Learning curves – how growth and development are crucial in any organisation

Telegraph

07-04-2025

In his book The Concept of Mind, English philosopher Gilbert Ryle imagines someone visiting a university for the first time. After touring the colleges, libraries, sports fields and offices, the visitor asks 'But where is the university?'. Ryle continues: 'It has then to be explained to him that the university is not another collateral institution…it is just the way in which all that he has already seen is organised.'
Ryle was illustrating his theory of the mind – comparing the visitor's question to asking where the mind is after observing someone's behaviour – but the analogy describes the concept of learning across any organisation.
At Chichester University, Rob Warwick, professor of management and organisational learning, and Kevin Botto, HR/professional development manager, live and breathe learning, and understand Ryle's point well. 'It's not about the buildings that exist on the campus,' Botto says. 'Our competitive edge, our ethos and our culture – everything is about the people who work here.'
Lifelong learning
'The idea that we don't have lifelong learning, that learning finishes at 18, is mad,' says Warwick, who teaches an MBA programme in senior leader management. He says people arrive on the course at different stages of life. 'They see the MBA as their opportunity at a point in life when learning has become really important to them and they're able to throw themselves into that experience.'
Warwick himself embodies the idea of lifelong learning – he studied microbiology, worked as a consultant, moved to the NHS as head of strategic change and gained a doctorate in healthcare policy before changing tack and joining the world of academia at Chichester 12 years ago.
Botto carries another example of lifelong learning, having been a student at Chichester – and therefore quite literally never ending his university journey. 'I've been here 21 years, I studied geography. Now, my role is 50 per cent HR and 50 per cent learning and development at the university.'
Botto and Warwick agree that lifelong learning is essential to both professional and personal development. 'For us as an employer, it's important that we have people who continually want to learn,' Botto says. 'And I think it makes things more interesting for the individual and attracts them to the organisation.'
This is echoed in LinkedIn's Workplace Learning Report, which found that 90 per cent of organisations were concerned about employee retention, and providing learning opportunities is the number one retention strategy.
'I think increasingly, people are beginning to realise that discussions around the workplace and career are really discussions about how you choose to spend your life,' Warwick says.
Embedding learning
The first step to walking the walk when it comes to lifelong learning is embedding it within an organisation. Botto says a learning culture has to 'come from the very top'.
'It can't be certain individuals or managers believing that learning is important – it has to be embedded throughout.'
And Chichester University walks the walk. It runs employee training and development programmes for its staff, in part through its Apprenticeship Levy which it says can provide new apprentices or current staff with training and learning opportunities. It also offers staff 50 per cent off undergraduate and postgraduate degree courses.
'We also have initiatives such as network groups,' Botto continues. 'We've got a women's networking group, a carers group, a global majority group, an LGBTQ+ network group, a neurodiversity group. It's about creating that environment where people can access those learning opportunities – and crucially, doing it university wide.'
In the business world, leading HR, payroll and finance provider MHR is on a mission to make workplace learning a core part of organisations looking to accelerate their performance. Its People First Learning simplifies and automates essential training, supports everyday learning and builds the skills that matter across a workforce. It also targets low engagement and retention levels, offering personalised learning that empowers employees to take their growth into their own hands.
Learning from others
Learning is not a one-way street. And as the makeup of the people in any workplace or organisation is changing, that is becoming more and more important to leverage. With Gen Alpha soon to enter universities and workplaces, the first generation of true digital natives, they will bring new skills, approaches and expectations to an already five-generation environment.
Mentorship and reverse mentorship can be an excellent tool to harness the skills and knowledge that the different generations can bring to the table. 'It's important to talk to people – even for 15 minutes – and see what stories they bring,' Warwick adds. 'I think those interactions between disciplines is where new ideas come from.'
'I've seen young people come in with a completely fresh outlook and a different way of doing things,' Botto says, which can provide a balance to more established viewpoints. 'The dynamic between those two groups is really positive; you've got someone coming in with new ways of thinking but they've got an older generation who might have gone through it already and have the organisational context.'
The range of ages – from teens to those nearing retirement – captures the ethos and importance that lifelong learning plays. 'The world is continually fascinating,' Warwick reflects. 'The ability to stumble and to learn, not only from when things go well, but also from when things don't go well…I think it's a fundamental part of the human condition.'