Make learning a priority
UPSKILL: Cultivating a culture of continuous learning will give your business an edge.
Vast parts of the workforce have needed to acclimatise to a new reality of work over the past 18 months. Asked to work from home during hard lockdowns in 2020, many employees needed to rapidly adapt to using new digital tools and adjust to different modes of collaboration.
This tsunami of change was bound to hit the workforce sooner or later – it just happened faster because of Covid.
What’s more, this trend is not going to disappear.
Automation of business processes and the demands of the digital customer mean this is just the beginning.
In fact, the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Future of Jobs report indicates 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025, as the adoption of technology increases.
Furthermore, WEF estimates that 85 million jobs may be displaced by a shift in the division of labour between humans and machines by 2025. Thriving in this world takes a different kind of person and organisation – the lifelong learner.
A lifelong learner is someone who keeps learning new skills, unlearning old habits and refining existing competencies throughout their life.
They will practice this learning in a continuous fashion, rather than only via formal courses or degrees.
Creating a workforce of lifelong learners and cultivating a culture of continuous learning will give your business an edge in a world of constant change.
Steps you can take towards creating a culture of lifelong learning:
Calibrate recruitment towards finding lifelong learners
Look out for recruits that show initiative and passion when it comes to learning. A good interview question is: “What have you learned recently and how could you apply it to this role?”
Encourage your people to take ownership of learning
While your training and HR department can provide career guidance, people learn best when they take personal responsibility for their development.
Giving employees some freedom in deciding which learning opportunities to pursue and in choosing the pace of their development can help them to succeed. Work with employees to develop timelines. This will give them a sense of control and ownership.
Show learning is a priority
During these challenging times, many employees are carrying heavier burdens of personal responsibility at home and facing fuller inboxes at work. They want to learn, but the idea of finding time to do so can seem daunting. Organisations can encourage them to block time off for learning and rewarding them for the time they invest.
Offer opportunities to learn from peers
Functional and classroom training should be supplemented with other approaches to expand the employee’s skill set. For example, getting people to work in cross-discipline teams can allow cross-pollination of ideas and skills, as well as drive innovation. Peer coaching can expand their access to new ideas. These techniques can prevent people from getting bored, helping with staff retention.
Tailor content and approaches to today’s work reality
One-size-fits-all approaches are not suitable. Training interventions should be designed for specific roles or career inflection points, rather than being tied to the calendar or budget. Formal learning should be fortified with opportunities for mentorship, access to micro-learning content, and self-directed online learning. HR data can be helpful in understanding each employee’s learning journey.