Learning organisations

What is a learning organisation?

According to Peter Senge - considered by most to be the 'father' of organisational learning - learning organisations are: "organisations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning to see the whole together."

What distinguishes learning organisations from more traditional ones is the mastery of certain basic disciplines, of which Peter Senge identifies five:

• systems thinking: getting the bigger picture;
• personal mastery: doing the job well;
• mental models: critically questioning old assumptions;
• shared vision: arriving at a collective purpose;
• team learning: working together collaboratively.

Creating a vision

The next step is to create a vision of what your new learning organisation will look like in terms of learning to work towards that vision. Finally, your vision and strategies need to be integrated into all the organisation’s systems.

Why is learning important?

One of the most important reasons for organisations to invest in organisational learning is to develop organisational capacity, which helps to:

• increase the organisation’s effectiveness and efficiency;
• maintain levels of innovation and competitiveness;
• increase the pace of change within the organisation;
• improve corporate image by becoming more people oriented.

A complex process

Recent thinking emphasizes the complex, uncertain and unpredictable nature of (economic) development. This understanding of the nature of development creates new demands on organisations and staff: the need to understand and work within complex systems, the need for flexibility, adaptability and innovation. Organisational learning is widely recognized as an essential requirement to enable organisations to react adequately to this changing landscape.

Individual learning is key to organisational learning

There are many conceptual models for understanding and operating organisational learning. For more information you can download our suggested reading list below. Although there are different ways to learn, the core concept remains clear: organisations can only learn through learning individuals. Individual learning does not guarantee organisational learning, but without it no organisational learning occurs.

Download our suggested reading list on learning organisations(191.2 kB)

The right conditions

In order to contribute to organisational learning, staff need more than just a motive for learning. They also need the means. The conditions for organisational learning include:

• ensuring conceptual clarity;
• supporting the necessary competences to learn;
• providing a range of methods and tools that can be used;
• providing specialist support;
• investing adequate financial resources.

Learning within NICHE

The aim of Nuffic is to facilitate learning within the NICHE programme and to provide tools to project partners who want to work on organisational learning. In Nuffic’s view, ‘being a learning organisation’ contributes to capacity development.

Specific learning incentives

Among NICHE stakeholders (i.e. Nuffic, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Embassies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, consultants, and requesting and implementing organisations) learning will be stimulated by: 

• reflecting on previous experiences (i.e. through NPT) and other donor support (collaborative programmes) by elaborating achievements and lessons learned;
• developing a learning organisation vision and strategy (learning how to learn);
• using a systematic procedure for regular project monitoring and evaluation;
• developing training paths for project staff to improve their capacity;
• stimulating an innovative approach in terms of proposed solutions, inputs and appropriate technologies;
• planning reflection sessions to address successes and failures in projects and to identify and act on lessons learned;
• planning reflection workshops with other NICHE projects to share experiences, learn from each other, identify and act on lessons learned;
• planning reflection meetings on the implementation of NICHE programme by all partners involved to draw lessons and to develop and adapt programme formats, tools and procedures based on this experience.

More information

Visit the website of the Society for Organizational Learning