The corporate world is constantly changing. Technology evolves, industries shift and new challenges arise all the time. By focusing on continuous learning in their training programs, companies can keep their employees engaged and position themselves for success in an ever-changing business world.
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Continuous learning helps employees stay updated on new technologies and developments in their field, and build the skills they need to succeed. The format can be formal, such as taking courses or attending conferences, or informal, such as reading blogs or articles.
Why else is continuous learning important? How do you implement it in the workplace? Read on to find out.
Article Roadmap
- What Is Continuous Learning?
- Benefits
- How To Create a Continuous Learning Environment in the Workplace
- Examples
What Is Continuous Learning?
Continuous learning is the practice of developing new skills and knowledge on an ongoing basis. It helps companies upskill and reskill employees by providing a consistent learning framework.
There are many ways to incorporate continuous learning into your training program. Employees can attend seminars or classes, seek external resources such as books, articles and websites, or take up self-paced learning through online learning platforms like Coursera and TalentLMS to expand their knowledge and become more well-rounded.
Allow employees to access online courses from a library. Source
Importance for Employees and Organizations
The corporate training environment has changed significantly in the past few years. The skills gap has increased, and more employees are looking for career development opportunities. At the same time, online content players like learning experience platforms and LMS have come into the limelight.
Continuous learning helps employees develop new skills and polish existing ones to advance their professional careers. By continuously developing new ideas and knowledge in their job responsibilities as well as different disciplines, they can diversify their portfolio and become eligible to take up different job roles in the future.
It also makes organizations more efficient in meeting changing skill needs and trends relevant to their industry. A comprehensive, adaptable, ongoing training program encourages employees to develop fresh perspectives, navigate new career paths and excel in their current roles at all times.
Primary Benefits
For the Organization
- Reduces employee turnover
- Helps identify and address skill gaps
- Reduces the cost of replacing employees by re- or upskilling existing ones
- Instills a sense of value among staff members
- Gives a competitive advantage in the marketplace
For the Individual
- Helps develop new skills to make learners competent
- Opens doors to opportunities for new career paths
- Builds new perspectives among the workforce
- Increases the chance of promotions and incentives
- Enhances engagement in the workplace
How To Create a Continuous Learning Environment
In a report by Pew Research, 63% of employees said they quit their jobs due to few or no training opportunities. The absence of a strong learning culture impacts organizations negatively. Disengaged employees and unhappy customers make companies more liable to fall behind their competitors.
A continuous learning environment enables employees to work on personal and professional development and map new possibilities through ongoing training. It prepares them to do their jobs well and steer the organization forward.
Here are some ways you can practice continuous learning in the workplace.
1. Prepare Leaders
In a LinkedIn report, 91% of employees said it’s important for managers to inspire learning and experimentation. Effective leadership motivates employees to work hard and take their performance to the next level. It motivates them to participate in L&D initiatives, take up various job roles and achieve new milestones.
Encourage your staff members to grow their talents by training senior appointees to lead by example. Prepare them to become effective role models for employees and provide mentorship to fuel their career development plans.
2. Set Learning Goals
It’s easier for employees to channel their efforts when working towards a specific goal. Keep them informed of company aims and objectives, and build a plan of action to achieve them in a set time frame.
If you use an online learning platform, you can also reward learners with gamification elements, like badges and certificates, and allow them to showcase their achievements on the company leaderboard.
3. Provide Time and Resources
When creating a training program for a dispersed workforce, you must ensure that it’s accessible to your employees no matter where they are. If employees have all the relevant resources at their fingertips whenever they need them, they’re encouraged to keep their learning efforts consistent, no matter where or when they interact with the training material.
You can build personalized learning paths for each employee, provide them with necessary equipment like earphones and laptops, and give access to educational material via subscriptions and memberships.
Encourage your team to take advantage of all the resources available to them, and make sure they have the time and support they need to complete training programs.
4. Share Feedback
One key element in an effective continuous learning program is constructive feedback. It’s essential to keep employees aware of their progress, so they can find ways to nurture their talents and address challenges.
You can share real-time progress reports for each learner on their dashboard, which they can use to evaluate their performance and implement key takeaways to improve learning outcomes. You can also meet students individually in a physical classroom, or host a virtual session to discuss their performance and address their concerns about the training program.
Keep learners informed about their progress on a personalized dashboard. Source
Examples
Continuous learning can take place in many ways, depending on each employee’s learning style, job role and specialization. Here are some examples.
Formal
Learning occurs through a fixed schedule of organized initiatives designed to reach a common goal. Some examples of formal continuous education include Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), workshops and professional certifications.
Benefits
- Improves teamwork, with all employees focused on achieving a common goal
- Makes it easier to track each learner’s progress based on uniform assessment criteria
- Ensures efficient use of time by fixing a schedule for each day of the training period
Social
As the name suggests, learning occurs when employees collaborate by sharing ideas, discussing problems and working with each other to develop their skills. Community forums, on-the-job training and coaching are popular types of social learning.
Learners can connect using messaging and video calling tools. Source
Benefits
- Paves the way for natural learning, without external factors influencing learner behavior
- Improves knowledge retention as it relies on practical learning
- Encourages collaboration among employees by allowing them to share ideas, discuss and resolve issues and stay connected
Hybrid
Hybrid learning, also called blended learning, provides employees with an engaging and flexible online and offline learning experience. Training takes place simultaneously in both face-to-face interactions and remote lessons, and participants can stay in touch with each other at all times.
Benefits
- Helps learners learn in their preferred medium without being tied to time or location constraints
- Makes learning interesting by introducing digital elements like game-based tools and interactive modules into the curriculum
- Allows all participants to keep in touch with each other even after class hours to collaborate freely
Self-directed
As the name suggests, this type of learning enables employees to learn at their own pace, based on their personal schedules and training needs. It lets them choose when and how they want to interact with the eLearning content without being tied to a formal schedule or standard routine.
Benefits
- Improves critical thinking so employees can better understand their strengths and weaknesses
- Offers a flexible schedule for learners with different learning styles and preferences to adapt to the training program at their own pace
- Allows learners to set goals based on their progress levels and how they want to improve
In Summary
Continuous learning is a habit that can pay off in many ways. Not only does it make your employees more knowledgeable, but it can also help them land better jobs, earn more money and reach their goals.
If your employees are not already in the habit of continuous learning, there’s no time like the present to start. Considering using an LMS? Try our free Jumpstart Platform to compare top market solutions based on your business needs.
So, are you ready to add continuous learning to your training program? Share your thoughts in the comment section below!