Learning Organization Profile

This 25-question survey is used to determine if your company is on the correct path for becoming a Learning Organization.

Instructions: Below is a list of statements. Read each one carefully, and then decide the extent to which it actually applies to your organization by using the scale below:

Be honest with your answers as the goal is to identify where your organization is presently at so that you can make improvements.

Learning Dynamics: Individual, Group or Team, and Organization

  1. _______ We are encouraged and expected to manage our own learning and development.

     

  2. _______ People avoid distorting information and blocking communication channels, using such skills as active listening and effective feedback.

     

  3. _______ Individuals are trained and coached in learning how to learn.

     

  4. _______ Teams and individuals use the action learning process. (That is, they learn from careful reflection on problem situations, and then apply their new knowledge to future actions.)

     

  5. _______ People are able to think and act with a comprehensive, systems approach.

 

Organization Transformation: Vision, Culture, Strategy, and Structure

  1. _______ Top-level managers support the vision of a learning organization.

     

  2. _______ There is a climate that supports and recognizes the importance of learning.

     

  3. _______ We learn from failures as well as successes.

     

  4. _______ Learning opportunities are incorporated into operations and programs.

     

  5. _______ The organization is streamlined--with few management levels--to maximize communication and learning across all levels.

 

People Empowerment: Employee, Manager, Customer, and Community

  1. _______ We strive to develop an empowered workforce able to learn and perform.

     

  2. _______ Authority is decentralized and delegated.

     

  3. _______ Managers take on the roles of coaching, mentoring, and facilitating learning.

     

  4. _______ We actively share information with our customers to obtain their ideas to learn and improve services and products.

     

  5. _______ We participate in joint learning events with supplies, community groups, professional associations, and academic institutions.

 

Knowledge Management: Acquisition, Creation, Storage and Retrieval, and Transfer and Use

  1. _______ People monitor trends outside our organization by looking at what others do--for example, by benchmarking best practices, attending conferences, and examining published research.

     

  2. _______ People are trained in the skills of creative thinking and experimentation.

     

  3. _______ We often create demonstration projects to test new ways of developing a product or delivering a service.

     

  4. _______ Systems and structures exist to ensure that important knowledge is coded, stored, and made available to those who need and can use it.

     

  5. _______ We continue to develop new strategies and mechanisms for sharing learning throughout the organization.

 

Technology Application: Information Systems, Technology-Based Learning, and EPSS (Electronic Performance Support Systems)

  1. _______ Effective and efficient computer-based information systems help our organizational learning.

     

  2. _______ People have ready access to the information superhighway--for example, through local area networks, the Internet, ASTD Online, and so on.

     

  3. _______ Learning facilities such as training and conference rooms incorporate electronic multimedia support.

     

  4. _______ We support just-in-time learning with a system that integrates high-technology learning systems, coaching, and actual work into a seamless process.

     

  5. _______ Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) enable us to learn and do our work better.

 

_______ Total (Maximum Score 100)

 

Scoring

81 - 100: Congratulations! You are well on your way to becoming a learning organization!

61 - 80: Keep on moving! Your organization has a solid learning foundation.

40 - 60: A good beginning. Your organization has gathered some important building blocks to become a learning organization.

Below 40: Watch out! Time to make drastic changes if you want to survive in a rapidly changing world.

Next steps

This activity is based on The Learning Organization chapter

Return to the Leadership Training and Development Outline