Historically, learning has been the remit of a relative few. Whether this someone in an L&D position or HR, they were the only person who drove something on a company-wide basis. However, times are changing; nowadays, the power that a learning culture is something that companies are becoming increasingly open to. Whilst this change is happening, it is doing so at a relatively slow pace.
Organisations need to build up those vital internal strategic partnerships between their leaders and managers in order to help boost this learning culture.
The learning culture
Far too many managers still do not truly see the value that a learning culture can have for the members of their team and the goals that they may have in place for any project that they are working on. The truth is that those companies that are considered to be on top of this get the best performing employees, and those employees receive the training that they need. In the worst performing companies, there is often a significant lack of training.
It is essential for leaders and project managers to collaborate in order to ensure that they are working towards the same goals. After all, what is project management if it isn’t a comprehensive collaboration between leaders, managers and, of course, a team all working towards the same end goal?
Embed learning into your OKRs
When a target is set out in your OKRs then it is more likely that you will strive to achieve it. Plus, it will have an impact on your business that is more measurable. This is why it is important to make learning a part of the OKRs that your managers undertake.
Every manager should be encouraged to do this. It not only sends a very clear message that learning is something that the entire company focuses on but that, at the same time, managers are held accountable for the results of their teams. When goals are set in this way, managers need to learn to integrate learning into their teams and also track its progress.
Create learning strategists from managers
It isn’t difficult to see why so many managers might choose to ignore the idea of learning when they feel that it has no real connection to the strategic objectives of a company. If you want to correct this, then both leaders and managers need to learn to work together effectively and from the very beginning of a project. They need to consider what the goals are and what it might be that is stopping them from achieving these goals. Once they have worked this out, they can consider how learning can actually help.
No matter what goals are being worked towards, when managers are involved in the strategies for training from the very beginning, it increases the commitment that they have and can also improve the impact that they have on business.
Training for project managers can help to improve the skills that are needed to improve the relationship between leaders and managers within any project team.
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