On April 13, 2023, the Workshop “Building Learning Organizations in IT Service Companies” organized by the VNITO Digital Technology Alliance in collaboration with MiiN Academy for Business Owners and HR Directors of IT companies took place successfully at the Headquarters of LogiGear Vietnam. As leading experts in the fields of information technology, human resources, and educational research, all 3 Speakers of the program: Mr. Vuong Bao Long, Mr. Duong Trong Tan, and Mr. Huynh Le Tan Tai shared valuable insights on the principles and methods of building a learning organization along with successful lessons from enterprises. In particular, the participants shared practical experiences and difficulties during implementation, helping the program have a lively and useful discussion session, together finding solutions to enhance the learning spirit and the efficiency of building a learning organization at their own enterprises.
Opening the workshop, Mr. Vuong Bao Long, Vice Chairman of VNITO and Vice President of LogiGear Vietnam, introduced the topic “Building a learning organization.”
He kicked things off with the fundamental questions that every business owner ponders: “What kind of enterprise do we want to become? – What is our vision, mission, and target goal?”
On the journey to fulfill that mission, transforming a company into a learning organization serves as a powerful tool to:
- Boost employee and customer satisfaction.
- Build an autonomous, creative, and elite workforce.
- Drive breakthrough improvements and transformations—the bedrock of sustainable growth.
The knowledge challenge
Mr. Long pointed out that a major hurdle for companies is preserving and passing down knowledge assets, which come in two forms:
- Explicit Knowledge: Structured and easily documented information.
- Tacit Knowledge: Insights that are highly personal, subjective, and context-dependent. While incredibly difficult to communicate, tacit knowledge actually makes up the majority of a company’s intellectual wealth, making its preservation vital.
Frameworks for success
To pull this off, Mr. Long proposed Kim’s (2002) “3-Legged Stool” framework, which relies on three core capabilities:
- Aspiration
- Generative Conversation
- Understanding Complexity
The organization must also safeguard 6 essential elements: Personal Mastery, Mental Models, Shared Vision, Team Learning, Systems Thinking, and Technology Utilization.
Execution & Next steps
For successful implementation, you need a dedicated “Program Manager” to steer the entire process. This role must be backed by resource sponsorship and active support from the Leadership Board to effectively establish a Learning Culture, design Learning Plans, and run ongoing activities.
To wrap up, Mr. Long introduced Harvard University’s diagnostic model to help leaders assess their organization’s current learning state.
Continuing the program, Mr. Duong Trong Tan, CEO of Agilead, reiterated the critical importance of building a learning organization, sharing successful models implemented across various enterprises and corporations.
Why learning organizations fail
Drawing from his observations at both SMEs and large corporations, Mr. Tan pointed out several common pitfalls that derail these initiatives:
- Complacency: Feeling too comfortable with the current state (“we’re doing fine right now”).
- The “Too Busy” trap: Getting overwhelmed by daily operational tasks.
- Narrow mindsets: The misconception that learning only happens inside a formal training classroom.
- Lack of strategy: Running Learning & Development (L&D) activities without a clear, long-term plan.
- Surface-level changes: Encouraging improvements that only scratch the surface.
- Weak foundations: Lacking a solid theoretical groundwork.
Shift from a “Movement” to a “System”
Mr. Tan emphasized that businesses do not just need a temporary learning movement or a vague culture. Instead, they must build a structured system rooted in three pillars:
- Environment: Ensuring psychological safety, respecting diversity, fostering an open growth mindset, and dedicating actual time for employees to learn and improve.
- Infrastructure: Setting up the right processes, methods, policies, organizational structures, and data/tech tools.
- Leadership: Defining a clear vision and goals, welcoming open dialogue and debate, actively rewarding competence, and showing commitment by leading by example.
In the final part of the program, under the moderation of Mr. Huynh Le Tan Tai, Vice Chairman of VNITO, Co-founder of MiiN Academy, the participants had a lively discussion session with the speakers. Most of them shared that thanks to the models and knowledge provided by the speakers, they knew where their enterprises were standing and what difficulties they had. In particular, an inherent problem raised by everyone: How to encourage employees to proactively and voluntarily learn. After the discussion session, they realized that:
- Building a learning organization needs to be consistent with business development strategies and goals.
- Building a learning organization requires a long-term strategy and the attention and investment of the Leadership Board, as well as the main responsible individual.
- Learning activities can take place in many diverse forms: not only in offline training classes at the company, but also through sharing sessions, internal meetings, or outside online self-study.
- Not everyone has the intrinsic motivation to be proactive in learning; enterprises need to have mechanisms and policies to promote and create the necessary and sufficient “external forces” to ensure the achievement of organizational goals.
- It is necessary to clearly understand the proficiency level of each employee in order to propose appropriate and manageable programs to motivate them.
- Not all employees need to learn; it is necessary to clearly define the target audience and appropriate learning content.
Closing the program, some participants continued to have deeper exchanges with the speakers, with the desire to choose suitable options to build a learning organization for their enterprises in the future. The organizing committee thanks the 3 Speakers and 20 participants for contributing to the grand success of the program. Special thanks to the support of LogiGear VN, the venue sponsor, Mr. Ngo Van Toan, Standing Vice Chairman of VNITO, for attending the program as well as coordinating with MiiN Academy to organize the workshop series.
Create project brief with AI