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CHAPTER 26

CHAPTER 26 ■ CONTINUOUS LEARNING

CONTINUOUS LEARNING
CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. What is a Learning Organisation?

3. The Learning Cycle

4. Levels of Learning

5. Characteristics of a Learning Organisation

6. Kaizen

7. Further Resources

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1 INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER 26 ■ CONTINUOUS LEARNING

The animal protection environment is a fast-changing one, where we are faced with
a complex range of problems and opportunities. Because our opponents are better
resourced in many ways, it is vital that we continue to make the most of our most
valuable asset – our staff. Continuous learning and Kaizen are ways of achieving
this. Both of these concepts are elaborated upon in the sections that follow.

2 WHAT IS A LEARNING ORGANISATION?

A Learning Organisation is an organisation that learns and encourages learning among its people.
It promotes exchange of information between employees, thereby creating a more knowledgeable
workforce. This produces a very flexible organisation where people will accept and adapt to new
ideas and changes through a shared vision.

“A LEARNING ORGANISATION IS ONE IN WHICH PEOPLE AT ALL LEVELS,

INDIVIDUALS AND COLLECTIVELY, ARE CONTINUALLY INCREASING THEIR
CAPACITY TO PRODUCE RESULTS THEY REALLY CARE ABOUT.” ~ Senge

A Learning Organisation establishes procedures to:

• Apply techniques to measure the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures
• Identity areas for improvement within the organisation
• Set organisational policies and approaches to all aspects of management
• Implement techniques to improve organisational effectiveness.

The importance of learning was first put forward by the Chinese philosopher Confucius
(551-479 BC). He believed that everyone should benefit from learning:

“WITHOUT LEARNING, THE WISE BECOME FOOLISH; BY LEARNING, THE

FOOLISH BECOME WISE.”

“LEARN AS IF YOU COULD NEVER HAVE ENOUGH OF LEARNING, AS IF

YOU MIGHT MISS SOMETHING.”

The growing emphasis on organisational learning can be attributed to the increased pace of change
in the workplace. Classically, work has been thought of as being conservative and difficult to
change. Now, there is such a fast-changing environment that business as usual is no longer an
option. With the pace of change ever quickening, the need to develop mechanisms for continuous
learning and innovation is greater than ever.

3 THE LEARNING CYCLE

Evaluation is necessary for an organisation to learn from its mistakes and also to appreciate its
successes. Discussion and contribution in a team framework is vital, followed by assessment and
planning. Each team member should be encouraged to assess his or her own performance. This
requires continuous feedback and assessment, which is commonly depicted using the Learning

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Cycle model below:

CHAPTER 26 ■ CONTINUOUS LEARNING

rry ing out a campaig
Ca n

te p

Eva the campaign ng

the next s

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or project

or
nning
Pla

Mak ns
ing clusio
abou con s or
new t change ded
actions nee

Animal protection organisations can be very poor at evaluation, dashing from campaign to
campaign, or project to project. This may give the feeling of constant activity, but it completely
misses the important chance to learn and improve upon experiences.

An organisation that learns and wants its people to learn, should try to follow certain concepts
in learning techniques and mould itself to accommodate for a number of specific attributes.
These include:
• Thrive on Change
• Encourage Experimentation
• Communicate Success and Failure
• Facilitate Learning from the Surrounding Environment
• Facilitate Learning from Employees
• Reward Learning
• A Sense of Caring and Mutual Support.

If the changeover to a Learning Organisation happened overnight, the environment around

the workers would be complex and dynamic. This would cause fear, uncertainty and confusion,
which would hamper learning and openness to change. So it can only be introduced into a company
that is prepared to reach a balance between change and stability, – a balance between the old
and the new.

LEVELS OF LEARNING 4
A Learning Organisation is not simply about more training. While training does help develop certain
types of skills, a Learning Organisation involves the development of higher levels of knowledge and
skills. This includes four levels of learning:
1. Learning facts, knowledge, processes and procedures. This applies to known situations where
changes are minor.
2. Learning new job skills that are transferable to other situations. This applies to new situations
where existing responses need to be changed. Bringing in outside expertise is a useful tool here.

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3. Learning to adapt. This applies to more dynamic situations where the solutions need
developing. Experimentation and deriving lessons from success and failure is important here.
4. Learning to learn. This is about innovation and creativity – designing the future rather than
CHAPTER 26 ■ CONTINUOUS LEARNING

merely adapting to it. This is where assumptions are challenged and knowledge is reframed.

This model (or an adaptation of it) can be applied at three levels – to the learning of individuals,
of teams and of organisations.

5 CHARACTERISTICS OF A LEARNING ORGANISATION

Some of the key characteristics of a Learning Organisation include:

A Learning Culture : an organisational climate that nurtures learning.

• Future, external orientation – these organisations develop an understanding of their environment;
senior teams take time out to think about the future. External sources and advisors (such as
consultants) are widely used
• Free exchange and flow of information – systems are in place to ensure that expertise is
available where it is needed; individuals network extensively, crossing organisational boundaries
to develop their knowledge and expertise.
• Commitment to learning, personal development – support from top management; people
at all levels are encouraged to learn and learning is rewarded
• Valuing people – ideas and creativity are stimulated, made use of and developed. Diversity
is recognised as a strength. Views can be challenged
• Climate of openness and trust – individuals are encouraged to develop ideas, to speak out,
to challenge actions
• Learning from experience – learning from mistakes is often more powerful than learning from
success. Failure is tolerated, provided lessons are learnt.

Key Management Processes are in place to encourage interaction across boundaries.

These are infrastructure, development and management processes, for example:
• Strategic and Scenario Planning – approaches to planning that go beyond the numbers,
encourage challenging assumptions, thinking ‘outside of the box’. They also allocate
a proportion of resources for new challenges
• Competitor Analysis – as part of a process of continuous monitoring and analysis
of all key factors in the external environment, including political factors
• Information and Knowledge Management – using techniques to identify, audit, value
(cost/benefit), develop and exploit information as a resource
• Capability Planning – profiling both qualitatively and quantitatively the competencies
of the organisation
• Team and Organisation Development – the use of facilitators to help groups with work,
job and organisation design and team development – reinforcing values, developing vision,
cohesiveness and a climate of stretching goals, sharing and support
• Reward and Recognition Systems – processes and systems that recognise acquisition of new
skills, team work as well as individual effort, celebrate successes and accomplishments and
encourage continuous personal development.

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KAIZEN 6

CHAPTER 26 ■ CONTINUOUS LEARNING

Another very similar concept to a Learning Organisation is Kaizen.

KAIZEN IS A KEY JAPANESE MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY THAT MEANS

IMPROVEMENT.

Kaizen strategy calls for never-ending efforts for improvement involving everyone in the
organisation – managers and workers alike.

In practice, Kaizen can be implemented in organisations by improving every aspect of the work
process in a step-by-step approach, while gradually developing employee skills through training,
education and increased involvement.

The principles of Kaizen implementation are:

• Human resources are the most important company asset.
• Processes must evolve by gradual improvement rather than radical changes.
• Improvement must be based on statistical or quantitative evaluation of performance
(quite difficult to apply in the animal protection environment).

Support throughout the entire structure is necessary to become successful at developing a strong
Kaizen approach. Management as well as workers need to believe in the Kaizen idea and strive
toward obtaining the small goals in order to reach overall success. Therefore, all members of an
organisation need to be trained in a manner to support this. Resources, measurements, rewards
and incentives all need to be aligned to and working with the Kaizen structure of ideas.

Improvement can be broken down between innovation and Kaizen. Innovation involves a
drastic improvement in the existing process and requires large investments. Kaizen signifies
small improvements as a result of coordinated continuous efforts by all employees.

The Kaizen mindset

• Not a day should go by without some kind of improvement being made somewhere in the
company.
• Mission-driven strategy for improvement – any management activity should eventually lead
to increased mission achievement.
• Quality first: professionalism and quality as goals.
• Recognition that any organisation has problems and establishing culture where everyone
can freely admit these problems and suggest improvement.
• Problem solving is seen as cross-functional systemic and collaborative approach.
• Emphasis on process – establishing a way of thinking oriented at improving processes and
a management system that supports and acknowledges people’s process-oriented efforts
for improvement.
• A positive, win-win attitude, not a blame culture.

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7 FURTHER RESOURCES
CHAPTER 26 ■ CONTINUOUS LEARNING

Websites
Continuous Improvement
www.managementhelp.org/quality/cont_imp/cont_imp.htm

Kaizen
www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/mgmt_kaizen_main.html

Kaizen Institute
www.kaizen-institute.com

Learning Organisations
www.see.ed.ac.uk/~gerard/MENG/MEAB/lo_index.html

The Learning Organisation

www.skyrme.com/insights/3lrnorg.htm

Books
50 Ways Towards a Learning Organisation
Andrew Forrest
Publisher: Spiro Press
ISBN: 1858355990

The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the Learning Organisation
Peter M. Senge
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday
ISBN: 0385260954

The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement

Eliyahu M. Goldratt, Jeff Cox
Publisher: North River Press
ISBN: 0884271781

The Kaizen Blitz

Anthony C. Laraia
Publisher: John Wiley
ISBN: 0471246484

Kaizen and You: Personal Success Through Continuous Improvement

Igor Popovich
Publisher: Management Books 2000
ISBN: 1852522615

Kick Down the Door of Complacency:

Seize the Power of Continuous Improvement
Charles C. Harwood
Publisher: St Lucie Press
ISBN: 157444168X
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Office Kaizen: Transforming Office Operations into a Strategic Competitive Advantage
William Lareau
Publisher: American Society for Quality

CHAPTER 26 ■ CONTINUOUS LEARNING

ISBN: 0873895568

Ten Steps to a Learning Organisation

Peter Kline, Bernhard Saunders
Publisher: Great Ocean Publishers
ISBN: 0915556324

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