Impact of Your Company's "Learning" Culture on Training from Professor Mary Donato

This week I'm in Chicago with a group of 18 sales consultants from a big name consulting firm who have gathered together to hone their skills around understanding customer needs. What stands out to me is that this is a seasoned group of professionals who might have easily said, “Sales Training? I don't need no stinkin' sales training.” However, all of the sales consultants, some with 20-plus years of experience, are eager to learning.

Several months ago, I had the opposite experience with another company whose sales consultants didn't want to come to the course. They felt they knew everything there was, and felt “forced” to attend by their manager.

What is the difference between these two organizations? From my view, their different company “culture.” The first company believes that it is a learning organization: You can never be too old, too seasoned, or too successful to not pick up new ideas and to share what you know there. And they support this type of thinking by encouraging their employees to spend at least 40 hours a year in some type of skills-based training environment. Sales managers receive training on how to coach their team members to help reinforce their learning.

The second company, on the other hand, doesn't have the same passion for learning. Skills development is viewed more as a “training event” that you have to mark off on your checklist. The participants in the course come back to “real life” and fall into the same old routine with very little support and coaching on the new skills.

Skills development and training can be a significant investment for any business. However, if you're going to invest in your people, help build a culture that will help sustain the new learning and reinforce the good habits that they are forming.

It's no great mystery which company is experiencing 12 percent year-over-year revenue growth and which is getting 2 percent.

Comments

[Mary Donato]

I agree completely with Don's comment on learning organizations having a competitive edge. I would also add that organizations supporting a learning culture hire and develop people that embrace new thinking.

[Don Antonucci]

I'm fortunate to work for an organization with a culture that truly embraces learning and self-development. Organizations (and individuals) that have a strong learning culuture will likely have a significant competitive edge over those that do not.