The Value of Having a Culture of Continuous Learning

Today, employees are demanding more frequent and readily accessible development opportunities. In fact, 76% of millennials say that professional development opportunities are one of the most important elements of company culture. Organizations neglecting these requests are seeing higher turnover rates and lower engagement and performance rates. Positive organizations on the other hand, are responding by enabling continuous learning resources, helping their employees reach their potential, and inspiring success. To stay relevant, organizations must shift their focus from having a training culture, to having a culture of continuous learning.

Training Culture vs. A Culture of Continuous Learning

In a traditional training culture, managers are responsible for the development of their employees. This can put a big stress on their shoulders. In a culture of continuous learning, employees, managers, and teams are all responsible for the development of their employees. In a training culture, we see competition between departments for information. In a culture of continuous learning, all valuable information is shared between departments. It is important for employees from one department to understand and learn from the successes or failures of another department. In a training culture, training and development initiatives are evaluated based on completion, even though we all know, completion doesn’t equal learning. In a culture of continuous learning, training and development initiatives are evaluated based on the knowledge gained, and the direct impact it has on organizational performance.

How Can Your Organization Work Towards A Culture of Continuous Learning?

To instill a culture of continuous learning you will need to first make sure the right learning content is in place to further develop your employees. Next, you will need to make sure that these materials are available to employees when they need it. Automated personalized learning can help deliver relevant content to your employees. More strategies that can lead to a culture of continuous learning are listed below.

• Let employees take charge of their learning. Let them opt in!
• Coach your managers on mentoring skills and make mentoring a norm.
• Encourage constant feedback loops.
• Introduce a mobile learning platform so that employees can learn anytime, anywhere.
• Encourage exploration, innovation, and risk taking.
• Introduce a social learning strategy so that employees can learn from their peers!
• Create an incentive or recognition system to further engage learners.

Benefits of Having A Culture of Continuous Learning

How will the strategies above impact your organization? Below, I list some of the benefits of having a culture of continuous learning.

• A commitment to learning is a commitment to an organization’s employees. This leads to more respected, secure and satisfied employees.
• Learning opportunities that put learners in the driver’s seat lead employees to develop a growth mindset. Employees develop a sense of ownership, accountability, and pride in their own development. Having more committed and engaged employees, in turn, reduces turnover.
• A focus on continuous learning increases efficiency, productivity, and profit for the organization.
• A culture of continuous learning also enhances the ability of employees to adapt to organizational change.

There are clear benefits of a culture of continuous learning. After all, a learning organization is a growing organization!