Learning Culture - Trending Topic

Learning culture is the new agility. At least it seems to me that everyone is talking about digital transformation and few understand the complexity, but slowly it is dawning on all of us that this transformation is radically changing our lives. Now and not tomorrow. I firmly believe that a learning culture is the key to managing this change.

VOPA+ - principles that pave the way for a learning culture. And can be their target image?

So far so good. The answer to the challenges of the uncertain, complex, contradictory and volatile VUCA world is just one click, just one model, just one mindset shift away for organisations. VOPA+ is the name of the answer and was developed by Willms Buhse. VOPA+ stands for networking, openness, participation, agility plus trust (In German: Vernetzung, Offenheit, Partizipation, Agilität plus Vertrauen). A charming and catchy approach. And there is nothing to disagree with.

But if organisations are convinced that they have found a quick and elegant "solution" to the challenge of digital transformation with the new models and principles, and that this will be introduced and anchored sustainably with the help of coaching, workshops and online courses, then they are thinking too briefly. It is true that even in times of agile teamwork, self-organisation, network structures and flattening hierarchies, it is the task of the organisation's management to initiate and steer change. But the employees have a new role to play, that of flexible, creative designers who look ahead, who think for themselves, who are committed both to their own meaningful work and to the company's success, which is less about turnover and more about purpose.

With all the imponderables that the digital transformation brings for organisations, it becomes clear which central and so important element that has received too little attention in the past can no longer be dispensed with: Learning culture.

Learning Culture will not be done on the side

Learning culture in organisations is becoming a hot topic right now. That is a good thing. The question of how to create a space and occasions for learners to develop optimally is neither new nor revolutionary. And the danger is that, like agile, it will be driven through the organisation for so long and reduced to one "new project" among many that the momentum that is being created will fizzle out.

All of us who are involved in the transformation of organisations, the coaching of leaders or the development of potential and learning processes in the broadest sense, be it in schools, universities, companies or kindergartens, must realise that the development of a sustainable, functional learning culture in an organisation will neither succeed on the side, nor be a pure leadership task, nor be relevant to a few parts of the organisation, nor be limited in time.

Learning culture is complex and trivial at the same time.
But always: (almost) invisible

It is, rightly I think, seen as the answer to the challenges of digital transformation, because it also makes clear that everyone in an organisation can only master change if new work also leads to new, agile ways of learning. But what exactly does that mean? How does an organisation establish a learning culture? How can I recognise it? And who is responsible for this development? Are there quality standards for a learning culture or established concepts on how to "introduce" a learning culture?

We can think of hundreds more such questions. And it is legitimate to ask them. Some can be researched online. And you will find good frameworks, a range of methods and tools, blogs, mind maps, etc. that can be found sometimes on research and information portals of educational science and pedagogy, sometimes in further education magazines and coaching offers. Even the German government has published an impulse paper in 2019 entitled "For a sustainable learning culture in companies".

If you look at the academic literature, you often come across the model of "learning cultures in continuing education" according to Schüßler/Thurnes.

Attitude and the first step. Everything else comes afterwards.

It makes sense to deal with the topic of learning culture theoretically, especially if you are responsible for learning in an organisation and the agile change is to begin or has begun. However, it should only be seen as a prerequisite, because learning culture develops, and it largely escapes specific control, when a mental attitude is established among the members of the organisation. A mindset for agile learning, so to speak. The VOPA+ principles can provide a good orientation here. However, in order to take this mindset into account in the daily work process, it takes time, patience and a series of small steps. Being pragmatic and getting started, trying out new tools, giving yourself and others the space to develop your own routines, also talking as a team not only about the joint work but also the joint learning, reflecting regularly, also making mistakes and standing by them, and also throwing overboard already existing processes and routines. All this can promote a lively, honest learning culture, and even define it.