEY
2007–2015
2007 Strategic &
leadership
alignment
Diagnostic
interviews
Senior
Leadership
capacity
building
2008
2009
2010
Innovation
session to
inform
strategic
options
Talent
management
capacity
building
Change
management
capacity
building
Self-
leadership
Capacity
building
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
Coaching
capacity building
Collaborative
Decision
making - TTT
I am Talent
personal and
career
empowerment
Strategic
reviews
Strategic
projects
capacity
building
Strategy
score-carding
& cascading
Next level
Leadership
capacity
building
Innovation
capacity
building - TTT
Strategic
reviews
Strategic
projects -
continue
Strategy on a
page – purpose,
vision, strategic
intents, values
Strategic
projects -
continue
Leadership dev
- TTT
Strategic &
Leadership
Renewal – 7Ss
of strategy, 3Es
of leadership
LEAN tools &
coaching i,.e 5S
Strategic
reviews
BHAG’s
met!!
New Strategic
projects
Bold talent
decisions
Strategic
reviews
Strategic
reviews
Strategic
reviews
Strategic
reviews
cont
BHAG’s
met!!
Other features
Strategic planning & reviews
BHAG rewards
Global work-groups
Head of Innovation
Team tools
Facilitators
Team alignment sessions
Values and Team Pyramid (100% accountability)
Meetings – think T and BAARs
Performance and talent tool
360 feedback
Fast Track experiential learning
Coaching
Decision making

24. Results
• China
• The COP for 2010 is USD11M
• 33% over an above BHAG
• Sales US$47M (50% up from 2008)
• COP US$11M (163% up from 2008),
• SE Asia
• The COP for 2010 is USD7.038M
• 45% over and above the BHAG
target by USD2.182M

25. ACCELERATED
© Debbie Craig & Kerryn Kohl
THANKS
CONTACT US
Catalyst Consulting
Email debbie@catalystconsulting.co.za
Web www.catalystconsulting.co.za
Catalyst Consulting Pty Ltd
@CatalystSA
Catalyst Consulting South Africa
The Coaching House
Email Kerryn@thecoachinghouse.co.za
Web www.thecoachinghouse.co.za
The Coaching House
@Coachinghouse
Kerryn Kohl

26. Strategic and systemic thinking
Clear Learning Strategy
L&D Score card
Aligned to HR Strategy
Continually reviewed
Supported by learning policies
Promote a LC
Systemic and strategic thinking
Chief Learning Officer/Head of Learning
Executive Support
Systemic and strategic thinking are core
competencies of senior leaders
Learning built into every system
Learning Structure
Supports strategy
Specialist resources
Infrastructure, systems and tools
(LMS, Mobile platforms etc.)
Long term investment
Adequate budget for strategic
and operational learning activities
Learning is prioritized
Adequate time allocated
Learning is made
visible, accessible and
encouraged
26

27. Leaders driving the culture
27
Clear Purpose
Meaningful, inspirational, people centric
Aligned to HR Strategy
Values and Behaviour clearly defined
Leadership Brand
Clearly defined and drives a culture of learning
Dialogue to challenge beliefs and status quo
around learning
Multi-rater feedback is encouraged
Safe to fail environment
Leadership Learning
Leadership and coaching programs encouraged
Build capacity to create a LC
Coaching style of leadership is encouraged
Leaders held accountable for behaviour that is
counter to the LC
Building culture is a core focus
Culture Champions identified and used to drive
and embed a LC
Culture Surveys are conducted annually and
feedback is acted upon
Leaders drive the LC

28. Organisational learning
28
Embrace Change
Change management is a core competence
Change resilience is a core competence
Clear flow of effective communication LC
Collaboration
Collaborative decision making
Leaders support and enable collaboration
Embrace social collaborative learning
Communities of practice are encouraged
Knowledge Management & Innovation
Supported by an actively used system
Culture of knowledge sharing
Cultivate an Innovation culture fostered by
knowledge sharing, collaboration and feedback
People Centric
Talent forums are seen as
strategically important events
Cultivation of talent is s key focus and robust
conversations are held to assess readiness and
paths to readiness
Employees are seen as Insight workers
converting data to information to knowledge to
decisions
Accelerated Learning

29. Individual learning
29
Enculturation
Individuals participate in onboarding activities
Individuals learn about the culture of the
Organisation “the way we do things around here””
Clear expectations
Updated user friendly role profiles with clear
performance standards and competencies
Individuals have access to career development
information
Individuals are expected to drive their own career
Performance Dialogue
Regular performance dialogues and feedback at
least 4x per year
Individuals play an active role in the performance
process
Leadership and Learning
Leadership understands:
3 key motivators: autonomy; mastery; purpose
whole brain, whole person, whole systems
approach to learning
Can plan – repeat, revise, recall, reinforce.
Leaders support the learning process
Personal Mastery

30. Team learning
30
Team development
Team alignment is a core focus
Understanding of team members strengths etc.is
seen as strategically important
Team members give each other feedback and
suggestions to improve individual and team
performance and behaviour
Team facilitation Techniques
Leaders are skilled in team facilitation techniques
Leaders understand the power of teams
There are trained facilitators available to design
and facilitate or co-facilitate team sessions.
Team Dialogue
Teams have sessions to raise and address
crucial team conversations that may be standing
in the way of high performance and learning
Teams have regular team-sharing sessions to
share projects, new approaches, information
gathered and lessons learnt.
Collaboration
Cross-functional team sessions are encouraged
to share issues and learnings across boundaries.
Teams continually ask who else they could
consult with or collaborate with for superior
results.
Cross-functional learning projects are a regular
feature of accelerated learning programmes.
Aligned & Directed
Teams

31. Community learning
31
Stakeholders
Clear understanding of community impact
Detailed Stakeholder Management plan
Programmes to identify high-potential learners
from local learning institutions and offer them
bursaries, internships or experience
Community Dialogue
Regular dialogue an interaction with communities
for a mutual learning experience.
Employment programmes in the local community.
Company facilities used for community projects
during non-work hours.
Learn from Competitors
Create opportunities for sharing and learning
from non-competing organisations
Observing competitors to see how they do things
Engaged Employee Communities
Staff participate in CSI projects
Strong Alumni including retired employees
Families of employees participate in learning
Community Networks

32. Supporting learning
32
People Based Learning Support
Personal Board of Directors
Manager – closest observer
Coach or mentor – helps with goals, reflection,
insight, perspectives, accountability
Organisational Learning Support
Learning department
HR business partner
External Learning Support
Family member - feedback
Suppliers and consultants – useful models,
summaries, tools and tips to help you accelerate
your learning.
Technology Learning Support
LMS systems to plan, schedule and manage
learning activities
Use technology to track, assess and measure
learning
Use gamification to increase engagement and
encourage progress and achievement
Supported Learning
Process

33. Learning organisation survey
Supportive Learning Environment Rate
Psychological Safety
In this unit, it is easy to speak up about what is on your mind.
If you make a mistake in this unit, it is often held against you.*
People in this unit are usually comfortable talking about problems and disagreements.
People in this unit are eager to share information about what does and doesn’t work.
Keeping your cards close to your vest is the best way to get ahead in this unit.*
Appreciation of Differences
Differences in opinion are welcome in this unit
Unless an opinion is consistent with what most people in this unit believe, it won’t be valued.*
This unit tends to handle differences of opinion privately or off-line, rather than addressing them directly with the group.*
In this unit, people are open to alternative ways of getting work done.
Openness to New Ideas
In this unit, people value new ideas.
Unless an idea has been around for a long time, no one in this unit wants to hear it.*
In this unit, people are interested in better ways of doing things.
In this unit, people often resist untried approaches.*
Time for Reflection
People in this unit are overly stressed.*
Despite the workload, people in this unit find time to review how the work is going.
In this unit, schedule pressure gets in the way of doing a good job.*
In this unit, people are too busy to invest time in improvement.*
There is simply no time for reflection in this unit.*
33

34. Learning organisation survey
Concrete learning processes Rate
Experimentation
This unit experiments frequently with new ways of working.
This unit experiments frequently with new product or service offerings.
This unit has a formal process for conducting and evaluating experiments or new ideas.
This unit frequently employs prototypes or simulations when trying out new ideas.
Information Collection
This unit systematically collects information on
• Competitors / Customers / Economic and social trends / Technological trends
This unit frequently compares its performance with that of
• Competitors / best-in-class organizations
Analysis
This unit engages in productive conflict and debate during discussions.
This unit seeks out dissenting views during discussions.
This unit never revisits well-established perspectives during discussions.*
This unit frequently identifies and discusses underlying assumptions that might affect key decisions.
This unit never pays attention to different views during discussions.*
Education and Training
Newly hired employees in this unit receive adequate training.
Experienced employees in this unit receive
• periodic training and training updates
• training when switching to a new position
• training when new initiatives are launched
In this unit, training is valued.
In this unit, time is made available for education and training activities.
Information Transfer
This unit has forums for meeting with and learning from
• experts from other departments, teams, or divisions / experts from outside the organization / customers and clients / suppliers
This unit regularly shares information with networks of experts within the organization.
This unit regularly shares information with networks of experts outside the organization.
This unit quickly and accurately communicates new knowledge to key decision makers.
This unit regularly conducts post-audits and after-action reviews. 34

35. Learning organisation survey
Leadership that reinforces learning Rate
My managers invite input from others in discussions.
My managers acknowledge their own limitations with respect to knowledge, information, or expertise.
My managers ask probing questions.
My managers listen attentively.
My managers encourage multiple points of view.
My managers provide time, resources, and venues for identifying problems and organizational challenges.
My managers provide time, resources, and venues for reflecting and improving on past performance.
My managers criticize views different from their own.*
*Reverse-scored items
35
• Visit learning.tools.hbr.org for a short version of this survey
• For the complete interactive tool, including scoring, go to los.hbs.edu