A"Culture of Continuous Learning?"

As a Learning & Development Lead, I’m hearing more and more about “Building a culture of continuous learning”. Because I’m passionate about learning topics, I wanted to explore that phrase a bit more – let’s unpack it from back to front.

Learning

I think it’s important to distinguish between learning and training. One industry website says that while training is the process of giving information in order to instruct, learning is how we absorb information and “is all about equipping a person … to creatively come up with ways to tackle tomorrow’s issues”. If we use the metaphor of a person’s career as their own entrepreneurial business, learning becomes a savvy investment in your own professional development. Did you know learning can also make you more productive? A recent study showed that people who spent just one hour per week learning saved 1.8 hours per week through productivity gains - that could add up to 83.7 hours a year! Another study found that employees who spend time at work learning are:

• 47% less likely to be stressed
• 39% more likely to feel productive and successful
• 23% more ready to take on additional responsibilities
• 21% more likely to feel confident and happy

Continuous

You may say, it’s all well and good to talk about learning, but who has time for that? You’re absolutely right. That’s why most learning strategies use the 70-20-10 rule, acknowledging that 70% of your learning is experiential, 20% is from peers, and only 10% is from external sources such as e-learnings, podcasts and tutorials. Now, these percentages aren’t hard and fast, but for sure only a small percentage of time should be spent learning in formal settings (as opposed to on-the-job, or social learning). How about blocking out a specific time in your calendar to learn? If you truly don't have room, see if you could work with your manager or team to manufacture the time. And maybe divvy up your learning into mini-sessions or micro-learnings. Another suggestion is to volunteer to share your skills and knowledge with others on your team. Similarly, ask team members and peers to teach you something that falls under their area of expertise. 

Culture

Statistics show employees really do perceive opportunities to learn as being important: a recent survey says 40% of new hires who receive few learning opportunities leave within the first year giving the lack of training and development as the main reason for leaving. In contrast, a Columbia University study found that organizations with a rich culture of learning have only a 13.9% likelihood of job turnover. A study about what millennials want from life and work shows they seek a sense of purpose, and want to know how they fit within their companies. And according to Gallup’s Employee Engagement report, companies that offer workers learning and development experience 17% higher productivity. Also, Forbes says that professional development opportunities make employees feel valued. The chance to learn shows people that the organization cares about their development.

Each of us can act as multipliers to learning, and share out, based on our interests and experiences. When I was in teachers’ college, a big buzz word was “the reflective practitioner”, meaning that after you taught a lesson, or at the end of the day, you should reflect on what went well and what you could do differently next time. Reflection is a habit we can all try to get into – it can influence our learning, and our organizational culture.