Developing a Learning Culture in Public Administrations

1
Developing a Learning Culture in Public
Administrations

• EAS
• 7 March 2008

2
Structure

• Commission Case Study
• What we understand by a learning culture
• Progress to date
• A request for help

3
The Commission an HR Overview

• 30,000 2/3 officials 1/3 short contracts
• 27 nationalities 22 languages
• 40 DGs Services
• Multi-sites (Brussels, Luxembourg, Ispra, over
  160 delegations and representations world-wide)
• Hierarchical structure
• Director-Generals (40)
• Directors (220)
• Heads of Unit (1300)
• Officials have a job for life (35 years)

4
Staff are Knowledge workers

• More than 60 of staff have an university degree
• Most functions and work deal with information and
  human relationships
• Complex work environment
• Cultural ambiguities liked and ignored by most
  colleagues

5
Strategic challenges
European Commission
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Managing our training

• Budget 2008 22.5m
• 50 Central
• 40 DGs 40 training managers
• Outsourced - external contractors

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Managing our training

• Implementing Rules 1994
• Reform 2000
• Training Policy 2002
• Annual Learning Development Framework
• Progress ), but...

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Progress - quantity

• 2001 - 1 day per person
• 2007 7.7 days (peak 2005 8.7 days)
• 98 of staff in at least one training event
• We are training...but are staff/the organisation
  learning and developing?

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Central TrainingProgress 2000-2007

• 2000
• 87 titles
• 333 courses
• 12,352 p days

• 2007
• 400 titles
• 2,139 courses
• 45,299 p days

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Our challenges

• 2002 policy ... developing a learnjng
  culture...and being a learning organisation
• Moving from training to learning
• Developing the individual and the organisation
• Learning how to learn
• Valuing and rewarding learning

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L D Challenges1

• Induction Integration
• Leadership and Management
• Knowledge Sharing
• Communication
• Language Training
• Organisational Development
• Professionalisation

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L D Challenges2

• Course factory volume of training
• Absence rates in courses
• Attracting and involving managers
• Identifying needs
• Getting out of the classroom
• Learning transfer
• Identifying the impact
• Servicing distant locations
• Relying on external contractors

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What is the difference between training and
learning?

• Learning...is the process by which new knowledge,
  skills and capabilities are constructed.
• Training... Is one of several responses that can
  be undertaken to promote learning.

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What do we mean by a learning culture?

• Learning not just for the individual but for the
  team and for the organisation
• Learning from everyday work
• Making information and knowledge available to
  everyone
• Creating a climate where staff share their
  learning

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Why aim for a learning culture?

• Keeping up with the pace of change
• Stakeholder demands
• Knowledge sharing and retention
• Staff turnover
• Staff expectations
• Doing more with the same/less
• Get away from the past
• We must develop new knowledge and skills
• We must be good at learning

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Why aim for a learning culture?

• The majority of learning takes place in the
  workplace
• Much wisdom and the answers to most of our
  challenges already exists in the organisation
• Need to identify, share and manage learning

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What this means for the Learning and Development
Unit...

• Closer to our customers
• Client managers
• Help desk service
• Internal consultancy
• Using technology to offer and share learning
• Less reliance on external experts/trainers

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Consultancy Organisational development Coaching
and Mentoring Learning in teams
Central Training Courses

• 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
  2010 2011 2012

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What this means for local training managers...

• Better identification of real need
• Use of customer and staff feedback
• More creativity in the use of resources
• Synergies between services
• Making the most of networks and communities

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What this means for line managers...

• Commitment from the top
• Identifying needs
• Providing coaching to staff
• Building learning into everyday work
• Encouraging innovation and knowledge-sharing
• Identifying and sharing learning from successes
  and failures
• Rewarding learning

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Key Commission issues

• De-criminalising learning
• Breaking the mould
• Communities of Practice are the building blocks
  of a learning culture
• Using our own people

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Questions for discussion...

• What are you doing (or what could you do) to
• Encourage the shift from training to learning?
• Develop and maintain a learning culture?

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3 key activities...

• Managers being trained to coach staff
• Emphasis on competency frameworks
• Modular training (shorter, sharper courses/events)

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Potential barriers

• Preoccupied with fire-fighting
• Not creating time to think strategically
• Too focused on procedures
• Reluctance to train other than fro immediate need
• Overtight supervision
• Top-down driven