KM and Learning
Is KM linked with your learning strategy?
The purpose of
training and development in organisations is to enhance performance - initially
of individuals but ultimately of the organisation itself. There is currently
much debate within the HR community on the ROI of training and substantial
efforts are being made to link spending on training with improvements in
performance (if I send my staff on a project management course will they be
able to complete projects more quickly and therefore improve the overall performance
of the organisation). But is training the best way to improve people’s
performance? Probably not, at least not by attending formal training courses.
People’s performance improves due to a rich mix of learning interactions – not
least of which is the ability of people to learn from each other – or putting
it another way to share knowledge about how to improve the way things are done.
In this context there is a direct link between knowledge sharing and learning.
A recent study by CapitalWorks (a US human capital consultancy)
surveyed hundreds of knowledge workers and asked them to attribute knowledge
sources relative to knowledge actually required to do their jobs. 75% of the
sources were informal, while only 25% were formal. Despite this 75% of the
investments made in learning were on formal training programmes and only 25% on
informal learning activities. The conclusion was that most organisations could
dramatically improve the ROI on learning by shifting investments from formal to
informal learning. What does informal learning look like – well it will
probably look different in different organisations but explicitly linking
knowledge and learning strategies is one sure way to begin to improve the
performance of your people and your organisation. Knowledge management, learning
management, performance management – they all point towards the same ultimate
goal.
