Bend the agile way: Building a culture of learning in a growing startup

The pandemic has brought forth some interesting insights into how businesses have been thriving. One of the most intriguing statistics has come across with Learning & Development.?Learning is steadily moving from a “nice to have” to a “must-have” element in a business growth cycle. With people-led growth taking a center stage across product/ service organizations, some amazing data reflects this sentiment well.

What do we mean by culture of learning?

A culture of learning consists of a community of employees who have a growth mindset and who are encouraged to expand their knowledge, abilities and skillset. Learning is essential for employees to develop new skills and derive a sense of fulfilment from their work. Companies that foster a learning culture and offer skill development opportunities to its employees lay the groundwork for long-term success while actively enhancing employee engagement.?

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Ways of building a culture of learning -?

• Identifying skill gap in learning – In the world of constant upgradation, employees need to regularly update their existing skills to stay relevant in the business world. The skill gaps need to be aligned with the goals and future vision of the organization to boost the professional development of both the employees and the organization.?
• Personalized learning programs - Tailor-made solutions should be provided to the employees on the basis of learning gaps. A personalized learning program is better suited for each employee had unique learning styles, needs and past experiences.?
• Experiment with learning methods - Including a multi-sensory approach to learning might be a great idea to cater to the different needs of different learners.?
• Skill-based learning – The learning needs of an employee can be linked to potential growth for future skill development and job enrichment.
• Incentive-based learning – Incentives in the form of certifications, awards and recognitions can be provided to the employees to increase employee engagement for learning initiatives.?
• 360-degree feedback – An employee can receive constant learning needs feedback from peers, self-ratings and higher-ups to understand their work performance and improvement areas.?
• Learning curve tracker - Organizations can keep a learning tracker where they can track the number of learning programs their employees have been a part of and how it has added to their current job role.?
• Creating opportunities for job rotation – The organization should aim at providing a platform to employees for learning new skills on different projects by making a comprehensive learning program. ?

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Need of developing culture of learning–?

People are constantly looking for opportunities to learn and grow. Thus, it becomes imperative to enhance the knowledge and skills of the employees to keep up with an ever-evolving industry. When team members grow within a learning culture, they develop improvement mindsets and pursue opportunities to learn and share knowledge with their teams, which can positively impact the future success of an organization.?

Lastly, no learning program is complete without the right assessment of the program's effectiveness and the right expertise to help you guide through making Learning interventions impactful, engaging and effective. With organizations taking a more involved and assertive approach toward L&D, it is meant to change how people work, interact and grow. After all if learning is a lifetime process, effective workplace learning is no less either. Happy Learning!

-Sunanda Banerjee, Head - Learning and development at Passion Connect.