Top 5 Characteristics of a Learning Organization
Originally published at Characteristics of Learning Organizations
Learning-related organizations or individual specialists follow some guidelines or create strategies that help them reach potential learners, achieve success in the market, and make the process of teaching as easy and smooth as possible. To overcome the activities, they should analyze the characteristics of a learning organization. In the present article, I am going to discuss all these points that are used in the e-learning industry to improve the quality of knowledge and skills training and achieve higher results in the eLearning jobs.
Learning organizations support the employees in the process of solving problems, and also make it possible to get benefits from the experience of their peers. They are free to share opinions, ideas, and insights. And there is no kind of fear of being judged so that the opportunity to expand their knowledge and work together to achieve common goals and objectives.
Characteristics of a Learning Organization
Now let’s go on and define the most common methods as well as characteristics that are used to identify learning organizations. These points will help you go deeper into the idea and offer better services to the target market.
#1 Learning Culture
Every successful learning organization gets support from a collaborative learning culture. Every organization is divided into separate units and each unit covers a number of people. In this framework, every person is an honored individual who has a special role in the overall company culture.
The main idea of the corporate learning culture is that the overall system of the smaller units is considered to be a whole. It should be clear for everyone how the company’s conformity, terms, and policies help to improve the working environment and also provide security for the employees.
Of course, corporate learning is based on some more guidelines and points of view. For instance, in this environment, it is important that corporate learners respect all the ideas their peers offer. Each voice and opinion must carry weight, and there is always space and reason for consideration for innovation.
#2 Lifelong Learning
Education is a source that is required for everybody regardless of their personality, interests, or even age. A person is considered to be a smart and required specialist if they continually learn, follow the trends in the industry, and get familiar with all the innovations. In the 21st century, every aspect of our lives is constantly growing, changing so that we should know and learn all the nuances and accepted approaches in order to go along with the competition.
On the personal level, learning organizations require a forward-thinking mindset. According to Senge, this involves personal mastery. Corporate learners must develop a lifelong learning perspective, wherein they value and understand the importance of continual growth. The focus is on practical skills and knowledge they can apply in real-world environments. For example, soft skills that allow employees to improve customer service tasks. Individuals must also display commitment and dedication to personal goals, as well as company-wide learning objectives.
#3 Space for Innovation
The E-learning industry is constantly growing and along with technological innovations, more opportunities arrive. Such possibilities are meant to improve the quality of education and bring new features and automation tools. Organizations and individuals in the e-learning industry should be always open to accepting these innovational tools and technologies in order to go along with the competition and be a preferable choice for people who need related services.
Actually, this trait of learning organizations is two-fold. First of all, corporate learners should have the ability to assess the current understanding they have at the moment through self-reflection. It will allow them to challenge the boundaries and stolen beliefs that prevent them from going on the way of their progress. Then every individual will be able to see how they fit into the big picture of the overall industry, as well as how they can offer the good services even better. The second point is that corporate learners should always be encouraged to try out new methods, theories, and approaches. Of course, the risk is also a part of the comparison. In this approach, the learners get an opportunity to consider their mistakes, learn from them, and continually improve their skills.
#4 Sharing is Caring
Any kind of education provider should focus on the idea that sharing is the best quality of a good teacher. There is always a theory, piece of knowledge, experience, or a set of skills to share with the learners. Good teachers share all the knowledge they have and provide pieces of advice to guide the learners and lead them in the right direction.
When students feel the trainer share any piece of experience they are more likely to trust the teacher and believe in them. However, when they feel the vice versa, they will never come back to those education providers’ services any longer. This is a simple approach to the teaching process that may have a great influence on the overall educational activities.
#5 Valuable Content
Of course, it is good that you are willing to share knowledge but it is even great when you share valuable knowledge content. I am sure you have such pieces of knowledge and experience people would like to learn. So, prepare that content and willingly share it with all who need it. You may classify this knowledge into levels of complexity considering the potential learners’ background knowledge. And you may also take into consideration different formats of content. Let me mention some of the most common and effective content types used in the e-learning industry.
- Video Courses
Have you ever imagined that you may spend time and effort on creating engaging educational content once, yet, it will be available for the learners at any time? Video course is that type of content. You prepare the learning material and record the courses which become available as soon as you publish them. After all these actions you are free to manage your time, while the course material does its job. Every time any student buys a course, you earn money. However, from time to time, do not forget to update the course in order to update it and make it fresh as well as modern. If you follow the second point and act as a lifelong learner, you will know all the changes in the field and update your course accordingly.
- Live Lessons
Live meetings are considered to be an accepted format of education. This is more preferable for people who like to be in a real-time connection with the trainer, to listen to them, ask questions, and minimize misunderstanding. Such people are more likely to be those learners who have just shifted from the traditional offline teaching and they need to get the answers to their questions immediately. Otherwise, they may forget it and they will not fully acquire the topic.
There are live lesson planning tools that will help to make the process easier. You will get an opportunity to schedule every lesson in the overall training session and automate the process. The participants will automatically get notifications about every upcoming lesson. So this becomes something like a timetable the system follows and free you from such responsibility to get in touch with the students individually.
- Webinars
Similar to live lessons, webinars are also considered to be a form of real-time connection with the learners or people interested in the offered services. Educational webinars are very useful to increase your brand awareness and let people learn about your services, as well as the valuable knowledge you share.
During the webinars, you may discuss different points related to your niche, present valuable material, share pieces of advice, and so on. It is also acceptable to offer some time for Q & A. During this stage, you answer the participants’ questions that may be asked during the webinar or in advance. You may have heard about such types of Q & A when the host asks about peoples’ concerning points to refer to during the webinar. Some people also invite speakers to make the webinar even more engaging. These speakers may be authorities, bloggers, or influencers in the industry — people whom your target audience trust.
- Education Checking Tests
When people take part in online learning activities (whether it is about new skills or just knowledge improvements) they are usually interested in checking their acquired knowledge. Online tests are great in this regard. You may attach tests into video courses as well as live lessons so that the learners pass them after completing the course. These tests may offer different formats of questions, including options of answers, visual material, and more.
Tests are good but the test checking process is something like wasting time for the teachers as there are automation tools for this. Accordingly, you may provide the details in advance and let the system automatically check the test results. There are even more features that make the learning process more effective and fun. For instance, you may have a certificate generator that is connected to the tests so that these students, who successfully pass the test, get certificates as proof of their acquired knowledge.
To Sum Up
Following all the above-mentioned characteristics of a learning organization, we may say that education providers (organizations or individuals) should have their personal e-learning platforms. This will be a great support to the process and help to manage time, organize the teaching process more effectively, and work in a better and flexible environment. What else may be better for e-teachers, coaches, and trainers?
These days you may create an online teaching platform through website builders (professional e-learning platforms are extremely expensive so that not everybody is able to afford it). Uteach is such a website builder specializing in the e-learning industry. It allows creating a personal platform within minutes without coding. This process is easy, safe, and immediate. Then you will publish the valuable educational content that is required in the market. Uteach offers 35 days of FREE TRIAL. Here you also have an opportunity to book a free demo and the specialist will present you the overall platform, its features, automation tools, etc. so that you will get the answers to all your question. Do not hesitate, take the first step today. Good Luck!
