“The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled, “1 wrote Plutarch between the first and second centuries, a concept at once simple and powerful.
From this quote, so distant in time but so close in intent with respect to how we feel, we began to question how minds are “switched on” today in a world of constant and rapid change. Specifically, how do people recognize an organization as a sustainable learning environment?
Some data
According to the LinkedIn Report of 20222, from 2015 to the present, 25 percent of the skills required of workers-at the same role-are new compared to the past, and, in addition, more than 25 percent of people surveyed say they have changed positions over the past few years.
This trend is consistent with the rapid changes that are taking place, partly due to digitization, partly due to individual preferences that drive people to different choices, rapidly and profoundly changing the world of work. In this sense, there are increasing demands and proposals for flexibility with respect to the organization of work and the refinement of skills, due to a constant and now necessary need for reskilling and upskilling.
Against this backdrop, the responsibilities of individuals and those of organizations are growing in tandem: while people are becoming increasingly autonomous in the performance of work and continuous learning, a greater presence is required of organizations, whose new task is to make work sustainable and create enabling contexts for learning.
When is work sustainable?
The concept of sustainability implies the adoption of behaviors, with short- and long-term effects, aimed at improving the lives of present and future generations, with a view to both protection and development. With respect to people, therefore, organizations are also sustainable to the extent that they take responsibility for continuous learning and development.
How does this concept translate within companies today? What does it mean to promote a sustainable approach from an HR perspective?
When we talk about sustainable work for people, we mean an environment that fosters working (and living) conditions designed to promote the well-being of the individual, reducing obstacles and barriers and enhancing the resources of male and female workers, i.e., their employability. Rather than a set of skills to be acquired, the latter translates into an awareness of one’s own skills and the ability to use, refine, modify or acquire new ones where the context demands it: in other words, the key to employability is personal and professional adaptability.
For such an approach to be introduced quickly and to be, above all, functional, the support of organizations, their role as promoters of learning opportunities and gyms in which to train, is crucial.
Today’s competence is “learning to learn”
Learning is natural for us human beings. We are biologically inclined to learn; we do it by observing, imitating, studying, experiencing. What role do organizations play?
The added value of organizations is to create a framework of meaning around the learnings of individuals and teams to facilitate understanding of their strategies and vision; to provide methods, tools and processes to facilitate learning; and, finally, a community of peers (and others) to engage with.
Facilitating learning is not only a “moral” duty for people’s well-being, but-first and foremost-an investment. In fact, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, in its 2020 report “Creating Learning Cultures: Assessing the Evidence,” states that organizations that do not promote development opportunities are those with the greatest disengagement, turnover and thus loss of know-how; on the contrary, by facilitating continuous learning, they help increase staff engagement, sharing, creativity and competitive advantage in the marketplace.
How to promote sustainability concretely?
The poem “Ithaca” by Konstantinos Kavafis 3 reads, “When you set out for Ithaca you have to wish for a long road, fertile in adventures and experiences.”
This verse summarizes the leading themes of sustainable learning in organizations:
- Time is necessary. There is no such thing as instantaneous learning, not even when we talk about microlearning or learning bite sized-that is, when the learning content is quick, lasting only a few minutes, as in the case of a podcast, an article or a short video; not even when in our daily lives we have a problem and look for the solution online. Learning takes time, because it needs training, concretization, putting into practice, or reflection, abstraction, pondering over what has already happened. Fostering sustainable learning, therefore, also means ensuring time for learning in its various forms.
- We can gather a lot of learning “on the way.” Learning is a journey composed of different places, moments, spaces (physical and virtual). The street is the organizational reality in which we train, but the sources are many: experience, reflection, comparison with others.
- Learning generates change. Learning also shapes differently the road we travel, not only because it enables us to develop more and more resources to meet challenges and to flourish (in the sense of Flourishing4, from positive psychology), but also because we have a new look at the world itself and, through our learnings, we contribute to changing it: it is the thirst for knowledge that generates change.
“What have I learned today?“, “Have I created a fertile ground to facilitate the learning of a person close to me?“: these are the questions we should ask ourselves daily to train our ability to learn continuously and consciously.
At the recent PRAXI Coffee Brain series of management training meetings, we developed a learning wheel that encapsulates the different modes and stimuli from which we can learn: play to find out how you are learning and what other opportunities you can take advantage of!
Finally, here is a small guide that you can use for your continued learning.
Remember that this is a journey to be taken one step at a time and steadily!
