How Can You Make Your Company Employees Lifelong Learners?

Companies made up of lifelong learners adapt faster to dynamic industries and offer innovative solutions for markets. In this article, we'll talk about why learning should be a corporate priority and how you can turn employees into lifelong learners.

Why Continuous Learning and Development Should Be the Priority of Managers?

There are several reasons why managers make L&D (Learning and Development) an ongoing priority, both for manager and employee.

• For established companies, the ability to learn and adapt to change is at the core of success in the business world. Otherwise, new companies will identify and serve previously unrecognized needs and markets, and will replace what we call deeply rooted companies.
• Continuous development of employees is critical in order to maximize the impact of periodic changes in companies. The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest and most concrete example of this. Stumbling economies, social upheavals, disasters, earthquakes, epidemics - these are all events that are impossible to predict and can happen at any moment. Employees who are called lifelong learners mean qualified employees who can quickly recognize changing situations, adapt and succeed despite unforeseen events.
• Lifelong learners tend to be more committed to their jobs. It is absolutely clear that companies that see learning as a natural part of the job are benefiting from higher employee engagement.
• High levels of employee development and corporate training are fast becoming an important differentiating factor among companies competing to differentiate themselves from their competitors. Potential employees want to work for companies that value lifelong learning. Employees in companies with a healthy learning environment report higher satisfaction and job satisfaction.
• In the past, companies have sought to hire high-performing people. However, hiring and firing costs have become unsustainable, and an unhealthy work culture has developed among employees.

From the employees' perspective, it is clear that individuals want and need to continue learning new skills, knowledge and abilities. Therefore, they prefer employers that encourage a healthy learning environment and respond to their learning desires.

While university degrees are important, lifelong learning is essential to an individual's professional success. The world continues to change, and in this process, learning is the only solution to rapidly developing economic and technological disruptions.

How Can You Create a Lifelong Learning Culture in Your Company?

Managers should listen to what employees think about internal learning. Employees talk among themselves about how they applied the concepts in their learning programs and what they failed and tried again. If managers observe that employees do not talk about these issues, or hear employees use terms such as "I don't have time for this training," they may understand that they do not have a culture of lifelong learning.

To create a culture of lifelong learning, as managers, you must:

• Make learning a corporate priority. Institutional strategy and objectives should include clauses that emphasize and require learning.
• Demonstrate the importance and value of learning to employees by recognizing and rewarding employees who use and apply what they have learned.
• Create formal and informal environments where employees can learn.
• Create learning opportunities that occur in the workflow.
• Invest in L&D departments to teach employees how to learn. Most employees are accustomed to directly obtaining the information they need to acquire skills. Employees who gain a culture of lifelong learning guide and take ownership of their learning, understand what options are available for learning and how to use them most effectively.
• Build learning paths to help employees approach their short- and long-term professional goals, based on organizational skills and future market needs.
• Model learning behaviors and benefit from the development of learning processes and tools.

A Company of Lifelong Learning Employees

Having a reading list, one of the many requirements that make up the promotion process in the U.S. Navy, is emphasized by many professionals inside and outside the Marine Corps. Jim Mattis, former commander of the U.S. Navy, said, “If you haven't read hundreds of books, you're functionally illiterate and incompetent because your personal experiences alone aren't enough to sustain you.” he said. This demonstrates that lifelong learning is an essential feature in the Navy. In addition to the value of reading, companies can leverage the following practices to build an employee group of lifelong learners:

• Provide microlearning options for reminder content that builds learning habits.
• The future of learning is not in the classroom, it is discovering ways to do it better while doing business. Companies need to provide learning opportunities in the workflow.
• Leaders need to be role models in desired behaviors. In other words, learn, share what you have learned with your employees and cooperate actively with your employees in the learning process.
• Reward employees who logically calculate risks, learn from their mistakes, and don't get discouraged by their failures.
• Reward learning. Highlight those who have completed formal or semi-formal education and training programmes.
• Build a culture where learning is part of the job. This way, your employees will not see learning as an additional burden to their work.
• Encourage informal learning paths such as self-directed learning and social learning.
• Make learning interesting and raise awareness of education and learning options.
• Change the L&D team to make learning easier.

Final Thoughts

Lifelong learners can adapt more quickly to dynamic situations and evolving business needs. They are more capable of uncovering innovations that can revolutionize industries. Companies made up of lifelong learners will be more successful, profitable and resilient in the face of today's volatile business environment.