Becoming a learning organization is a long-term commitment — a journey, not a destination. The Walton Family Foundation has been on this journey for several years now. We have had successes, setbacks and detours. Along the way, we learned a lot about what it takes to live into our value of continuously improving through learning and reflection.
Our central insight so far: becoming a learning organization requires taking a systems-change view and applying it to our own work. This requires engaging an array of mutually reinforcing levers, ranging from targeted interventions to catalysts for deeper shifts, which together create a broader culture change. While there is no single route to becoming a learning organization, we hope that sharing the foundation’s practical experience will help others chart their own paths.