How to Create a Learning Culture, based on Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Josh Bersin

In a co-written article on four ways to create a learning culture by Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Josh Bersin, which is shared with all online readers through the website of Harvard Business Review, it suggests that the learning culture creation is a driver of its booming progress of an organization in the age of the nonstop advance of technology constantly disrupting every filed of life.  

As a result of its rapid technological advance, it puts importance on recruiting employees with wise curiosity and learnability, the desire and ability to quickly grow and adapt the skill set they have to overcome new changes especially made by new technology.  

To achieve this, it relies heavily on the collaboration of those employers such as Google, American Express, and Bridgewater Associates in promoting learning culture as a part of their management systems and is regarded the first priority. Josh Bersin's report on learning culture pointed out: "The single biggest driver of business impact is the strength of an organization's learning culture." 

However, the term "learning culture" is defined differently by those in the field, but one of the definitions given by CEB as a culture that encourages an open mindset, an independent quest for knowledge, and shared learning towards the mission and goals of the organization. Unfortunately, its CEB-defined learning culture is not put into practice at major organizations, most still the exception rather than the norm. 

Despite that, the article of Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic and Josh Bersin regarding the ways of culture learning creation reveals four science-based suggestions to help you as an employer create a learning culture in your organization:

Reward continuous learning - it is hard to prompt deliberate changes in your organization's culture unless you are in formal reward systems, but it can be done if the rewards are effective enough. It's sometimes unfortunate that managers who seem to be aware of the importance of learning are only interested in boosting short-term results and performance, which can be an enemy of learning new things. Instead, managers or employers should act as a leading example for their employees by displaying an effort to learn and develop, and also create a climate that enhances critical thinking, where everyone is encouraged to voice opinions freely.  That's a way to support continuous learning.

Give feedback - most leaders or managers avoid giving negative feedback to their employees, only positive feedback is given by them. This can be viewed as a big fault - because negative comments or conversations can lead to curiosity and learning. Making people aware of what they don't know, especially if that makes them feel uncomfortable, is a must-do thing for leaders or managers. 

Lead by example - leadership is another key driver of employee learning. One of the leadership values is about leaders' behaviors which play a role in the behavior and performance of their teams. For example, if you want to trigger your team's curiosity or unlock learning in your organization, you should do what you preach first. Don't ask your employees to do what you don't do yourself. You are a role model for them to follow. 

Hire curious people - when management problems arise, they, as leaders or employers, focus on training and development. That is good, but better if they are good at preventing and predicting possible future problems. That's why hiring curious people means a lot to their organizations. It makes leaders or employers less worry about their willingness to learn or to inspire their learning curiosity.  

In conclusion, it can nurture curiosity and learning of employers with no need to rely on your organization's formal learning and development programs, just do the suggestions mentioned above. Empowering positive learning behaviors, giving constructive and critical feedback to orient employees' efforts with the right learning goals, showcasing your own curiosity, and putting curious people with high learnability at the right job are all likely to build on a stronger learning culture within your team and your organization. 

Summed up by Thaweesak Chanpradit