Why keep learning?

I was recently asked the question: What is the main cost in maintaining an organizational learning environment and what is the greatest benefit?

I believe “time” might be the greatest cost in maintaining a learning culture. The time we take to understand our systems, our customers, our audience, our employees, and the time to find ways to better serve them and better work together.

The benefits are priceless.

If we don’t have a learning environment then we’re going to fall into the same problems on a regular basis and find ourselves firefighting most of the time. We may even be very successful in business but the tasks that we create become mundane, which affects the motivation of our people.

If we don’t have a learning environment, then people will not bother learning new ways to make things better. If they are constantly trying to finish off tasks and get things done and there’s no “time” to reflect and experiment with new methods, then we’re not learning as an organization and we will easily be outlived by our competitors. “Culture eats strategy for breakfast”, said Peter Drucker, and learning is one main ingredient in this culture.