How many times have you heard that it’s a good practice to learn something new every day? Adding new skills, learning new things, and being introduced to new ideas, all of that helps keep our brains healthy and active. But it’s also a good philosophy to adopt at work.
Creating a learning-based culture for your company means encouraging your team to continue adding to their skills, trying new things and growing as people and employees.
Here’s how to embrace this culture and see the benefits for everyone:
Work to develop personalized learning goals and systems.
This can be based on a job description, title, or level of expertise. Depending on what a person does or how skilled they are already, your company can establish goals for each year to help advance a person’s abilities. This keeps their skills fresh and shows that you’re invested in them as a person while benefiting from their new abilities.
Embrace the concept from the top down.
Get everyone in on the importance of learning and trying new things. From the owner or CEO on down, encourage everyone to attend workshops or conferences or to take classes or online training. Encourage upper management to talk about the benefits they’ve received and the fun they had while learning something new, especially if they’ve been in the industry for a while. Learning is for everyone!
Provide feedback on a regular basis.
As each employee goes through a training course, or completes a section of a new program, schedule a short conversation to see how it went. Learn what they liked and didn’t and whether they feel confident in what they’ve been taught. Be encouraging and offer positive reinforcement. If you’ve noticed a positive difference in their work or their mindset while on the job, mention it! People can feel frustrated when they’re not doing anything to keep their skills fresh at work; allowing them to continue to learn and develop skills might make a big change in their attitude.
Hire curious people.
Younger employees have more to learn than their seasoned counterparts, but some might not want to feel out of line by asking for help or instruction. By hiring curious people and establishing, from the start, that they are encouraged to raise their hands and ask questions, and to ask for more training, you’ll start to create an environment in which these things are normal, welcomed and not penalized. That acceptance is so important when you’re trying to embrace a learning culture.
Reward a job well done.
The most important thing you might learn is how well people respond to praise for doing their jobs. If you want to incentivize and motivate learning, and you want to embrace that culture across your whole company, shine a light on the employees who follow through. It can be as simple as a congratulatory email or a notification to the group when someone reaches a new skill level; it can be actual rewards for the group like a party when everyone has completed a training.
Ready to add talented people to your group? Sterling Personnel can help!
A learning-based culture is a shift for most workplaces, but it’s one that can be done in a manageable and exciting way. Learning how to make that change is your first step!
If you’re looking for other ideas on how to cultivate a learning-based culture, or if you’re ready to bring on new employees to help set the tone, call Sterling Personnel. We’re ready to help usher in this new era for your company.
