Organizational Learning Communities - by Andy Lancaster

About the Book

Understand how to build and foster learning communities in your organization to drive individual employee and overall business performance.

Book Synopsis

Learning communities transform organizations through sharing knowledge, spearheading practice, solving problems, seeding innovation and supercharging development. So how can you develop a culture of learning in your organization?

Organizational Learning Communities answers this question and explains how and why this approach can improve individual employee performance and drive overall business results. Written by a leading voice in the learning profession, this book contains everything that Learning and Development (L&D) practitioners need to know to successfully embed learning communities in their organizations. Following the 7Cs model of Cause, Culture, Conditions, Cadence, Content, Contributions and Credit, the book establishes the key factors that underpin thriving learning communities as well as the benefits of social and collaborative learning in the company.

This practical guide establishes strategies to drive community impact and report success to stakeholders, drawing widely on evidence-based research and real-world examples. Each chapter ends with reflective questions to support transfer to the reader's context. This is essential reading for those involved in facilitating learning communities, or planning on pioneering one, to empower their organization's productivity and performance.

Review Quotes

"Organizational Learning Communities is a stunning book! The format is brilliant: a cross between a Haynes manual and an Eyewitness Travel Guide on how to build and run learning communities. Each chapter is self-contained starting with a "Key thought" to get you thinking and ending with "Reflection and action". The use of case studies and examples helps you understand, apply and retain the information. The book is supported by different media, by linking out to a website or scanning a QR code, you can access downloadable resources, checklists and tables relating to the content. It is written to help you learn and is such a valuable resource for anybody building learning communities."-- "Martin Baker, CEO, The Charity Learning Consortium"

"Organizational Learning Communities is a fantastic handbook for anybody who wants to think systematically and professionally about learning communities, and their role in organizations big and small. It covers the theoretical background but also has a strong practical focus. It forces you to think about choices you might not even have realised you were making - from cultural issues to digital platforms, from community facilitation to learner reward. I hugely recommend it!"-- "Jonathan Marshall, Head of Skills Strategy (Government Skills), Curriculum Team, Government Skills and Curriculum Unit"

"Business books about learning often fail to inspire you enough to make a change! Not so with Organizational Learning Communities which is inspirational and helpful in shaping healthy socialized learning environments. Implementing change is challenging; often there's a thirst to read about the 'how, ' not the 'what' and the 'why'. In every chapter, Andy Lancaster draws on powerful change principles and provokes the reader to answer the critical questions: 'So what?' and 'Now what?' The structure is excellent and the content memorable and full of valuable tips, challenges and actions. Reading the book has been inspirational and it's highly recommended for those leading a learning culture to support organizational capability."-- "Julia Stanton-Powell, Head of Learning Design, International Academy at the UK's Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office"

"Ever wondered the difference between collective and collaborative learning or virtual versus the metaverse for hosting your community experience? Organizational Learning Communities explores these and more, through a pragmatic, accessible 'dip into chapters' approach. It supports the reader to think through building learning communities at every juncture, from their establishment, to fostering active engagement, inclusivity and accessibility, to addressing passivity and knowing when a group has reached its shelf life. It's packed full of all the learning concepts and considerations you could imagine for today's workplaces, punctuated by theory and examples. In an era where organizations are increasingly competing for skills and retaining knowledge capital within hybrid workplaces, this is a timely book for any people practitioner."-- "Jane Hapgood, Professions and Talent Programmes Lead, Financial Services"

"The thing I love about Organizational Learning Communities is how incredibly simple and practical the advice is, whilst being grounded in significant evidence-based research. I particularly found the "So what? Now what?" sections at the end of every chapter helpful, gently nudging you as the reader to reflect and act before moving forward. Social learning is a big focus area for me, I couldn't have asked for a better toolkit than this book. It's like having a personal mentor walking with you as you navigate the maze of social learning with others in your organization and is definitely worth purchasing."-- "Sonali Narendran, Talent and Learning Partner, Starbucks EMEA"

About the Author

Andy Lancaster is Chief Learning Officer at Reimagine People Development consultancy, specializing in supporting, coaching and mentoring learning leaders and teams to create impactful development strategies and solutions, transform learning cultures and empower socialized learning communities. The former Head of Learning at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), Andy is a trusted thinker, commentator and inspiring speaker, renowned for his insights that have helped reshape the organizational learning landscape globally. He is the author of award-winning Driving Performance Through Learning, also published by Kogan Page.