Integrated Learning Framework

Individual - The key to maintaining a competitive presence in future markets will be through the generation, generalisation and embodiment of knowledge as intellectual capital. This value is derived from the knowledge-based intangibles that people add - such as technological know-how, product design, and close customer relationships. Hence, in an industry and society that is based upon learning and knowledge, the knowledge worker is the organisation’s single greatest asset.

Interaction - In seeing the organisation as a system, emphasis should not be placed on the component parts, rather on the nature of the connectivity between the people. In considering this point of view, the integrated learning model considers three areas of interaction that impact upon the process of knowledge creation and diffusion; the hidden or shadow features; the nature of self-organisation, and the importance of the socialisation process.

Infrastructure - This describes the process by which knowledge is transported through the organisation. Two areas are considered: The knowledge structure that underpins the transfer and embodiment; and the diffusion process that knowledge follows when being socialised.

Intent - If an organisation makes a declaration that learning and knowledge creation are important, then the strategy it chooses to facilitate its delivery is of critical importance. Simply dictating what people should do, building systems, and constructing intricate measures will not achieve the desired outcome. Any resulting strategy might need to focus on the principles of emergence, non-linearity and open-ended change, rather than deterministic outcomes, rigid milestones, and a centralist driven approach.

Soloist - Quite simply, improvement in organisational performance will come through releasing the inert and latent potential that resides within all people. Ask any management team to score out of ten how much potential have they have released in their people, and the answer is often around the half way point. By releasing this potential and creating a team of organisational soloists, the business can create a fountain of innovation and capability that can help it to outperform the competition. 

Super-Leader - For effective long-term learning, organisations need to develop effective long-term leaders, people who can move beyond the charismatic and directional model, and understand the prerequisites for effective knowledge management. To ease the process of learning, Super-Leaders should understand the role played by trust, values and the nature of internal networks.

Schema - People who only see the world from their own perspective are effectively imprisoning themselves in a jail of their own making. People who have broken free from this cell, and are able to understand how others view the world are better equipped to donate and receive knowledge.

Surprises - The creation of knowledge will become reliant upon the individualised nature of the structure, rather than the structured organisation of the individuals. Any company that does not have the capacity to either originate or import new ideas, innovations or surprises is creating its own long term demise.

Shadows - There will often be a significant difference between what people and organisations say they do and what they actually do. The identification of this hidden area is of significant importance to the idea of organisational learning, because it can disrupt any plans that an organisation has with respect to improving its capacity to learn and create knowledge.

Self-Organisation - Beneath the polished veneer that all organisations present to the world, there exists the potential for spontaneous self-organisation. Within the stable mechanistic business processes that organisations typically adopt, there exists a living force that drives and supports the business, but in ways that are not always so obvious. To ensure the free flow of knowledge through the organisation, companies need to understand how both models operate, interact and possibly conflict with each other.

Socialisation - One of the key themes that emerges from the Integrated Learning Model is the role that socialisation plays in the knowledge creation and diffusion process. Consider the team that originates a radical new idea, the likelihood is that they will be unable to progress it any further until it has been socialised and accepted by the organisation. This social network is something that is rarely defined but everyone intuitively recognises the role it plays in getting knowledge accepted.

Structure - If a business is to harness its learning capacity to create new knowledge, it should first develop an appreciation of how knowledge is transported into, through and out of the organisation. This is encapsulated in the five stages of the knowledge infrastructure as Discovery, Socialisation, Storage, Embodiment and Disposal.

Sharing - This might be seen as the final link in the organisation’s capability to learn. The creation of organizational knowledge is about people, their interaction, and the synthesis that arises from the sharing process. To make the shift from individual learning to organisational learning, the company should understand how to rapidly and effectively move the lessons learned from personal experience and spread these into the mainstream processes and products.

Strategy - Learning Strategy is concerned with developing an action-based framework that can help to deliver the outcomes and behaviors that the organisation desires. The ILM offers a number of points that can help the organisation to create an of open-ended approach around its learning initiatives. The five key factors that are offered up for discussion include the themes of Declaration, Diagnosis, Dialogue, Design and Deployment.