At a glance
By Beth Wallace
Shortly after becoming Mircosoft CEO in 2014, Satya Nadella voiced his plan to orchestrate a major culture change. At the time, he claimed the organisation had been a “know-it-all company” for too long. Now, he said, it needed to become a “learn-it-all company”.
For Microsoft, this means encouraging employees to learn “not only from successes, but also from experiments, mistakes, failures and especially each other”. It is an approach that other companies would do well to replicate, says Michelle Ockers, organisational learning strategist and founder of Learning Uncut.
“Nadella said it’s not about being perfect, because that closes us off to opportunity,” she explains. “This is the language that he very deliberately used and cultivated across the organisation that, in turn, inspired their developers and customers to engage with the company in new and more modern ways.”
What is a learning culture?
A learning culture goes beyond giving staff access to courses and other formal learning opportunities, says Ockers. “It’s about creating an environment that encourages and enables people to be continuously learning, improving and innovating as they work at an individual, team and organisational level.”
Empowering employees to direct their own growth and development is an important part of a learning culture, says Tahnee McWhirter, partner at HR agency HumanX.
“If we’re thinking of an organisation as a live system, a learning culture enables that system to self-sufficiently grow,” she says. “It can become a competitive advantage because the growth is more organic — patching weaknesses and repping the muscles for the day-to-day skills needed to get work done.”
With research from Xero showing younger generations list learning and development as one of the main reasons they would stay with an employer, a learning culture can be an effective tool in talent attraction, McWhirter adds.
Do a culture audit
For organisations striving to create a learning culture, Ockers recommends examining how the current environment either promotes or inhibits growth.
Leaders can undertake Marcia Conner’s Learning Culture Audit or Nigel Paine’s Learning Culture Self-Assessment Tool to better understand the conditions under which their people work, she says.
“Be curious and tune into what people are saying about their current experience,” she advises. “Do they feel safe to take risks? Do they trust their leaders and their leadership team?”
Psychological safety and trust are critical elements for building a strong learning culture, she continues. “People need to feel safe to experiment, to suggest changes and to speak up, because it’s through those activities, through practice and continuous improvement, that real learning occurs.”
How to implement learning in the workplace
When making changes to encourage greater learning, McWhirter says to start small.
First, release the “control and command” structure of learning. “Learning mandated by HR or leaders and consumed by employees is not the only way to build skills,” she says.
“Instead, look at a framework that focuses on the ‘why’ of learning — purpose-built resources that are curated to meet people where they’re at. For example, make the ir jobs easier, faster, more impactful or more fun.”
Second, break learning into bite-sized pieces, because if it becomes burdensome or “more work” it isn’t as attractive to employees. “Think beyond ‘lunch and learns’,” McWhirter suggests, “such as short explainer videos or infographs that incite curiosity and give learners the opportunity to self-examine or self-explore.”
Third, recognise that leaders are learners, too. “Putting expectations on leaders to drive a learning culture won’t work unless it is recognised that they also have learning needs,” she says. “Identify where the gaps are and invest in time and resources to scale learning.”
How to fit learning into your busy work schedule
Look for learning moments
Making “learning moments” a part of a company’s language is a great way to destigmatise mistakes and celebrate wins — and learn from both, says Ockers. Such occasions might arise during a meeting or project debrief, when team members pause to reflect on an outcome.
“They might ask, ‘Why did that work so well? How might we continue to build on that? Or what went wrong and how might we avoid that in the future?’” she explains.
These moments build a sense of safety, demonstrating that mistakes are welcome and can be leveraged as lessons. They also encourage curiosity — one of the core skills highlighted in World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 and are an essential component of innovation.
Build future skills
Though organic opportunities for exchanging feedback or engaging in mentoring or job shadowing may have decreased with the advent of remote work, Ockers believes these methods are still valuable learning tools. Large organisations such as Schneider Electric clearly agree, now advertising these and other development opportunities on their internal talent marketplaces.
Smaller organisations can do the same, albeit on a smaller scale. Ockers says leaders might consider allowing workers half a day each week to work on someone else’s project as a “stretch opportunity”.
Experiences like these, which cultivate in-demand skills such as flexibility, agility and curiosity, lay the foundation for genuine learning, which benefits both the individual and the organisation in the long run.
