Becoming a Learning Organization

Source: Accounting Today

L. Gary Boomer of Boomer Consulting in Manhattan, Kansas, lists seven characteristics of learning organizations:

• The managing partner is committed to, and supportive of, learning/teaching. The MP gets everyone involved even if that means terminating those who won’t.
• Someone is in charge of learning/teaching. In some firms this is a full-time job.
• The in-charge person facilitates transmission of knowledge and skills from a variety of sources—partners near retirement, vendors, contemporaries, and others.
• Everyone who has learning/teaching responsibility is accountable for results. Partners with heavy client loads aren’t excused.
• Proper training facilities and equipment are available on- or off-site.
• Learning management systems are used, including evaluation tools, curricula, attendance records, etc. For assistance in creating and operating learning management systems for accounting firms, visit www.reqwired.com.
• The program has an adequate budget of time and money. Assuming an increase of five hours of productivity for each hour of training, 40 hours of training, on average, will create 200 additional billable hours. At a billing rate of $100 per hour, that amounts to $20,000.

From Accounting Today, April 2, 2007, SourceMedia Inc., One State Street Plaza, 27th Floor, New York, NY 10004, 800-221-1809. For the complete article, click here, then find the article entitled The 7 Requirements of a Training/Learning Culture in the April 2, 2007, issue.