Purpose & Strategic Importance
“Learning” is the process of trying something, understanding what happens, and then incorporating that experience into the next activity. It can be formal or informal — from individual reflection to structured reviews.
Yet learning can be difficult, especially when people are reluctant to acknowledge what is not working or where mistakes have been made. Building a culture of learning and innovation helps National Societies become more adaptive, resilient, and effective.
Principles
- Strategic planning often requires testing new ways of working.
- Learning helps identify and scale up what works well in some parts of a National Society.
- The planning process itself can improve with mid-term or final reviews, capturing lessons for the current and future strategies.
- Over time, repeated cycles of learning and reflection build stronger strategic planning capacity.
Roles & Responsibilities
- National Society leaders play a key role in enabling a culture of learning and innovation by:
- Encouraging staff and volunteers to experiment within their roles and share what they learn.
- Supporting peer learning between branches and units, and creating safe spaces (online and offline) for exchange.
- Promoting a culture where it is safe to try, fail, and learn, as long as the lessons are applied to future work.
Examples & Learning
Argentine Red Cross
“Our first strategic plan in 2003 followed a major crisis and marked the National Society’s first big transformation. Since then, each planning cycle has been a learning process. Over time, we’ve improved how we involve and communicate with stakeholders. It has also driven a cultural change, especially in recognising the importance of uniting behind one common strategic plan.” — National Coordinator of Management and Planning