With employee attraction and retention becoming an intense challenge, one way to stay ahead is to deliver a workplace that provides opportunity for growth and learning. Employees today have more choices than ever on where and how they work. And, these choices make it hard for organizations to meet all the demands from candidates and employees. However, there is one area that consistently rises to the top of employee wants: an opportunity to learn.
Today’s employees are concerned with broadening skills sets, updating skill sets and staying current as roles, responsibilities and technologies evolve.
What’s an employer to do? Deliver a learning culture. You may be thinking, “That’s easy. We have plenty of training programs.” That may be true, but do you offer a learning culture. That’s different.
What is a Learning Workplace Culture?
A learning culture supports a growth mindset. Employees want to improve current skills, learn new skills, and be exposed to new learning and growth activities on a regular basis. This includes everything from strong onboarding plans, training and career paths to regular career conversations with management and exposure to other opportunities within the company. Without development opportunities, employees may get bored or feel unimportant if they aren’t offered a chance to grow. When you demonstrate interest in an employee’s future, it proves your commitment to them as a valued member of the team.
What are the Benefits of a Learning Culture?
Benefits of a learning culture go far beyond the obvious notion of making sure people have the skills they need to perform their job successfully. Additional benefits include:
- Better recruitment and retention rates
- Building pools of new skills
- Filling skills gaps within your organization
- Boosting employee morale and engagement
- Raising employee productivity
- More promotion from within by offering career paths
- Keeping your company and employees current
How to Build a Learning Culture
- Get leadership support – A learning culture needs top-down support, resources, encouragement and belief. This not only helps employees get on board, but trust that their interest and effort in learning are valued.
- Hire lifelong learners – Work to find ambitious individuals that are not only willing, but want to keep learning throughout their career.
- Use technology – There are many ways to incorporate technology into your learning programs. Things like online coaching and Learning Management Systems (LMS) can make launching, building, tracking and enhancing programs easier.
- Personalize learning paths – Everyone may have unique requirements when it comes to learning, and that’s great. Build programs that can easily be adjusted based on individual needs to provide the greatest impact.
- Encourage training time – This is important. Allow time to learn. It’s so easy to get caught up in daily work, that learning often becomes forgotten or something that an employee only has time for outside of work – and that is not the intent of a learning culture.
- Reward learning – When employees take the time and initiative to better themselves, make sure to acknowledge the effort. Figure out and share how that learning will ultimately impact their career success.
It’s easy to see the value of developing, offering and embracing a Learning Culture. However, it’s not a one-and-done activity. To be truly authentic in your commitment to learning and growth, you must give your learning programs and initiatives ongoing attention, review and updates. Fight the “Great Resignation” with a plan and action to implement and deliver a learning culture in your organization.
To learn more about Zywave’s LMS, check it out here.
