Is Your Organization a Learning Organization?

As we focus on the habit of being a learner this month, it is a great time to also take a step back and look at our organization to see if it is a learning one as well. Elena Aguilar defines a learning organization most simply as an organization in which everyone is learning – the teachers, the principal, the kids, and so on. Individual teachers reach high levels of functioning when they work in extraordinary learning organizations. Schools thrive when they are run as learning organizations.

This video A Learning Organization breaks it down even more as it shares the six characters that most learning organizations share:

1. They cherish an open culture.
2. They design and implement feedback loops.
3. They promote personal mastery.
4. They plan for intelligent fast failure.
5. They steal best practices.
6. They cultivate a common vision.

Elena Aguilar’s Art of Coaching Teams shares an extensive list of indicators of a learning organization. Are you a school leader? It is your job to create a true learning organization. What systems are in place to foster growth and learning? This is hard work, but it is also where you will make the greatest impact on what happens in schools and to children.