See Your Learning System Clearly. Build What Lasts.
The Iris Framework for organisational learning is a practical guide for leaders and learning professionals who want clarity, not complexity. It helps organisations see their entire learning system, uncover hidden gaps, and focus effort where it makes the greatest difference. Based on real experience across government, business, and education, the framework provides structure, tools, and confidence to create learning that lasts.
As a complete model for organisational learning, The Iris Framework brings evidence and structure to every level of practice. It supports improvement from design and delivery to leadership and strategy.
See Your Learning System Clearly
Across every sector, learning teams are under pressure to deliver more, faster, and with greater impact. As a result, many struggle to demonstrate where learning is effective, where it is not, and why. Too often, effort replaces evidence and activity stands in for improvement. Reports, such as the CIPD Learning at Work Survey, highlight similar challenges, showing that visibility and alignment remain major barriers to success.
The Iris Framework for organisational learning helps teams break that cycle. It offers a structured and practical way to view the entire learning system – from purpose and priorities to delivery and results – so that decisions are grounded in evidence, not assumptions.
Built around forty checkpoints, the framework supports honest reflection, meaningful discussion, and focused action. In addition, it was written for organisations and teams that want training to make a measurable difference.
How The Iris Framework Supports Organisational Learning
The Iris Framework for organisational learning is divided into three parts. Each part builds toward practical application and lasting change.
Part One: Models and Context in The Iris Framework
Part One introduces the foundations of The Iris Framework and explains why learning systems lose shape as they grow. For example, it explores the pressures that drive reactivity, the barriers that hide performance, and the missed opportunities when learning is treated as a service rather than a strategic function. Readers are introduced to the Iris Model, a visual map built around five interconnected segments that represent the core dimensions of a learning system. These foundations position the framework as a practical approach to organisational learning, combining clear structure with everyday relevance.
This section also introduces Squads and Plays – flexible collaboration methods that help teams act on what the framework reveals.
Squads are small, cross-functional groups formed to solve specific learning challenges.
Plays are structured, repeatable methods that guide practical work such as mapping performance needs or surfacing learner insight.
Together, Squads and Plays bring rhythm and focus to learning delivery. Therefore, collaboration becomes deliberate and repeatable rather than a one-off event.
Part Two: The Iris Diagnostic
Part Two transforms The Iris Framework for Organisational Learning into a tool for action. It explains how to assess a learning system across the five Iris segments. Each segment contains eight checkpoints, creating forty that describe effective practice in full. Every checkpoint includes a clear maturity scale ranging from 0 – 8, with narrative descriptors that describe what each stage looks and feels like. Teams can pinpoint their current position and plan improvement with confidence.
Practical features include:
- Patterns to Watch For – early signs of risk or drift
- Hidden Consequences – system-wide effects of small issues
- Prompts for Evidence – guidance for audits and reviews
By using The Iris Framework for organisational learning, teams gain a shared language for quality and maturity in learning delivery. As a result, it supports self-assessment, internal review, and external evaluation with equal clarity.
Part Three: Using The Iris Framework for Lasting Change
The final section focuses on interpretation, leadership, and sustainability. It shows how to use diagnostic results to make informed decisions and plan improvements with confidence. This approach aligns with broader models of organisational development, such as McKinsey’s 7S Framework, which focuses on connected systems and shared purpose.
Readers learn to:
- Identify strengths and target weaknesses
- Weigh priorities and make investment decisions
- Build reflection and review into daily leadership
Part Three also explores the behaviours that sustain improvement once change begins. In particular, it highlights shared understanding, visible purpose, and consistent follow-up. As a result, leaders can embed these habits through regular review, evidence-led discussion, and clear communication.
By the end, The Iris Framework for organisational learning becomes not a one-time diagnostic but an ongoing part of a learning strategy.
A Tool for Reflection and Organisational Learning
The Iris Framework for organisational learning doesn’t add work for learning teams. Instead, it helps them make sense of the work they already do. It connects effort to purpose, replaces assumption with evidence, and provides a structured path toward greater impact.
It also supports the wider goals of professional learning bodies such as the Learning and Performance Institute, which promotes evidence-based, high-impact learning practice. The framework aligns closely with findings from the CIPD Learning at Work Survey, reinforcing the need for clarity, capability, and alignment across organisations.
If your organisation wants to move from activity to clarity, this book offers the structure to begin.
Apply the Framework in Your Organisation
Buy the Book
Available in print and digital formats on Amazon and major retailers. The Iris Framework gives you structure, tools, and practical guidance to help teams see learning clearly and deliver measurable results.
Book a Consultation
Arrange a session to explore how The Iris Framework can support your organisation in practice. Whether you’re reviewing capability, planning improvement, or designing a learning strategy.
About the Author
Michael Wadley is a learning strategist and consultant who helps organisations turn insight into measurable improvement. His work with government, business, and education shaped The Iris Framework for organisational learning and its supporting tools.
He delivers keynote speaking, advisory sessions, and workshops that help teams apply the framework in practice.
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