Collaborating With Universities to Create a Continuous Learning Culture

The common theme of these practices is that employee learning is embedded in the organization's culture and operations, sustained through a process of re-evaluation and continuous improvement.

One of those practices is the formation of alliances with educational institutions. In our research, we found that in firms with the most developed learning cultures - and where the firms were seeing the most business payoff from learning investments - the human resources staff was skilled at building successful partnerships with educational institutions. HR directs these relationships, establishes well-defined criteria for educational providers and expects them to be flexible in scheduling courses and developing course content that meets the company's needs. HR also routinely works closely with educational providers to create customized certificate and accelerated degree programs.

The result is that learning is more convenient for employees, with degree and certificate programs often brought on-site or offered online. In some cases, educational institutions allow students to enroll and order books from the workplace. These partnerships also can make possible cohort programs, where peers work side by side in the classroom, building camaraderie and shared learning in the organization. (For more information on Workforce 2.0, consult CAEL's Web site, www.cael.org or www.workforcechicago2.org.)