ABSTRACT

Within competitive business markets, involving our employees in learning and development (L&D) activities is increasingly necessary for various reasons. In addition, L&D opportunities play a role in why applicants choose one job over another and are clearly an important reason for long-term retention within the same organisation. Benefits of employee-led learning in terms of teamwork, knowledge-sharing, and longer term employee satisfaction are significant. L&D should be an on-going process that strengthens long-term sustainable business growth. Allowing flexibility in learning and being open to informal learning in the daily training and work situation can be very effective and necessary to further develop professional expertise. It is important to make use of spontaneous learning opportunities and to consider what has been learned afterwards. Argyris’ double loop learning is characterised by taking ‘governing variables’ into account in all learning processes, reflecting on their influence before any action is started.