Boosting your learning agenda: ideas from organisational development experts

In May, organisations throughout the UK will be celebrating Learning at Work Week and the positive benefits of lifelong learning, co-ordinated by Campaign for Learning. Learning at Work Week may be an annual occurrence, but it’s clear that learning goes beyond this week of celebration alone. In fact, it’s a great platform to create an authentic and rewarding learning culture that thrives throughout the year.

A review of reviews conducted and published on Gov.uk showed that deliberate development initiatives within your organisation have the power to inspire your people and enable positive change that delivers real results, both in terms of team performance and for wellbeing at work too. And as the working landscape continues to become more competitive, where people are moving roles and organisations more often, a strong learning and development function is critical.

As organisational development specialists, we love to talk about culture, behaviours, challenges and opportunities. In that spirit, we’ve rounded up several ideas to help you plan ahead for Learning at Work Week (and beyond).

1. Plan interventions based on the behaviours and skills you want to see

Create a list of the behavioural skills you want your people to develop. Investigate how these fit around the future goals of your team or organisation, and then organise some targeted development sessions based around your list.

Topics could cover anything from decision-making autonomy, promoting innovative thinking, dealing with crisis situations, or handling difficult conversations. And fortunately, we're in the era of high technological capability, so the format of these interventions could range from short, cost-effective lunchtime webinars to longer, experiential, face-to-face workshops. Many organisational development consultancies, like us, will be flexible in delivering the kind of intervention you want without 'breaking the bank'.

2. Book an internal conference to champion learning

Reserve and design a day that enables different departments to share their knowledge with each other. This may be done virtually, face-to-face, or using panel sessions to spark debate and get people talking.

Team cohesion and interdepartmental interaction can help spark debate and grow collective knowledge. Cross-functional collaboration is a strong predictor of increased innovation, better decision-making, and organisational performance, too. This peer-to-peer learning breaks down barriers, illuminating a powerful way to generate ideas for the future and introduce positive cultural change.

3. Host a panel to motivate your leaders of the future

Encourage your senior team to interact with your more junior people on a personal level. Host a panel session and plan an agenda to discuss future topics, which might include AI, multi-generational workforces, or innovation, so your junior team can contribute fresh ideas which may well influence the course of the future for your organisation.

To add sustainability to your business, it's important to invest in your future leaders. Inspiring new hires, graduates, or potential leaders of the future by having deliberate communications between senior and junior employees is a great place to start. Remember that newcomers can be mentors as well as leaders, as they provide fresh views on old topics and bring new skillsets to the organisation.

4. Book a motivational speaker

Book a face-to-face motivational speaker on an important, relevant, and timely subject, such as mental health or resilience.

In a world of constant change, we’re all experiencing more underlying stress. Hearing from speakers who have been through intense change or overcome adversity can be hugely empowering.

5. Run an internal survey for ideas on learning culture

Run an internal survey ahead of time to find out what your team want to learn about. When people feel involved in their learning, and feel a greater sense of ownership over the organisation's learning agenda, they engage more with learning programmes.

There's another advantage: you may uncover learning topics you hadn’t originally identified. Ask your HR leaders for innovative ways to benchmark learning goals too.

6. Focus time on developing leaders

Organise a two-day event where your leaders can grow together.

Leaders who continuously grow their behavioural skillsets and engage with their people by working with them are more likely to drive positive cultural change through the business. The criteria for good leadership are different today than they were 20 years ago, so it's imperative for leaders to continually refresh, adapt and evolve. Consider having a discussion about your current leadership competency frameworks, and identify what the next critical competencies for the future may be.

7. Announce positive change for the future

Gather everyone together for positive announcements. Use this platform as a means to introduce new learning and development ambitions, inspire people, and/or reinforce engagement with existing learning and development initiatives.

An announcement, tethered to Learning at Work Week, may provide a timely platform on which to launch new people-centric initiatives and to share the future goals of the organisation.

Sustaining learning

Learning at Work Week provides us with a reminder to recognise and discover skillsets within our people and introduce positive change in our organisation. By embracing continuous learning within your organisation, you can create a more successful future for your company and your people.

If you're still exploring ideas for Learning at Work Week, visit our Learning at Work Week page to browse our free, 30-minute webinars - this may be the solution you're looking for!