Ask 100 company leaders whether they support a learning culture, and you will likely get 100 affirmative answers. Ask 100 front-line people who report directly or indirectly to those leaders whether they work in an organization that supports a learning culture … and the number is going to drop dramatically.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
So here\u2019s a question: how can we as senior leaders close the gap?<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n I believe we should start by simply acknowledging the reality that telling <\/em>our employees that we have a learning culture does not mean that we actually have<\/em> a learning culture in our sales organization. Our words must be paired with action. Here, then, are five steps leaders can take to ensure a high success rate when it comes to launching and following through on a commitment to creating a strong organizational learning culture.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 1.\u00a0 Change the thinking at the top. <\/strong>Everything starts with how you <\/em>think about your people. \u00a0<\/strong>Leaders who are serious about initiating and supporting a learning culture stop treating the professional and personal development of the team as an expense, and start treating it as what it really is: an investment. Think about it. If you consistently invest in a learning culture, you are going to have a superior workforce. That means you will have a major edge in the marketplace, because your people will be sharper; they will be better at connecting dots that the competition doesn\u2019t even notice; and they will be more adept at delivering value to the customer. Why wouldn\u2019t <\/em>you make that investment?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 2.\u00a0 Keep an eye on the metrics. <\/strong>In particular, notice in which direction your retention numbers are moving. If more of your best and brightest are leaving this month than last month, rest assured that the needle is moving in the wrong direction. On the other hand, if more of them are sticking around, then the needle is moving in the right direction. Ultimately, there are really only two reasons why good employees who aren\u2019t dealing with a major life change will decide to leave your organization: either they don\u2019t respect their manager, or they feel like they\u2019re not learning new things and growing. Creating a true learning culture for all employees (including managers) can turn around both of those unfortunate situations \u2013 and reduce your turnover numbers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 3.\u00a0 Use your development plan to build your bench<\/strong>.\u00a0 A great sports team doesn\u2019t just have a superior starting lineup; it has a superior collection of rising talent and a deep roster of utility players. They call that \u201cbench strength\u201d \u2013 and great companies have it, as well. With a strong learning culture, you have the ability to build up your bench, not just by making people stronger at their current positions and helping them to make more and varied contributions, but also by helping them begin to grow into the right future position before they take it on. It\u2019s been estimated that 43% of sales managers have zero management experience when they’re promoted. That\u2019s not how it should be. To continue our sports metaphor: would you ask someone who has never pitched a single inning to start in a playoff game? Probably not.\u00a0 A learning culture that features appropriate training, mentorship, and project experience can turn around that kind of statistic within your organization. The value and the revenue that can be generated from your development plan is incredible. Make the most of it!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 4. Create truly personalized learning paths. <\/strong>Once you know what someone needs to do to be successful in their current position \u2026 once you know what they will need to do to move into the next <\/em>position that makes sense for them and for the organization \u2026 create a learning path that is unique to that individual. Never stop asking: what could we teach this person that would help them be more successful?<\/em> Be careful: learning paths cannot be company-wide. They may be job-specific, but we always need to assess what makes a given employee different from everyone else in the organization. Note, too, that it\u2019s vitally important that people co-create<\/em> their learning plan. Let them participate. Instead of telling people what they should be or could be getting from their development path, help them discover that for themselves through the questions you ask when you\u2019re one-on-one. That way the learning path they commit to will have more potency, and what they eventually learn will be far more likely to \u201cstick.\u201d Learning will be an important personal priority for them \u2013 not just another edict coming from the boss.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n