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In work habits and company culture area, it was suggested to create a culture handbook that would dig more into the way of working at Awake.AI rather than the current Employee Handbook. The feedback culture of the company should be reinforced, and for talent attraction it would be useful to gather career stories or employee presentations. To gain even better engagement and sense of being part of Awake.AI’s community, it was raised that the impact of both cultural background and that of remote work should be taken more into consideration. The possibility of developing further the onboarding plan was stated too, for instance through technology like Trello. For better role-based onboarding, the company materials should be reviewed and rearranged. Repetition of the company’s vision was also needed more; how one lives it through everyday actions and is it realistic and achievable. To people not coming from a tech background is was suggested that basic training would be given on understanding the tech architecture of the company’s product/service. Clear future opportunities in learning and development was also needed, and this one is developed through the creation of the overall learning paths concept.
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decision-making power. The roles are more of culture than an acquired position, for instance ‘a responsibility taker’. Also, the individual’s responsibilities are emphasised, from one’s own learning too.
The company culture at the benchmarked organisationss aims at innovating and continuous improvement. The core things in that kind of company culture are openness and trust, helping colleagues and being part of community. People are experimenting and permissive to mistakes and tryouts, and keep lessons learnt from those. Knowledge is shared in the organisation, and people are encouraged to self-development with leading by example. People have in their use the tools and freedom they need, and they have transparent possibilities for people to learn so that the self-motivation for learning is fed.
Moreover, learning is embedded in company’s values. The company culture favourable for learning is built consciously, and the culture is made clear already in the onboarding phase for instance by a culture handbook. The benchmarked companies profile themselves as top experts’ organisations, and by exploring the composition of the
company’s people, whether it is academic, tech-world, different generations combining or other, can be analysed if learning is an expectation for the company’s people.
These characteristics of a supportive learning environment can be seen in image fifteen.
Image 15. Characteristics of a Supportive Learning Environment (Benchmark Results) All benchmarked companies emphasised the fact that learning is an organisation’s lifeline and a competitive advantage. The business is changing fast, competencies need to be
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brought to the next level for future, and even to function today, one must possess the latest knowledge and best practices from the industry, to be able to keep on with the development, which will in the end bring added value to the customers.
Factors that foster learning in the benchmarked organisations are the company’s culture itself and having challenging enough and meaningful work/projects. The best talents in the industry are brought together in the companies, they work together, help out colleagues and share knowledge. Also mentoring is offered for all, and there is a clear learning offerings concept that makes the possibilities and different learning paths visible for all.
On the other hand, factors that inhibit learning according to the benchmarked companies, is first of all the challenge of how to give challenging and interesting enough work/projects to enable the individual to learn. This concerns also small projects with only a small number of people involved, as with larger number of people there would be more of learning. The time management issues arose also in the interviews. The high growth pace of a company and a sense of hurry, and the choice between customer work or self-
development were a big reasons why sometimes learning would be inhibited.
To tackle the time management issue, there were certain ways to make room for reflection despite the hecticness of the business. In the benchmarked companies it was embedded in the learning offerings concept in different learning elements (for example mentoring, coaching, clubs, workshops, hackathons, study circles, company’s inside academy) or in established weekly or monthly practices in teams and whole organisation, both official meetings like company infos, retrospectives, and more social and laid-back activities such as company Fridays or joint company breakfasts and lunches.
The factors that foster and inhibit learning together with making time for reflection are gathered in image sixteen in three different columns.
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Image 16. Supportive Learning Environment FactorsThe second examined building block was learning processes and practices. The benchmarked organisations had light processes to support and help in learning issues.
There was a learning offerings concept made that had linkage to other areas in HR and it was scalable for the needs of a growing company. The companies had light guidelines to most important offerings in the learning concept, for instance to mentoring programme, academy and a time or money budget for self-development. The learning processes and offerings were reviewed and improved continuously, even at an early stage. The linkage to other HR areas concerned performance management, compensation management and talent management where the HR’s role was seen as a facilitator and a coach. High adaptations of the linkages included growth discussions, development paths and levels in professional growth and salary ranges for each growth level.
Some concrete practices and training activities were discussed in the benchmark interviews. These included the following:
− Lessons learnt on weekly/monthly basis (team meetings like retrospectives or company info meetings; more laid-back occations like breakfasts/lunches, company Fridays) for reflecting and sharing knowledge
− Time and/or money budget and guidelines for self-development that must support company’s future (for example xx €/year or xx hours per month or xx % of working time to be spent on self-development)
− Most of learning happens on-the-job: Set challenging and interesting enough tasks/projects that enables a high learning curve, taking sometimes individual into one’s discomfort zone
− Mentoring programme: low threshold to apply, initiative from individual which requires knowledge from others’ skills
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− Coaching in active use
− Creating clubs/academy/study circles or other professional or more laid-back group gatherings around an interesting topic to share knowledge and to reflect
− Holding workshops, kaizens or hackathons
− Enable self-learning with for instance promoting to attend webinars, to listen to podcasts, and by offering possibilities to take e-courses
− Assigned tutor/buddy for a new employee for onboarding, coaching and sparring in the future
− For more seasoned employees growth/development discussions, with peer-to-peer feedback
− Use of internal trainings (the level of that can be up to 80% of all trainings)
− Recognise the knowledge inside your organisation, for example HR could provide with soft skills training
− Take advantage of networks when planning outside trainings (for instance insurance companies, company’s own network/ecosystem)
− Take modern LMS into consideration, find modern training solutions and review different training activities from pedagogical point of view
The third examined building block of a learning organisation was leadership that
reinforces learning. Even in self-managing teams it was seen important to ‘walk the talk’
with company values and to be transparent. Having a clear decision-making process and a management team showing the direction for future is crucial. The circle of leadership can be illustrated in image seventeen, where taking responsibility leads to redemption of trust, and from there to better self-management and openness. This is the loop of self- managing leadership.
Image 17. Loop of Self-Managing Leadership
Taking responsibility
Redemption of trust Self-
management
and
openness
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Rather than an acquired position but as a cultural role or a service position, leadership that reinforces learning can be summed up in the image eighteen of a four-quadrant:
aiming to lift others up; working as an enabler and supporter; acting as an example; and listening and sharing.
Image 18. Leadership that Reinforces Learning
Competencies development requires changing and investments. Learning happens here and now, and not as something separate. Through the benchmarking interviews eight steps were formulated in regards of creating and developing learning paths at a self- managing organisation. The steps and tips are wrapped up below, and those can also be seen in appendix four which is the playbook.
1. Start from knowing your organisation and the background:
i. What does it do
ii. What are it’s working habits, company values, the composition of personnel iii. Why – the inner motivation of an individual
iv. Is learning an expectation for your organisation 2. Conceptualise:
i. Build the perception at top level
ii. Consider possible linkage to other areas in HR iii. Take into account business needs
iv. Visualise your thinking (naming, implementing, embracing, storytelling &
”red line”)
3. Explore your desired learning related guidelines:
i. Explore your conception of human beings, learning, desired learning curve and model
ii. Evaluate the ratio of on-the-job learning, official trainings, internal vs.
outside trainings, mentoring, coaching and feedback iii. Recognise strategically important matters
iv. Use out-of-box thinking in what skills are needed in the company in future
Aims to lift others up:
encouraging & inspiring, invites to participate
Works as an enabler, helper &
supporter
Listens to others and different insights & opinions, shares
information
Acts as an example for others:
coaching, mentoring, peer-to- peer leading & feedback, permissive attitude to mistakes,
lessons learnt & time for reflection
Leadership as role/service position in a
self-managing team
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4. Collaborate and involve:i. Create in collaboration a suggestion or draft on the learnings offering model
ii. Involve stakeholders and get feedback from the draft iii. Adapt according to feedback
iv. Offer with diverse learning offering options for diverse learners 5. Act as enabler, coach and facilitator:
i. Individual can choose from learning offerings - HR acts as enabler, coach and facilitator
ii. Feed the self-motivation of learners 6. Reserve time for recognising competencies:
i. Reserve time for recognising competencies ii. People do not always know what they need
iii. Pay special attention to new employees or employees recently started in a new role
7. Reflect and invest in internal communications:
i. Have room for reflection
ii. Invest in internal communications when implementing the learning paths concept
8. Share learning experiences:
i. Instead of sharing just knowledge, concentrate on sharing learning experiences
ii. HR can act as an example for the whole organisation
With the findings and learnings in mind, two workshops were conducted on creating the learning paths concept for Awake.AI between the researcher and Head of HR. The
workshops were also done remotely, using the e-tool Flinga as a whiteboard to capture all ideas. Service design tools were used in the workshops. First it was identified what the company is and what it does. From knowing the background, the portrait of Awakian learner was established by persona mapping. Also the goal of learning paths was formulated.
The values of Awake.AI and the company being a start-up imply highly that learning is already an expectation to its employees. Innovations and scaling up needs learning from all the company’s employees. Most of their people are male, but there is more and more of cultural diversity. All Awakians have a high education degree, and the company is strongly a specialists organisation; a pool of talents/experts. Some Awakians have strong competence in industry knowledge (maritime, ports). There are different needs for
learners so there must be opportunities enough for different needs.
In persona mapping it was identified that the team is varied and skills too, but what was common, was that everyone must understand the industry. The main interests of all are the same – all feel they are doing something meaningful, and they all have high
motivation. Of dreams it was examined that many Awakians want to do right this job or
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tasks that they are already doing, which was reflected to expectations as well. As a reason to engage, the current jobs offer lots of new stimulus, hence learning on-the-job.
The goal of learning paths at Awake.AI is to identify diverse ways for an employee’s personal and professional development, while supporting the competence strategy of Awake.AI, and to apply then in practice different learning paths for different employees at Awake.AI. The backgrounds, persona mapping results and goal setting are wrapped up in image nineteen.
Image 19. Learning Paths Backgrounds, Persona Mapping and Goal Setting
After having formulated a conception of the backgrounds, the learner’s portrait and the goal of learning paths in the first workshop session, the concept and offerings were ideated at the second workshop together with the same participants. The same e-tool Flinga was used as a whiteboard to capture all ideas. The concept creation consisted of ideating some guidelines needed around the learning paths, and of ideating learning offerings, elements, and dividing those into on-the-job learning and self-learning. Lastly, the most important learning elements were emphasised.
The general and guidelines part of the concept creation included agreeing on the view on learning (socio-constructivist; most of learning happens on-the-job) and on the desired learning curve (high) and model of 70/20/10 (from all learning happens on-the-job learning
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70% / mentoring, coaching, feedback 20% / official trainings 10% ). Furthermore, it was decided that the learning paths concept would appear as the ‘Awakians’ Nautical Map’, and that it would have to support the company purpose and values, the competence matrix of company’s competencies done, the company’s training policy; and it would aim to having highly motivated and -skilled employees who want to build on new
competencies and skills in their current jobs.
Different learning elements were recognised to both on-the-job and self-learning, and the ideas were grouped accordingly, highlighting the most important ones for Awake.AI in the first phase of learning paths implementation.
From these workshops and the ideation the researcher composed a learning paths concept prototype for the company which was iterated twice and adapted with Head of HR’s feedback. The next steps suggested were also offered to Awake.AI when the company enters the implementation of the learning paths concept. The image twenty shows the prototype of the learning paths concept at Awake.AI, which is also to be better seen in appendix five.
Image 20. Prototype of Learning Paths Concept at Awake.AI (‘Awakians’ Nautical Map’) The learning paths concept is inspired by the history of seafarers and it reflects the current revolution of the industry of today. In the ‘Awakians’ Nautical Map’ the autonomous vessel is the Awakian learner, who explores and navigates through the different learning options
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available. The lighthouse is HR who facilitates, coaches and brings to knowledge different learning options available. The map is divided into on-the-job learning opportunities at the top part of the map, and into self-learning opportunities at the bottom of the map. The different learning elements are in squares, and the ones with dotted line square are learning elements that could be added into the concept at a later phase, explaining the importance order of different learning elements. The learning elements of on-the-job learning in the map are onboarding, coaching, mentoring programme, knowledge sharing sessions, job rotation and job shadowing; internal and external trainings; hackathons, conferences and outside consulting; and learning clubs and study circles. The self- learning elements include e-learnings at platform (LMS); podcasts and webinars; and (e-)books and articles.
The ‘Awakians’ Nautical Map’ supports the company purpose and values and the competence matrix done. It has a socio-constructivist view on learning. Both on-the-job and self-learning are enabled, and the both aim at sharing learning experiences with colleagues. This supports the theory of most of learning happening on the job. The
learning paths concept offers learning experiences and new stimulus to employees in their current jobs, sustaining highly motivated and -skilled employees who want to build on new competencies and skills in their current jobs.
Through the concept a high learning curve is supported, and it adapts the 70/20/10 model explained earlier in this chapter, and it takes also into account the current training policy where annual training budget and time defined for to use in self-learning are stated. For validating the effectiveness of learning, self-assessment can be used for instance through sharing learning experiences with colleagues. HR can follow up the usage of trainings and drive and facilitate discussion on learning opportunities available.
Moreover, the concept is scalable and possible adaptations can be made according to future needs to the offering of different learning elements (adding new ones, removing others). There is also a possibility to extend the concept and link learning to other areas in HR like to talent development and growth discussions, development plans; performance management or to compensation management.
After the prototype creation of learning paths concept, the next step for Awake.AI is to present the prototype in a suitable forum, for instance in management team, and to collect feedback from stakeholders of the prototype. Then, if applicable, adaptations according to the feedback would be made into the learning paths concept. After that, learning elements that are wanted to be in use in the first phase, should be prioritised. From four to six elements or even less could be enough in the first phase. To these prioritised learning
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elements light guidelines should be composed from a user’s point of view, and those should answer the question of how one can access this learning element in our company.
Once these steps are done, the prototype should be adapted into having a more appealing look, followed by the company’s visual guidelines with help from for instance marketing. The last step is to make the map functioning in everyday work and use it as a tool for example when creating robust development plans. The concept and the learning elements on it could be reviewed for instance once a year to evaluate if some learning elements need to be adapted. The first phase of learning paths concept implementation could be roughly one year, and then moving on to second phase, according to the company’s future needs.
56 6 Conclusions
This chapter evaluates the outcomes of the development work and discusses its benefits to the commissioning organisation and to larger audience. First, the research objectives and questions are revisited for analysing if those were met in the study. Main findings and outcomes are presented. This is reinforced with an analysis of the reliability, validity and ethics of the research. After that, the benefits of the study and further development suggestions together with additional research opportunities are discussed. The chapter is concluded with a self-reflection of the researcher’s own learning during the development work.