Would it surprise you if we told you that “93% of employees say they will stay longer at a company when that company invests in their career development?” Yeah, we weren’t surprised either! Learning and development programs are directly related to greater employee retention and satisfaction. Not only do employees feel valued and supported, but they are also receiving training that leads to greater productivity.
From our experience, we’ve found the biggest challenge for employers is creating a learning and development environment that helps their employees succeed. In order to create this environment, you need to know what you’re creating, having a goal in mind makes it all more worthwhile. So, let’s dive deeper into what learning and development means, and how you can start implementing it into your company culture!
Learning and development (L&D), also known as training and development, is a part of HR that aligns employee goals and performance with that of the organization. Whoever is in charge of learning and development within your organization needs to identify skill gaps within teams and develop and deliver training to help bridge those gaps.
A learning and development team typically takes on a few responsibilities. These include:
This can seem daunting for any human resources department. Creating effective Learning and Development initiatives is one of the many ways that Culture Works partners with companies. We are experts in learning and development and are here to help your business grow and succeed in this arena.
Understanding the difference between skills and behaviors will help you tailor your programs to ensure employee success. Skills are typically straightforward to learn and can be easily transferred in an online teaching environment.
Changes in behavior are more complex. How people act in specific circumstances, like high-pressure situations, is more challenging to teach. Teaching the ‘why’ behind behaviors helps to promote a greater learning environment. You must teach your employees how you would like them to conduct themselves in the workplace.
For example, if you have a collaborative, candid environment, you would do well to give employees the skills to be candid, accept honest feedback, and collaborate with teams. Understanding how your corporate culture meshes with your employees’ communication styles will define your company’s overall approach to learning.
It is said that company culture changes start from the top down, and while that is true (without high-level buy-in any culture initiative will fail), it is also essential to engage your middle management. If your mid-level managers do not understand the importance of learning and development, their direct reports will never completely buy-in. Middle managers need to know that the learning and development programs are designed to help keep employee skills up to date, and prepare their employees for potential growth opportunities.
Managers can serve as a mentor to their employees, performing the training programs, and following up after. When employees take the time to develop new skills, it makes them a better contributor to the team and gives them the opportunity to act as a team player. When managers understand this, they will buy-in.
In everything you do, it’s important to assess the results. These assessments will give you the information you need to build a better program and keep your employees motivated.
Employee surveys are a great way to assess your efforts. Start with an assessment to establish benchmarks in areas like knowledge and performance. Once you have the base assessment, you can base your further efforts on the evaluation. These will help you uncover the impact of the program on retention, internal mobility, business results, and other factors that lead to success.
It’s also important to assess employee response to your efforts. Are employees taking advantage of the provided opportunities? Are they utilizing the online resources? If not, you may need to change course.
As we stated above, most culture changes stop from the top. When your high-level executives understand how a learning environment will impact the company’s bottom-line they are more likely to encourage other employees to participate.
Your leadership team must be excited about these initiatives and model the behavior they want performed throughout the company. Top executives should also encourage employees throughout this process.
It should be communicated that it’s perfectly okay to fail. Failing leads to learning. When employees are given permission to fail, they are more likely to take good risks and experiment with their education.
In order to be a company that values a learning culture, you should put more emphasis on KSAs (knowledge, skills, and abilities) rather than KPIs. Employees should be encouraged to better themselves in order to contribute to the greater success of the business.
It’s important for employees to understand that learning and experimenting with new skills in the workplace is encouraged as well as expected. Empowering employees to take the initiative in their development is one of the best ways to help your employees and your company grow.
It is essential that you continuously communicate your goals with your team members. Culture is organizational, you must ensure each employee recognizes the value of learning to both them as an individual and the business as a whole.
It’s important to share your ideas and philosophies surrounding learning in the workplace to ensure your employees understand where you’re coming from. It should be an integral part of your employee’s and company values.
At Culture Works we value the opportunity to help businesses implement learning and development programs into their company culture. Our team of experts is ready to partner with your team to build greater organizational success. Contact us today to get started working with our stellar team!