Creating learning organisations is at the heart of what we do

At Southern Hemisphere, we’ve spent the last 25 years walking alongside organisations, helping them navigate change, reflect deeply, adapt thoughtfully, and grow with purpose. Through this journey, we’ve seen the learning organisation shift from being a conceptual ideal to an embodied, lived practice. 

In this blog, we reflect on what it means to be a learning organisation today. We draw from both the global evolution of the field and our own grounded experience in Africa and beyond.

In our practice, we’ve witnessed a shift from learning as an event (a training or workshop) to learning as a continuous, embedded process. From learning as top-down (delivered by experts) to learning as collective (emerging from sharing). From learning as a technical exercise to learning as a deeply human and relational practice.

To look forward, we first look back

The notion of a learning organisation was first introduced to a broad global audience in 1990 in Peter Senge’s seminal book The Fifth Discipline. 

He described learning organisations as places “where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.”

This was a truly aspirational and practical vision and Senge laid out five key disciplines required for organisations to be learning organisations

  • systems thinking
  • personal mastery
  • mental models
  • shared vision
  • and team learning 

These disciplines offered a roadmap for organisations to become adaptive and resilient in a world of growing complexity. It also asks businesses to move away from an accountability paradigm to a learning paradigm, this involves a shift in culture, where innovation, learning and reflection are actively encouraged.

It is doubtful that Senge foresaw just how complex the world would become nor how adaptive and resilient organisations would need to become to operate effectively within it.

Creating learning environments, then and now 

In the 1990s, the focus was on knowledge management, formalised training, and strategic planning. Of course these elements are all incredibly important but there is much more to take into account as they often fail to grapple with the messiness of real-world complexity especially in development and social change contexts.

Over time, the field began to recognise that learning is not just about knowledge acquisition. It is far more about how people relate to one another, how they create meaning together, how they handle uncertainty, and how they respond to both failure and opportunity. There is no possibility of creating a learning environment without understanding that it is people who are at the centre and this means encouraging reflection on actions is at least as important a part of learning as knowledge acquisition.

Thirty-five years later, in 2025, the idea of the learning organisation is more relevant than ever but it has also evolved.

For some time, at Southern Hemisphere we have seen the importance of building not only the technical skills required for MEL practice but also the people skills and organisational culture.

Characteristics of a Learning Organisation in 2025

So, what defines a learning organisation today? Based on our experience, we see the following characteristics as essential:

1. Intentional spaces for reflection, learning and adaptation

Learning organisations create structured and informal opportunities to reflect, not only on what is being done, but why and how. These spaces connect people to their purpose, values, and evidence. They help individuals and teams make sense of what they’re experiencing and enable shifts in direction when needed.

We’ve supported clients and partners to use learning agendas, do sense-making (for example in Outcome Harvesting), participatory reviews, and implement  “Grow Days” to bring learning into the rhythm of their work. These aren’t just workshops, they’re spaces that build curiosity and connection across teams and make them stronger.

Last month, our blog titled “Reflecting on reflective techniques” had some tools and ideas on how to bake reflection into organisations.

2. Systems thinking and holistic perspectives

A true learning organisation is dynamic, interconnected, and influenced by both internal and external forces. It understands that one department’s challenge may be another’s opportunity. That individual growth fuels organisational change.

We take an organisational development approach to  MEL systems which  increasingly brings in systems thinking tools, helping teams understand interdependencies and co-create more adaptive strategies.

3. Future-Oriented and context-aware

Learning organisations keep one eye on the horizon. They pay attention to shifts in politics, climate, technology, and society. They use scenario planning, trend analysis, and foresight methods, not for the sake of using them but as tools to make better, braver decisions.

Crucially, they root these processes in local context and lived realities. In our experience, the only way of understanding context properly is to spend time on the ground and to include diverse voices and perspectives, especially those often excluded from strategic processes. Because we do so many evaluations across the continent, we have our ear to the ground and this is how to ensure a future-orientation. 

4. Aspirational culture of growth and innovation

Learning organisations in the social justice space always want to do better, not just for efficiency’s sake, but in service of their beneficiaries. They encourage entrepreneurship, creativity, and experimentation. 

Over the years, we’ve facilitated culture conversations and leadership development processes that build psychological safety so that staff can raise hard questions, challenge assumptions, and propose bold ideas. This kind of innovation flourishes when there is trust, autonomy, and alignment between individual and organisational purpose.

5. Valuing diversity as a pathway to insight

Teams that are diverse across identities, disciplines, and experience are not just more inclusive; they are more adaptive and future-fit.. Learning organisations recognise that diversity brings new ways of seeing, doing, and solving. They intentionally cultivate environments where these differences are respected and integrated.

We’ve seen the power of empathy-building processes, conflict navigation, and reflective dialogue in helping teams not just tolerate, but embrace diversity as a source of strength.

6. Supportive structures for learning

Learning doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It requires supportive systems and that means policies that protect time for reflection; budgets that allow for experimentation; HR processes that include individual development plans and mentorship models and of course an environment that allows all voices to be heard

Over the past two and a half decades, we’ve helped organisations embed learning into their structures whether through MEL system redesigns, organisational capacity assessments, or facilitating communities of practice. When the system supports learning, the culture can thrive. And we all know that culture eats strategy for breakfast!

Looking Ahead: The important work continues

Being a learning organisation in 2025 isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about staying curious, connected, and courageous. It’s about creating the conditions for people to grow, for evidence to be used meaningfully, and for systems to evolve in response to the world around them.

At Southern Hemisphere, we believe that learning is both a process and a mindset. It’s not something to tick off a list, it’s something to live, every day. After 25 years of working with clients and partners across sectors and countries, we’re more convinced than ever that learning is not a luxury but a necessity for organisations that want to stay relevant, ethical, and impactful.

Let’s keep learning, together and watch this space as Southern Hemisphere formalises an expansion of our offering that recognises the changing needs of learning organisations.