The practical guide to building a learning culture

In L&D, we talk a lot about ‘learning culture’. But what does that really mean? How do you know if you have one? And if you don’t, where on earth do you start?

You can have the most dazzling learning strategy in the world, with a giant budget and a learning team of 1,000… but if your learning culture doesn’t support your plans, it’s never going to take off. Equally, you can do a lot on a tiny budget as long as your employees feel safe to innovate and are actively encouraged to learn by an enthusiastic leadership team.

In this guide we'll cover: 

• What a learning culture is and isn't
• How learning culture ties into company culture
• Tying learning culture to business goals
• Practical steps to auditing your learning culture

A sneak peek  of what's inside:

L&D teams often fall into the trap of thinking they can’t achieve their learning goals without more money and resources. While those things can make the journey easier, the reality is that without having the right culture in place, it’s almost impossible to meet your goals. 

Take a look at the chart below. Company A has a two-person L&D team with a small budget. Company B has a 1,000-person team with a huge budget. But company A has strong leadership buy-in and a motivated, engaged audience. Company B’s leaders don’t understand the value of learning, and engagement is almost non-existent. Without sitting in this ‘high support zone’, company B’s learning will never be as successful as company A’s.

No matter your budget, you can always find ways to do more with less. But without buy-in at every level of your business, you just can’t build a successful learning culture.

We work with businesses of all sizes every single day with huge variation in budgets and team sizes. But they all have one thing in common: a commitment to creating and maintaining a flourishing learning culture. And it really, really works. Let’s find out why. 

What is learning culture?

Learning culture refers to an organisational environment that prioritises and values continuous learning and development. In a business, this means that employees actively seek opportunities to acquire and share knowledge and skills. Positive learning cultures embrace change, innovation and adaptation, keeping the business evolving and well equipped to deal with current and future challenges.

We can think of our learning culture as a lens through which we view the world. Understanding where our learning culture stands today, given our knowledge of our organisation's future growth and challenges, is crucial. We must ensure that our learning culture is poised to empower our people to contribute, grow and add value to the company.

In essence, we need to shift our focus back to the basics. Let’s look at photography as an example. Owning the most expensive camera won't make you a better photographer. What truly matters is understanding the fundamentals: aperture, shutter speed, light and a creative eye. It's not about the gear itself - it's about how you use it.

Similarly, in our pursuit of an advanced learning culture, we can’t become preoccupied with the latest technology to the detriment of the basics. This approach means we can quickly end up with all the gear and no idea.

If you’re wondering if your business has a learning culture right now, some of the characteristics to look out for include:

What does this look like in practice?

Download the full guide to find out.