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trainlikeamarketer.com
Shaping a
Learning
Ecosystem
trainlikeamarketer.com
Bianca Baumann
& Mike Taylor
that works for everyone
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trainlikeamarketer.com
Bianca
Baumann
Mike
Taylor
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trainlikeamarketer.com
More Courses
≠
Better Performance
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trainlikeamarketer.com
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How many of you have
been Sarah?
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Discussion
How do you create
meaningful learning
culture that works for
everyone?
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Game Plan
02 03
01
The
Foundation
Nobody
Laid
What the
Best Orgs
Already
Know
Power to
the
Learners
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The Foundation
Nobody Laid
1
What happens by accident is usually the easiest-not the best.
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The Gap
What Leadership Says
• “We value learning"
• "Growth is a priority"
• "We invest in our people"
• What Employees See
• "I don't have time"
• "No one notices"
• "It's not in my goals"
What Leadership Says What Employees Say
That’s not a communication problem. It’s a design problem
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What is culture?
“How we do things
around here”
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Discussion
What does culture
mean for learning?
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Repeatable
behaviors
The systems that
reward them
Learning
Culture
Repeatable
behaviors
The systems that
reward them
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“If the system doesn't reward
learning, learning won't happen
— no matter how many times
you put it in a PowerPoint.”
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What you reward...
...is what you get.
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Learning culture is directly tied to engagement and retention.
4.3x Are more likely to be
engaged at work
62% Are less likely to
experience burnout
Employees who feel connected to org culture
Gallup
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Culture vs. Ecosystem
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CULTURE
What people repeatedly do
ECOSYSTEM
The environment where culture lives
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Learning
Ecosystem
Work
Work
Environment
Worker
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Which of these
three does your
organization
invest in most —
and which does it
neglect?
Work
Work
Environment
Worker
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Great Intentions, Broken Ecosystem
Both have to work.
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Great culture
intentions
Broken
ecosystem
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Culture by Design Playbook
Diagnostic
Use this playbook as a tool for self-
reflection and organizational design.
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Dimension 1:
Access
Can people get to learning when they
actually need it?
Access is the foundation of a learning culture.
Right time. Right format. Right place.
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Does your LMS help or hurt this dimension?
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How hard does your org make it to
learn something?
Friction kills momentum. Every additional barrier
reduces the likelihood of engagement.
Every extra click is a reason to quit.
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Dimension 2:
Friction/Ease
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What does the behavior of your
managers actually tell you?
Culture is defined by what is incentivized. If curiosity is
penalized with more work, it will cease.
What you permit, you promote.
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Dimension 3:
Rewarded vs. Punished
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Dimension 4:
Where Learning Happens
Before work
Preparation, setting
intentions, and
accessing foundational
resources.
During work
On-the-job application,
workflow learning, and
peer collaboration.
After work
Reflection, formal
training, and deep-dive
skill development.
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Dimension 5:
Who Creates Knowledge
Just L&D
Knowledge is centralized
and pushed top-down
by specialists.
“Chosen” few
Selected subject matter
experts or high
performers contribute.
Everyone
A collaborative
ecosystem where every
worker is a contributor.
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Are you adding content
without ever removing?
A cluttered ecosystem is a broken one.
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Dimension 6:
Content Retirement
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Cultural Conditions
Safe Space
Psychological safety
allows team members to
speak up without fear of
retribution.
Curiosity
Encouraging questions
and a desire to
understand 'why' fuels
continuous learning.
Experimentation
Testing new ideas and
learning from failure is
core to growth and
innovation.
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Activity 1
1. Score your org on each
dimension
2. Write one piece of
evidence for each
3. Circle the biggest crack in
the foundation
4. Compare notes with a
partner
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Where is the crack?
LET’S DEBRIEF:
What scored
lowest in your
assessment?
What is being
rewarded that
actually hurts the
learning process?
What is the one
condition you
would commit to
changing first?
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Most organizations don’t lack
learning. They lack the
conditions that help learning
spread, stick, and matter.
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What The Best Orgs
Already Know
2
Move beyond the content factory.
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Culture Enablers
Learning in the
flow of work & 5
Moments of
Need
Culture aligned
to business
outcomes
Rewards and
Recognition
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Learning isn’t something that
happens before or after work.
It happens as part of work.
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How many of you
have a formal
strategy for
learning in the flow
of work?
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02 03 04 05
01
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5 Moments of Need
Learn
something
for the first
time
Learn
more of
something
Apply &
refine
what you
learned
Adjust to
change
React to
failure
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Learning as Integrated Practice
“Through Microsoft Viva Learning,
employees access relevant
content without leaving the tools
they already work in. The company
describes this as the difference
between being a "know-it-all" and
becoming a "learn-it-all" culture —
a deliberate shift in identity, not
just tooling.”
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How are you
integrating
learning in the flow
of work today?
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The metric that matters
is behavior change and
performance impact
not completion rates.
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Culture signal:
What does
leadership
celebrate?
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Business Impact
1.5x Companies that integrate learning into their
business strategy are 1.5 times more likely
to achieve their organizational objectives.
57% Companies with strong learning cultures
enjoy 57% higher retention compared to the
baseline.
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McKinsey, 2023
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Culture is defined by
what gets rewarded and
what gets ignored.
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If curiosity, knowledge-
sharing, and experimentation
aren't visibly recognized, they
don't become repeatable
behaviors
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Rewards & Recognition
The Southwest Standard
Southwest Airlines has held the fewest
customer complaints of any major airline for
over 18 consecutive years and remained
profitable for over 31 years.
Built into the Daily Fabric
● Managers coach to values
● Leaders model behavior publicly
● Curiosity is acknowledged, not just
performance
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Activity
Discuss which enabler is
strongest in your
organization, which is
most absent, and name
one your org is missing
entirely — add it to your
playbook.
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What is your
missing enabler?
LET’S DEBRIEF:
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Power to the Learners
3
Take the work of learning out of your hands
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Is our job to create
learning, or enable
the conditions for
learning to happen?
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Learning Conditions Framework
Individual
Crowdsourced
Content
Working Out
Loud
Relational
Peer-to-Peer
Learning
Systemic
Champions
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Crowdsourced
Content
Your audience helps
you create content.
Also known as user-
generated content.
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"Your people already
know things your courses
don't."
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We’re not the only source of knowledge.
Bosch Tube · Employee Video Library
Thousands of how-to videos created
by workers, for workers.
L&D curates and surfaces.
They stopped building most of it themselves.
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1 2 3 4
How to Get Started
Pick 1 high-
friction process
Where people
already help
each other
informally
Ask 2-3 experts
to record
A 2-3-minute
video on their
phone
Post it where
work happens
Teams, Slack,
Intranet
(Not the LMS)
Watch who
engages
Those people
are your next
contributors
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You're not just creating content.
You're building a community
that creates content for you.
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Working Out
Loud
Narrating your work
as it happens is a
win for everyone!
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Working Out
Loud
Relationships
Purposeful
Discover
Generosity
Visible
Work
Growth
Mindset
John Stepper
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Visible Work Generosity
Start with Two Habits
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4-5
people
1 hour
/week
12
weeks
Peer
led
Super Simple
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Basically, Free to Start Used at Scale
workingoutloud.com
Low Cost & Proven at Scale
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1 2 3 4
Post an Update
• Post one work-
in-progress
update today.
• A decision you
made.
• A problem
.you're solving.
Tag Colleagues
• Tag the people
whose work
connects to
yours.
• Not to ask for
help - just to
make it .visible
Recruit a
WOL Circle
• Recruit 4
colleagues
WOL Circle.
• Use Stepper’s
free guide
workingoutloud.com
Measure
Differently
• Count
contributions,
connections
made, and
problems
solved.
• Not course
completions
How to Get Started
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Learning that no one
can see can’t spread.
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Why Crowdsource Content?
High employee
motivation and
engagement
Reduces time to
delivery
Reduces content
development costs
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“Great things are never
done by one person.
They’re done by a team.”
- Steve Jobs
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Crowdsourcing in Action
Results:
Ownership Shift
Learning ownership
shifted directly to
employees.
90%+ Growth
Increase in peer-to-peer
learning content access.
Agile Culture
Reinforced the
“unbossed” mindset and
agile culture.
Novartis empowered employees to create and contribute to internal knowledge
channels, from clinical research updates to people leadership tips.
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Peer-to-peer learning
fails when it's informal by
accident rather than
informal by design
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Structure
without
scripting
Make the
invisible
visble
Re-
cognition
closes
the loop
02 03
01
Three Easy Steps
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Peer-to-Peer Learning in Action
The G2G Community
Nearly 80% of internal training at Google is delivered through the G2G
Community.
Started in 2007 • 25,000+ learners • 2,000+ active volunteer coaches
80%
of internal training is Peer-to-Peer
Origin Story
Google's small L&D team couldn't
handle a massive surge in sales hires.
They asked top sales performers to
step in and lead the way.
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Champion & Ambassadors
Modelling the
desired
behavior
Active
Advocacy
Clearly
articulate
Intent
Being informed,
enabled,
committed,
and capable
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Enthusiastic
champions who can
commit time and effort
Material ready to
support their work on
the ground
Regular rhythm for
discussion with them
Method to recognize
their efforts
Providing privileged
access to relevant
touchpoints
Regular
communications
Core Elements
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Champions help build, grow, and sustain learning
Already engaged &
share the same
mindset about
culture
Already share
internally about
learning
Identify early
adopters of new
experiences
Have the authority to
remove barriers
Nominated or
volunteered
Recruiting Champions
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Activity
Pick a program you own,
choose one tactic from
this section, and sketch
how you'd redesign part
of it to give more power
to your learners.
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What would you
redesign and why?
LET’S DEBRIEF:
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The gap between the learning culture you
have and the one your organization
needs is not a training problem.
It’s a design problem.
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Three Commitments
What will you
STOP owning?
What will you
START
designing?
What will you
PROTECT, no
matter what?
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Simple strategies.
Real impact.
A practical playbook for
L&D that boosts engagement
and business results.
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