The Difference Between Learning and Knowledge, and Why You Should Care

It’s time we had aserious rethink about “learning.” Chief learning officers have spent decadesfocused on it—heck, it’s the middle word in their title. But is this where theemphasis should be?

Let’s take a look atthe definition: According to Merriam-Webster, learning is the process ofstudying, teaching, and education. It’s centered on the delivery of information;in the corporate world, that means how to get information to an employee, whichoften translates to classroom-based instruction, a learning management system,or blended approaches. Simple enough…

When you look closer,though, there’s a key component missing. Business success doesn’t result from learning;it results from sales, or customer service, or even just having your team gethome safely after each shift. To achieve these outcomes, employees need to havethe right knowledge. Learning issimply the means of acquiring knowledge, and that distinction is key.

The process of learning isirrelevant if no real knowledge is acquired

Too many times,employees get pulled into training sessions where, over the course of a week,they’re taught a million things. But, during the course of this information overload,does the learning transfer happen? The reality is that we now know the answeris “no.” Most learning decays over time and ends up being a waste because it’snot designed to effectively create long-term knowledge.

So what is knowledge,then, really?

Going back to ourtrusty Merriam-Webster, knowledge involves understanding, comprehension, andmastery. It’s about acquiring, sustaining, growing, sharing, and applyinginformation to achieve an organizational impact. If learning is a recipe, thenknowledge is the cake. You need to have knowledge in order to perform at yourbest; knowledge is what truly drives the right job actions and, in a corporatesetting, ultimately helps companies achieve their objectives.

This may be the mostimportant distinction your company makes this year

When employees don’thave the right knowledge, they can’t make the right decisions. A few incorrectchoices might not seem like a big deal. After all, everyone makes mistakes,right? But wrong actions can actually cost companies millions, even billions,of dollars each year. If you can’t get the right knowledge to your team, anendless stream of negative consequences can occur: You will have moreaccidents, injuries, and worker’s compensation claims. You won’t be able toachieve your sales targets. You won’t be able to improve customer service. Andyou won’t be able to do anything else to propel the business forward. That’sbecause what your employees know, or don’t know, has a huge impact on yourcompany’s ability to achieve success. If employees don’t have the knowledgethey need, they simply won’t be able to help the business achieve itspotential.

On the flip side,learning leaders need to be able to justify their learning investments. Thinkabout how much money organizations spend every year on learning: In 2014 alone,companies doled out an average of $1,229 per employee on training, whichtranslates to almost $15 million for corporate enterprises with more than10,000 employees. That’s a huge expense for programs that likely aren’t worththe investment. Most companies are banking on training to move the needle forthem as a business. But considering what employees can actually remember fromtheir training sessions—which we now know is about 10 percent one month later—significantprogress is just not going to happen without taking learning a step further.

Is it time to introduce thechief knowledge officer?

Assumptions thatlearning equals knowledge are wrong most of the time. The vast majority ofcompanies today just dump all of this learning on employees, hope they’llremember everything, and then never follow up with it. There’s no repetition,no reinforcement that goes on. All of this learning doesn’t actually help tocreate knowledge, and it doesn’t help business outcomes, either. Instead, learningneeds to become a catalyst for knowledge—the way to build expertise in employeesto ensure they can get to a place where they understand, retain, and applyinformation on the job that will impact business results.

This isn’t an overnight fix. Knowledge creationneeds to be a continual process that happens by weaving learning into each workday, and that adapts according to individual strengths and weaknesses. If wewant knowledge to become the focus of the CLO, maybe it’s time for a titlechange. Chief knowledge officer, anyone?