HR Pulse

Effective learning approach can catalyse organisational change

With top-down support and an enabling environment, learning can catalyse organisational change, says Digital Skills Academy. Organisational change is positive and necessary much of the time; and mature and agile organisations are able to drive change rhythmically and proactively to stay competitive. When approached in the right way, learning can be a catalyst for this positive change.

This is according to Antonio Palacios, Learning Experience Manager at the international Digital Skills Academy, who believes: “every organisation should have change in their DNA. An organisation capable of change is prepared for the unexpected, and is able to adapt with a changing market.”

He notes, however, that change should not be approached haphazardly or too frequently. “Unpredictable or unnecessary change can create a baseline level of anxiety that can be detrimental to overall performance,” he says. When change is necessary, a number of factors contribute to driving it successfully, says Palacios. “Some Human Performance Improvement models define six main levers for bringing about organisational change.

These include environmental factors such as messaging and expectations, tools and resources and motivation; as well as individual factors such as internal motivation, capability and skills and learning. While learning may be just one of the factors, we see evidence that when learning is approached in the right way, it can prove to be the most effective catalyst for change.”

Palacios says approaches taken by ICT giants such as Microsoft and Google are good examples of learning as a catalyst for change. “I was employed by Microsoft in Ireland some years ago, when the company was reviewing its approach to its products pre-Office 2010. The company instilled the necessary sense of urgency, and clearly defined the changed tools and expectations. But probably the most important move was a workshop attended first by the executives, then by their entire teams. After this workshop, you could immediately see change taking place. Supporting this, efforts were made to highlight the “small wins” (described by Kotters’ ‘Leading Change’) throughout the company; which quickly proliferated and became bigger wins. The change became significant.”

Palacios says another supporting factor in the successful organisational change driven by Microsoft at that stage was its empowerment of ‘evangelists’ within the company: “Evangelists in this case are members of staff who are passionate about the new direction or new technology. Given a platform such as workshops or a blog, they will enthuse about the change and help shape company culture in support of the change.”

There is ample evidence that this approach to learning, whereby there is strong top-down buy-in; an environment that supports the learning, and evangelists to carry the message forward, can successfully drive organisational change, he says. “Digital Skills Academy offers high level training backed by international and comprehensive digital skills transfer that helps drive organisational change and create new evangelists within the organisation. The programme can be transformational; and if it is orchestrated along with other company change initiatives, it can be a powerful catalyst for change and growth,” he says.