Learning Organization Profile

Below is a list of statements. Read each one carefully, then decide the extent to which it actually applies to your organization by using the scale below:

• 4 = applies fully
• 3 = applies to a great extent
• 2 = applies to a moderate extent
• 1 = applies to little or no extent

Be honest with your answers as the goal is to identify where your organization is presently at so that you can make improvements.

Learning Dynamics: Individual, Group or Team, and Organization

1. _______ We are encouraged and expected to manage our own learning and development.
   
   
2. _______ People avoid distorting information and blocking communication channels, using such skills as active listening and effective feedback.
   
   
3. _______ Individuals are trained and coached in learning how to learn.
   
   
4. _______ Teams and individuals use the action learning process. (that is, they learn from careful reflection on problem situations, and then apply their new knowledge to future actions.)
   
   
5. _______ People are able to think and act with a comprehensive, systems approach.

Organization Transformation: Vision, Culture, Strategy, and Structure

1. _______ Top-level managers support the vision of a learning organization.
   
   
2. _______ There is a climate that supports and recognizes the importance of learning.
   
   
3. _______ We learn from failures as well as successes.
   
   
4. _______ Learning opportunities are incorporated into operations and programs.
   
   
5. _______ The organization is streamlined--with few management levels--to maximize communication and learning across all levels.

People Empowerment: Employee, Manager, Customer, and Community

1. _______ We strive to develop an empowered workforce able to learn and perform.
   
   
2. _______ Authority is decentralized and delegated.
   
   
3. _______ Managers take on the roles of coaching, mentoring, and facilitating learning.
   
   
4. _______ We actively share information with our customers to obtain their ideas to learn and improve services and products.
   
   
5. _______ We participate in joint learning events with supplies, community groups, professional associations, and academic institutions.

Knowledge Management: Acquisition, Creation, Storage and Retrieval, and Transfer and Use

1. _______ People monitor trends outside our organization by looking at what others do--for example, by benchmarking best practices, attending conferences, and examining published research.
   
   
2. _______ People are trained in the skills of creative thinking and experimentation.
   
   
3. _______ We often create demonstration projects to test new ways of developing a product or delivering a service.
   
   
4. _______ Systems and structures exist to ensure that important knowledge is coded, stored, and made available to those who need and can use it.
   
   
5. _______ We continue to develop new strategies and mechanisms for sharing learning throughout the organization.

Technology Application: Information Systems, Technology-Based Learning, and EPSS (Electronic Performance Support Systems)

1. _______ Effective and efficient computer-based information systems help our organizational learning.
   
   
2. _______ People have ready access to the information superhighway--for example, through local area networks, the Internet, ASTD Online, and so on.
   
   
3. _______ Learning facilities such as training and conference rooms incorporate electronic multimedia support.
   
   
4. _______ We support just-in-time learning with a system that integrates high-technology learning systems, coaching, and actual work into a seamless process.
   
   
5. _______ Electronic Performance Support Systems (EPSS) enable us to learn and do our work better.

_______ Total (Maximum Score 100)

Scoring

81 - 100: Congratulations! You are well on your way to becoming a learning organization!

61 - 80: Keep on moving! Your organization has a solid learning foundation.

40 - 60: A good beginning. Your organization has gathered some important building blocks to become a learning organization.

Below 40: Watch out! Time to make drastic changes if you want to survive in a rapidly changing world.