How Can Religious Practices Inform Organizational Learning?

Yesterday, I had a lovely conversation from Bruno Fournet✨ about his work at Disneyland Paris and Disney University.

He brought up the idea of seeing learning as you do religion -- some parts of it you can do on your own, and some of it is done with others.

I think that this comparison between learning and religion has some interesting aspects to it.

1) Ritualizing practices

Religious traditions rely heavily on standard repeated practices that can be found in each house of worship, no matter where in the world you are.

What learning rituals can you embed in your team, or within your company to create a stronger learning culture that connects behavior to values.

2) Community Gatherings

Religious practices can be done solo, but there are regular gatherings to allow practitioners to come together.

What if your team didn't just work together, but learned together?

3) Sacred time

Religions carve out sacred time for worship.

What if teams and organizations carved our regular time for learning that it's outside normal work, but embedded into it?

4) Story as the Core Teaching Method

When I grew up, our regular Sunday school class was anchored in stories. We learned the values of our religion through the stories were told.

Storytelling is making a comeback as a teaching and learning tool, and can be a wonderful way for people to connect and create meaning and memories together.

5) Repetition

The world religions have been teaching the same core principles for thousands of years.

How can you focus on learning more deeply as a team or organization, rather than more widely?

👉 What other religious practices am I missing that could inform organizational learning?

Originally posted on Substack with comments.

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