Scaling your learning culture: how to embed learning in a busy, fast-paced team

In the fast-paced world of the scaleup business, there are always a huge number of things that our teams have to focus on: clients to serve, fires to fight, growth targets to hit. With so many other priorities, learning often feels like a “nice to have.”

"We’ll do that next month, when things are quieter…"

"Maybe once wehave hit this deadline…"

"Things will be easier once we have recruited in the next couple of team members…"

The tough reality though is that as you scale, you and your team’s ability to learn faster becomes a significant driver of your growth. Learning isn’t just a luxury. It is survival. The research is clear: teams and organisations that learn faster outperform those that don’t. Because of this, learning has to become a core capability of how your business operates. You need to embed it right in the culture of your organisation: the way things are done around here.

The good news? Creating a learning organisation doesn’t need to involve big away-days or large-scale programmes. Sure, these can be important components at key points in your business’s growth journey. But we are talking about something different here. Creating a learning organisation can simply be about nurturing the right mindset and establishing micro-habits and practices that embed curiosity, encourage continuous reflection, and set learning into the everyday fabric of your team’s work.

Let’s examine why learning matters so much for growing teams, what the science says, and, most importantly, practical ways you can build a learning culture in even the busiest, most fast-paced environment.

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Why learning cultures drive growth

Picture this… you are walking through a forest glade. What you see around you is lush, green, and vibrant. Tall trees, a thriving ecosystem, the visible life of the forest above ground. But the real lifeforce of the forest is not visible. Beneath the soil, the woodland is connected through a vast underground network of fungi called the mycorrhizal network, sharing nutrients, fighting off disease, and nurturing saplings.

Growth doesn’t come from what is visible on the surface. It doesn’t come from one or two trees excelling at the expense of others. It comes from the shared root system that sits beneath the surface: connecting each tree to the others, exchanging information, and learning underground.

Your business is no different. A thriving, growing organisation is not about the quick wins, or having one or two ‘A players’… your long-term growth comes from what is happening beneath the surface: the curiosity, shared learning, and collective growth of your culture.

The research backs this up. A study of nearly 200 firms found that organisational learning is directly linked to innovation, competitiveness, and financial performance. Another meta-analysis of multiple organisations showed the same thing: companies that embed learning see measurable gains in both financial and non-financial performance.

In small, founder-led businesses like marketing agencies, IT firms, or consultancies, the link can be even sharper. In this study of small to medium firm performance, learning has shown to be one of the decisive factors that separate those who plateau from those who continue to grow. Why? Because your business is your people. If they’re not growing, your business isn’t either.

Teams that are effective when it comes to learning can adapt faster,
serve customers better, and make more money.

Yet many founders accidentally become bottlenecks. Stifling growth, rather than nurturing and letting it happen. We focus on what we see on the surface, rather than nurture the roots and the wider ecosystem.

We insist on decisions coming through us.

Our teams wait for permission to act.

Accountability doesn’t spread.

Without a learning culture, the organisation stalls, and the founders end up exhausted.

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How leadership behaviours make or break learning

Here’s the uncomfortable bit: building a learning culture nearly always starts at the top. If you’re the founder, your behaviour sets the tone for everyone else. And it has to start with some key shifts in your mindset.

In 2014, Microsoft was stuck. Once one of the world’s most admired tech companies, it had become slow, rigid, political, and inward-looking. Meetings were a battleground of ego. Teams fought to win rather than share and collaborate. Brilliant people spent their energy focused on proving they were right rather than innovating and solving problems.

It was into this environment that Satya Nadella stepped in to become CEO. Many were unsure about this choice. He certainly wasn’t the archetypal leader in the tech world. Quiet, thoughtful, more of a listener than a talker. But he came in with a clear vision: what if Microsoft stopped being a “know-it-all” business, and instead became a “learn-it-all” business?

It was a 'simple' mindset shift, but it struck right at the heart of the culture. He role-modelled it. He asked questions. He was curious. He showed empathy. He invited openness. The competitiveness began to be stripped away. Defensive posturing faded. Fear gave way to vulnerability. The cultural shift was profound.

But it was the impact on performance that was even more significant. It unleashed phenomenal levels of performance. Innovation began to thrive. Microsoft once more stepped in to push the frontiers of technology creativity. And its market share more than doubled.

In her book,“Cultures of Growth”, Psychologist Mary C. Murphy defines this shift as one from the ‘culture of genius’ to one of growth. In a culture of genius, talent is worshipped and failure, punished. Fear breeds a lack of innovation. People play it safe. In a culture of growth, curiosity and learning empower people to take risks, share ideas, and stretch themselves to realise their potential.

For scaleup founders, the lesson is clear: your mindset sets the tone for everyone else. If you role-model a “know-it-all” approach, your team will fear making mistakes, and will play it safe, defer decisions, and wait for you to be the one to take the risks. Our five mindset shifts help founders to move from this way of thinking towards a more “learn-it-all” leadership behaviour that enables a learning culture to become contagious and thrive.

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Busting the myth: “We don’t have time to learn”

Time and again, we hear the objection: “We’re too busy to learn.”

But let’s take a moment to reflect on the assumptions here. The assumption is that learning is disconnected from the work of the business. That it takes people away from doing what they need to do.

So how about this: you don’t need to take time out of the business to learn. You need to enable learning in the business.

Think of it like compound interest. Small, frequent learning moments build up over time into exponential gains. And the best leaders bake these micro-moments into daily life.

Here are five practical micro-habits you can do adopt with your team:

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1. Start with curiosity in conversations

Instead of immediately giving an answer when your team asks a question, ask:

• “What have you tried already?”
• “What options do you see?”
• “What did we learn from last time?”

This takes no extra time. But it shifts the dynamic: you’re building problem-solving muscles in your team, not just firefighting.

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2. Use after-action reviews/retrospectives

When a project or piece of work comes to an end (good or bad), spend 15 minutes asking three questions and then let your team do the talking:

1. What went well?
2. What could we do differently next time?
3. What lessons do we want to carry forward?

It’s fast, practical, and builds the muscle of reflection.

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3. Embed positive feedback

Ask most people about what they think of feedback, and they will describe some form of criticism.

‍"What I need to improve…"

"When I mess up…"

"A shit sandwich…"

The truth is that most founders and leaders don’t know how to give feedback effectively. We tend to not call out strengths or positives, or if we do, these can be vague platitudes…

‍"Good job…"

"Nice pieceof work…"

"Well done…"

Instead, be intentional about giving positive feedback and reinforce your team’s strengths:

‍"On that sales call just now, I noticed you really listened to the client’s objection and worked patiently through it with them… this reassured them that they didn’t need to worry about the delivery timelines and built trust… it’s a real strength of yours… how can you do more of that in the future?"

Over time, this encourages people to double down on what they’re good at.

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4. Model vulnerability

Be open about when you don’t know something. Involve the team in how the business is doing. Share what you’re learning.

Teams take their cue from you… if the founder is still learning, it’s safe for everyone else to do the same.

Be ok with experimenting and making mistakes.

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5. Build in peer learning

Not every lesson has to come from you. In fact, it is better if it doesn’t.

Invite your team to share quick “what I learned this week” moments in meetings. This will probably feel strange for the team to begin with. But keep at it. We need to develop the learning muscles and willingness to be open and share with others.

Over time, this normalises knowledge-sharing.

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Embedding learning into the operating rhythm of your business

Often, the founders we work with feel trapped: “If I don’t drive everything, things just don’t get done.”

That is a symptom of a lack of accountability.

Accountability needs to be distributed. Teams need to feel ownership of taking action, and getting things done.

Our Scaleup Acceleration Framework helps shift this. By engaging your team in aligning on your strategy, shaping your culture, delivering on your operating rhythm, understanding the company finances, and enhancing your client proposition, you create the conditions where learning and ownership is embedded, not bolted on.

Teams know what matters, how their work connects, and they feel trusted to make decisions.

That’s when accountability spreads, bottlenecks disappear, and growth accelerates.

The point isn’t to add “learning” as another task. It’s to build a system where learning is the way you do business.

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The human factor

Beyond performance, there’s a human dividend.

Studies show that engaging leadership not only drives results but also reduce burnout and increases happiness at work. For founders, that means a lighter load. For employees, it means they stick around longer, contribute more, and feel part of something meaningful.

And for businesseslike yours, where you are juggling growth, clients, and family life, it means breaking free from the cycle of firefighting and rediscovering the energy to focus on the future.

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‍Quick wins for busy leaders

Are you wondering where to start tomorrow morning?

Here are three really easy entry points:

1. In your next 1:1, ask: “What’s the one thing you learned this week?”
2. In your next team meeting, run a 10-minute reflection: “What worked, what didn’t, what can we learn?”
3. In your own leadership, share something you’re learning right now.

Small actions, repeated consistently, transform culture.

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Final thought: Culture is about how you show up each day

Too many leaders still believe culture and learning are luxuries for the “big boys”: the large corporates who have additional resources and are able to invest in large programmes.

But the evidence suggests otherwise.

Start with these small steps to get your learning culture moving, then you can begin to focus on embedding a learning infrastructure, such as our ScaleUp learning platform, specifically designed for professional services scaleup businesses.

In a people business, your culture is your competitive edge. Clients don’t just buy your services; they buy the capability and growth of your people.

So, the real question isn’t: “Do we have time to learn?”
It’s: “Can we afford not to?”

Written by Barry McNeill | Founder and Managing Director of Work Extraordinary

Barry has over 25 years of experience supporting leaders and teams to be more effective in driving business outcomes, such as growth, customer service, and impact. He and his team have helped numerous founders, founding teams, and growing organisations develop new ways of working to achieve scaleup growth, enhanced culture, improved operational effectiveness, and customer impact. You can connect with Barry through his social channels at the top of this page.

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