Creating Organizational Learning #1

I’ve been keeping my eye out for examples of Organizational Learning, successes and problems.  I recently came across 2 fascinating examples:

1.  Working with a client group last month:

A group of staff,  leaders in the pipeline, were encouraged to develop a strategy for their own on-the-job leadership development,  ways that they could learn from, and share new skills, with one another;  on-the-job learning is even written into their job description.  They are supposed to have x% of their work time devoted to learning.  Problem was, no-one was protecting that time; neither HR nor, in many cases, the supervisor, unless s/he thought it was important.  So the intention is there, but not the follow-through.  My job as a consultant was to point out this structural problem to them, and to boost their own suggestion that they raise this to senior management.  It’s not worth staff time and energy to invite employees to brainstorm ways that they can learn on the job if management can’t back that up with time to implement or structural  support.   How to keep employees engaged?  Give them the support they need to implementing ongoing learning.