Three Aspects on How Collective Learning Fosters Innovation

A learning culture is something that must be ubiquitous in the organization, collective learning is the secret source to foster innovation and drive a company’s long-term success.

We live in the information and knowledge economy, today’s digital professionals are hard workers, knowledge workers, and creative workers, who are exploring, innovating and evolving to new digital paradigm proactively in a continuous way. To create the new requires not just one skill, but many, not just old experience, but new perspectives. Collective learning rejuvenates the organizational culture and foster innovation.

Openness and interdisciplinary learning: A learning organization is one in which the majority of the employees at all levels are open to new ideas, experimenting with new ways of doing things to spark innovation. With information grows exponentially and knowledge is only a click away, digital leaders and professionals should understand that asking and learning is not a sign of weakness but rather an openness to illustrate the value of collective insight. When people leave the inside box thoughts and standards to seek additional knowledge and experience, they are stepping outside that box into unfamiliar territory, brainstorm fresh ideas and share the power of diverse perspectives to stimulate innovation, paradoxes, and they have a penchant for candor. Knowledge is the foundation of innovation. Thus, learning fosters innovation because digital innovation is the transdisciplinary approach which involves applied science (engineering), art (design), cognition (psychology), social norm (culture) and group behavior (Sociology), etc. In the learning organizations, people focus on the learning opportunities provided by assignments, rather than on the status quo, they are open to fresh ideas, encouraged to be creative, communication and collaboration are harnessed, and the positive energy and creativity flow like the fountain.

Knowledge or technology transfer innovation: Knowledge fuels innovation. If you take knowledge from one context and bring it over into a new context, you have knowledge or technology transfer innovation. Absorbing knowledge is only the beginning of learning. How deeply your understanding is based on the mindset, logic, lenses, and methodology you leverage to interpret things. Learning becomes a knowledge builder and we can define learning through the information it absorbs, the insight being captured, and the capability it builds. The learning friendly workplace uses the diversity of ideas as a rich source of connectivity and relationship, to foster innovation and provide breakthrough thinking to arrive at creative outcomes that would be otherwise very unlikely. Organizational learning is enabling employees to constantly learn so that the organization does not only 'earn enough from today,' but 'thrive in the future.' The collective learning and abundant knowledge foster knowledge or technology transfer innovation. Thus, building a learning organization is not the goal or a vision, the ultimate goal is to ensure such organizations keep tapping their innovation potential and they know the tasks and knowledge required to sustain itself and create an environment and business systems to reach the well-defined vision.

Learning cycles assume that learning is a process, which can be improved to foster innovation: With the exponential growth of information. The digital workforce today has to learn and relearn all the time and then, apply those lessons to succeed in new situations and foster innovation. In the digital age, the knowledge life cycle is significantly shortened, learning and doing are an iterative continuum. High organizational learning relates to high response in recognizing and addressing system constraints. Digital learning is multidimensional, dynamic, interactive, informal, and should be integrated into the innovation cycle. Knowledge management plays a crucial role either in strategy management or information management. It is the management with knowledge as a focus, involves the use of technologies and processes with the aim of optimizing the value that is generated, and with the goal to improve the organization’s collective learning capabilities and innovation competency. The emerging digital technologies such as social platform provide a flexible way to learn, share and collaborate. Thus, learning agility at both individual and business level is a culture shift and digital capability underpinned by the process which can be managed and it will directly impact the speed of the digital transformation. Organizations can work toward a knowledge ecosystem view, which incorporates the virtual aspects of the knowledge system, innovation, and intuitive behavior.

Nowadays the business and the whole world are so hyperconnected and interdependent, people all over the world can share information, co-develop new knowledge and sparking creativity. Variety, complexity, diversification, and collaboration are the characteristics of the digital innovation ecosystem. A learning culture is something that must be ubiquitous in the organization, collective learning is the secret source to foster innovation and drive a company’s long-term success.

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