Some organizations are very willing to learn. They intend always to be fresh. Because of this, they send their managers to training programs at a high cost. There is no doubt that it is a perfect thing. Because it always leads to many opportunities to add something new to the organization, they can learn new techniques and strategies developed through the latest research.
But there is an easier and more effective way. That method, which many organizations avoid, is more practical than anything else. That’s what “corporate learning” is all about.
It is learning from their lower-level employees and customers who deal with them. The knowledge gained through this is the matured knowledge gained from their practical experience and long-term work. It is corporate learning because the resource persons within the organization accumulate the knowledge.
Most managers have done what they think they can and should do to improve their organization.
The two best parties who can provide information about what they can and should do that they are unaware of are the lower-level employees we mentioned earlier, customers, and other constituent.
Managers can learn a lot from these two parties. But managers should be prepared for that. Be humble. But most managers don’t want to learn from little people (below in rank). Managers and superiors who want to do that don’t know how to do it. Some do not have the necessary restraint for that. Most managers get only gossip and slander from them.
If this “mature source of knowledge,” currently forgotten by many organizations, is used, those organizations can go a long way without any other learning.
