Top tips for creating learning culture

How do you create a learning culture, where people see learning and development as something they own rather than something that is imposed on them? Members of the Charity Learning Consortium crowd sourced potential solutions. 

Training isn’t always the answer: Rip up that training calendar! Let the problem lead the solution. Coaching, for example, is sometimes more important. 

Get staff and volunteers involved: Build any training plan or programme from the bottom up, not top down. Focus groups and/or employee and volunteer councils are a great way to involve people in discussions. Get staff and volunteers involved in developing the resources they’re going to use, so they make sense.

Keep solutions up to date: The world keeps moving so organisations need to keep pace with change. Keep checking the relevance of resources.

Create learning pathways: Map skills and requirements to resources and courses. The CIPD competency framework is a useful tool to use, particularly with high level managers. Use your learning management system to create pathways for specific roles. A SWOT analysis can also help people take control of their progress.

Drop the lingo: L&D can live in a ‘bubble’. Staff and volunteers won’t necessarily understand what ‘driving’ their own learning means, or what a learning pathway is! 

Share good practice: Recognise when people do what is asked of them, and share examples with everyone.  

Managers should lead by example: Why would anyone take time to learn something new if their managers don’t? Motivation can be the biggest part of change. Getting the CEO to endorse learning may work in some organisations, but make sure that messages don’t just become ‘top down’.

Identify people’s personal, long term goals: What are your learners’ long term aspirations? Develop a learning plan around that: what are they going to do next and what do they need to achieve that? The learner can then drive it from that point. 

Find more top tips from members of the Consortium here:
https://charitylearning.org/2020/01/top-tools-learning-content/ 
https://charitylearning.org/2019/12/top-tips-for-learning-transfer/

’10 reasons why charities should use eLearning’

There are hundreds of reasons of why charities should use eLearning but we’ve whittled it down to 10. 

Whether you’re making the case to start your eLearning journey or are looking to enhance the investment you’ve already made, these are the benefits of eLearning that will deliver significant results. 

CL Consortium Ltd
Vine House, Selsley Road,
Stroud, GL5 5NN

Contact us: 

info@charitylearning.org

0203 974 1511