Learning Culture
I had Learning in my job title once. The remit was to bring a learning culture into the organisation.
I couldn't understand why it was so hard.
It felt like wading through something. People weren't disengaged. They weren't careless. They weren't hostile. Learning just was not a priority for them.
I tried different approaches. Different incentives. Different structures. Different ways of framing why it mattered.
And the pattern was always the same. The people who were already open to learning got something from it. The people who weren't, didn't move.
That was when I stopped asking what I was doing wrong. And started asking a different question.
The problem wasn't the programme
Most organisations approach learning culture with infrastructure. Training budgets. Coaching programmes. Development frameworks. These have value. But they don't create a learning culture. They create learning activity. The two are not the same.
And there was something else I had to name. The leaders weren't consistent in what they asked for. They weren't holding people accountable. Most importantly, they were not embodying learning themselves. Asking for something they had not committed to.
No programme survives that.
Which brought me to a harder question. Not about the team. About myself.
I have always been a seeker. Curious about why something is or was. I would dig and dig. For a long time I thought that was just how I was wired.
But when I understood myself better, I could see where it came from. My drive to learn started from fear. Not wanting to do things wrong. Not wanting to be caught out. Learning as self-protection.
Over time that changed. It became something I do for the joy of it. Something I actively fuel. The curiosity is still there but it sits differently now. It is not anxious. It is alive.
If you are asking people to do something you do not genuinely do yourself, they will feel it. The first honest question is not about your team. It is about you.
What I tried differently
The first thing I changed was how I recruited. I started embedding learning-related behaviour questions into interviews. Not asking whether someone valued development. Anyone can say yes to that.
Asking for evidence. What did you do when something didn't go the way you expected? When did you last change your mind about something significant? What are you working on understanding right now?
You can hear the difference between someone who values learning and someone who has never really thought about it. It is not subtle.
The second shift was how I connected learning to what people already cared about. Not as a tick-box exercise. Not because it was expected. But because I could see the link between their curiosity, or their ambition, or their desire to do the work well, and what becoming a better learner would actually give them.
Where that connection was real, something moved. Where it wasn't, I had to be honest about what that meant.
The uncomfortable question
Do you keep working with the people who resist? Do you bring them along?
Or do you hire for what you and the organisation actually want and need?
I don't think there is one answer. Both are real choices and both have real costs.
But most organisations avoid the question entirely. They invest in the programme, measure outputs, and call it a learning culture. Meanwhile, the people who were never going to change haven't changed. And everyone knows it.
Reflection Invitation
What is your own relationship with learning? Where did it come from and how has it changed? Are you learning from joy, from fear, or from obligation?
Are you modelling what you are asking your team to do? Not in what you say about learning, but in how you actually behave when something doesn't go to plan or when you don't know the answer?
Think about the people on your team who are most resistant to change. Have you ever explored what is underneath that? Is it a disposition, or is it something the organisation has taught them?
When you hire, what are you actually looking for that tells you someone values learning? Is it something you test for, or something you assume?
If you are honest with yourself, what would have to change in how you lead for a genuine learning culture to take root in your team?
Building a learning culture is not a project you complete. It is a question you keep asking yourself.
Starting with whether you are the kind of leader who could build it.
Reply to this email to share with me what you think about this, I'd love to hear where this lands for you.
With you,
Linda
Founder of Touching Distance
