For the love of Learning.

Doesn’t everyone love to learn? Experience suggests students are only attentive if the topic is something of interest. For example, an avid college football player may be doing poorly in school, but if something is presented that will help them improve their game, they are fully engaged. No surprise.

Yet, there are a select few who love to learn – for the sake of learning. Is it the fascination with something new? Is it a craving to understand the unknown? Or is it the desire to simply acquire knowledge? True lovers of learning know it’s about more. They derive enjoyment and pleasure from both the process and product of learning.

There are clear signs of a person who loves to learn. They willingly share their learning. They are collegial. They are natural collaborators. They love to discuss ideas, while always maintaining respect for the ideas of others, as they might learn something new. And while some might view them as ‘geeks’ they don’t care. The motivation to learn is driven from within.

Lovers of learning also like to see their accumulated knowledge being used. It’s rewarding is to see someone else benefit from the information, experience, and skills they have acquired over time. They need to share. And in sharing, learn how their knowledge is applied and ideally obtain feedback for further learning.

Now, let’s stop here for a moment.

This concept either really resonates with you or it seems too simple and purely common sense. There’s not much middle ground. Does that mean if the love of learning doesn’t resonate with you that you’re dumb? Not at all. It just means other elements of life are of greater value to you. But for lovers of learning, the very essence of learning is life. Learning is a differentiating value.

This is also then true for organizations. It’s cultural. And it’s baked into the DNA of only a few organizations. They can’t help themselves but to constantly strive to learn more. Ideally, such organizations have learned how to make learning a competitive differentiator.

Learning can be a powerful core Value for organizations that creates differentiation because it can’t be easily replicated. It’s built into the culture, and organizational cultures are unique. It attracts a certain kind of employee. It motivates individuals and teams in unique ways. Management behaves differently. And customers who appreciate this attribute respond to and appropriately reward such organizations.

For organizations such as educational institutions, one might expect learning to be a common core Value. So it’s not surprising that many colleges and universities have incorporated learning as a core Value, including Roger Williams University (Rhode Island), Ferris State University (Michigan), and the Durham Technical Community College (North Carolina) to name just a few. Most colleges in North America operate in a very competitive environment, continually working to create a brand that will attract the best and brightest students. Thus for educational institutions, learning is less about differentiation and more of a fundamental value. To create real differentiation they must select other attributes as core Values.

For all other industries, learning can be considered a differentiating value.  For example, in the health care field Mölnlycke Heal Care, a Swedish-based global provider of surgical and wound care products, has made learning one of their three core Values. For Mölnlycke, the emphasis of learning is on innovation and product development.

Even specific groups within an organization can define differentiating values. For example, the nursing group within the UNC Health Care system (North Carolina) has incorporated the importance of learning into their core Values, as part of their profession. For this group, the focus of learning is on the ongoing accumulation of knowledge and skills.

At Zappos, the highly successful online retailer dedicated to providing the best service and selection, their core Value#5 is all about learning that helps employees grow both personally and professionally. Their belief is that every employee possesses more potential than even the employee realizes. In the Zappos’ culture, the organization accepts the responsibility to challenge employees to continually learn and grow. It fits with their pioneering and entrepreneurial spirit. As they so eloquently state about the value of learning on their website: “There are no experts in what we’re doing. Except for us. We are becoming experts as we do this.”

If your organization has a culture of learning, how have you made it a competitive differentiator?

Note: This post originally published for Idea Exchange.