Learning

Definition:

"Learning" refers to new knowledge or skills acquired through evaluation, study, experience, and innovation. Organizational learning is achieved through research and development, evaluation and improvement cycles, ideas and input from employees, customer ideas and input, faculty, staff, students, patients, and other stakeholders; best practice sharing; and benchmarking. Personal learning (for employees, faculty and staff) is achieved through education, training, and developmental opportunities. To be effective, these types of learning should be embedded in the way an organization operates.

Features:

- Two types: Organizational and Personal

- Embedded in operations

Questions to be asked in analyzing learning:

- Has the approach been evaluated and improved? If yes, is the evaluation and improvement conducted in a fact-based, systematic manner (e.g., regular, recurring, data driven)?

- Is there evidence of organizational learning (i.e., evidence that the learning from this approach is shared with other organizational units/other work processes)? Is there evidence of innovation and refinement from organizational analysis and sharing (e.g., evidence the learning is actually used to drive innovation and refinement)?

- Are the measures, information, improvement systems complementary across processes and work units?

Learning contributes to a competitive advantage for the organization and its employees. For further description of organizational and personal learning, see the learning-related Core Value and Concepts.

Learning is one of the dimensions considered in evaluating Process Items. For a more comprehensive description of how learning is used in evaluating Process Items, see the Scoring System.

Learning is also an A-D-L-I scoring dimension in the Process Scoring Guidelines.

See: Learning and Development Best Practice Model