We live in an ever-changing, past-faced global economic environment where the skills and knowledge necessary to set an organization apart from its competition are constantly evolving. Companies across the United States spent over $100 billion on training in 2022 alone, but unfortunately, many organizations find it hard to achieve a meaningful return on that investment.
Engaging Employees in Training
Unless employees are engaged in training efforts, much of that massive investment can end up being wasted, but you can engage employees in a number of ways, including closely linking the training material to an employee’s job duties and real-life challenges, tying completion of training courses to career advancement, and making training materials easy to access for individual learners. All of these factors are part of what’s known as a culture of learning.
A culture of learning is created when employee learning and development are woven into the fabric of the corporate culture.
Leveraging a Culture of Learning
Companies with a culture of learning are deliberate about providing employees with the resources, support, and tools they need to achieve their professional goals while encouraging innovation and knowledge-sharing.
In this type of company culture, employees have access to educational opportunities that range from formal training courses to online resources such as tutorials and webinars. It’s also about creating an atmosphere that encourages collaboration and conversation, as well as providing rewards for successful learning outcomes.
Developing a culture of learning, like any major cultural shift, requires deliberate planning and a lot of work, but the results are worth the effort.
“Having learning at the center of a company’s culture enables employees to be integral in the trajectory of their own careers,” says Zee Johnson in an article for HRO Today. “This separates companies with fulfilled and connected employees from those that struggle with disconnected workers.”
In a follow-up post, we’ll discuss some tips for developing a culture of learning that can be applied to virtually any organization.
Lin Grensing-Pophal is a Contributing Editor at HR Daily Advisor.