The research report was commissioned by the CIPD and produced by Jake Reynolds of the Cambridge Programme for Industry (CPI). The report considers how learning can be supported, accelerated and directed towards an organisation's strategic needs.
In the report the CPI researchers argue that the capacity to adapt is the greatest gift of learning. It allows the learner and the organisation to remain agile in the face of uncertain future conditions, whereas other outcomes of learning, like new knowledge and skills, tend to have specific applications and a shorter shelf life.
The challenge for HRD professionals, therefore, is to move from a strategy based upon delivery of training, to one based upon support for learning. Training is characterised as an instructor-led, content-based intervention, leading to desired changes in behaviour, and learning as a self-directed, work-based process, leading to increased adaptive capacity.
Using the above terminology, the shift from training to learning may be characterised as the progressive movement from the delivery of content to the development of learning capabilities as a people development strategy.
Many factors are influential in making this shift, ranging from broad features like the vision and values of the organisation, to specific features like the degree of support for learning provided by managers. Critically learning can be cultivated by management practices that raise commitment among employees, creating what might be described as an organisational 'growth medium'. The logic of the growth medium is simple: in the right climate, employees will commit to learning.
Following a review of the literature, the CPI researchers identified three conditions that organisations need to meet in order to build a growth medium. First, create a sense of purpose in the workplace; secondly, give employees the opportunity to act upon their commitment; and thirdly, provide employees with a supportive learning environment.
Because so much learning occurs directly through work, managers should aim to include these responsibilities within their normal repertoire of behaviours, rather than view them as separate learning activities. For that reason, they may be viewed as leadership practices that promote learning, rather than learning practices that enhance specific knowledge and skills.
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