Building a Learning

Environment
Newbuild & Design
 Objective
• To create/develop a workplace environment that:
– Embraces growth and development (personal,
professional, corporate)
– Identifies and acknowledges talents and
abilities
– Provides a visible path of growth opportunities
for staff and managers

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 In a Culture of Learning
• People are
– Proud of their abilities
– Constantly challenged
– Encouraged to take risks and make mistakes
– Committed to personal growth and
departmental standards of excellence

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 How do we get there?
• Mission
• Pyramid of Objectives
• Team Structures
• Roles and Responsibilities
• Performance Measurement

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 Mission
• Develop a clear Mission statement for the
department that is:
– developed by consensus/participation
– known and agreed to by everyone in the
department
– is clearly displayed, published, communicated

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 Pyramid of Objectives
• Identify objectives
– Departmental objectives that lead to corporate
objectives
– Team objectives that lead to departmental
objectives
– Individual objectives that lead to team
objectives

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 Structures and Roles
• Develop team structures
• Identify clear roles and responsibilities that
support team objectives

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 Reinforce Learning
• Provide an environment that allows practice of
new skills and knowledge
• Encourage risk taking
• Provide time for mistakes
• Provide opportunities to share new learning

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 Plan for Performance
• Identify gaps in skills and knowledge
• Plan to develop skills and knowledge
• Use assistive tools to support individual
development (courses, seminars, coaching)
• Review performance every 90 days
• Publish, encourage, promote, and reward
achievements

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 Celebrate Achievement
• Publish team accomplishments – newsletters
and Intranet
• Encourage participation
– in design, creativity, contests, competitions
• Provide creative lab spaces
– Blackboard, sandbox, etc
– Display wall for individual creative output –
photography, poetry, sketches, crafts
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 Lessons Learned
• Use experience and learning to inform the future
• Encourage sharing of new information,
knowledge and skills
• Develop a corporate memory of experience
(SQM)

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 Cultures:
• According to Ross Perot, who founded EDS Systems,
which was bought out by General Motors, the cultures
differed as follows –
‘At GM, if you saw a snake, the first thing you did,
Was hire a consultant on snakes. Then you’d form a
committee on snakes and discuss it for a couple of
years……at EDS the first guy to see a snake, kills
the snake.’

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 Values/Beliefs
Values/Assumptions/Beliefs – Espoused & Enacted
- the Values/Beliefs that the organization claims to follow
as contained in Mission Statements, Annual Reports,
slogans, etc

Enacted Values/Beliefs (Actualities) – those that can be

inferred from actual behavior – i.e., those values that
explain the organization's behavior
Espoused Values are EXPLICIT (those which are stated)
Enacted Values are those which are implicit (those which
are interpreted)

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 Cultures:

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 Culture – Defined……
• Levels of Culture – committed and engaged Observables:
What is seen, heard, done, ect….. i.e., ‘At Ritz Carlton, rooms are
‘custom prepared’ for repeat customers (every room service person has
a ‘no questions asked $2000.00 spending account – if they feel that any
aspect of the guests’ experience can be improved/bettered, they are
expected to do whatever, utilising the ‘credit’ resource or the other
resource available

Value s//Assumptions/Beliefs:
That which we believe is important & true, what we take
for granted……
Example: “…..the genuine care & comfort of our guests
is our highest mission….”

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