How to create a culture of continuous learning in your organisation
If you're looking to create a culture of continuous learning within your organisation, this blog will help you do just that.
Traditionally, corporate learning has been all about attending classroom courses, completing endless assessments and taking part in lengthy learning experiences. But that is no longer the way we innately learn.
Many forward-thinking L&D teams are moving away from this approach, and looking towards a culture of continuous learning moments. But what exactly does this mean?
What is continuous learning?
Continuous learning is exactly what it sounds like: learning new skills on a continuous basis. This can either be on a personal level or within an organisation - and obviously, as a Learning Platform for business, we're interested in the latter.
Why is continuous learning important?
There are so many reasons to make continuous learning a priority within your organisation. Firstly, it's crucial for employee retention. A Harvard Business Review report from 2022 emphasised its importance, with 86% of professionals reporting that they would leave their current positions if a new company offered them more opportunities for professional development.
On top of this, it helps with employee performance and allows teams to function better. The same report from Harvard Business Review cited that employees who are offered learning and development opportunities have a 34% higher retention rate than those who aren't.
So how can you practise continuous learning within your organisation, and make sure everyone has the learning and development opportunities they need to do their jobs well?
How to create a culture of continuous learning
We teamed up with Sumo Digital (creators of Sonic Racing, Little Big Planet and Sack Boy) for a webinar to see how they’re fostering an environment where learning happens every day and personal development is a natural element of every job role.
Building the right environment for growth
People learn at different phases of their career and have different needs for learning. To create learning moments, it’s all about providing an environment that empowers people to grow in their own time, rather than when the company dictates.
The first step is getting the right resources together so your people can find the answers they need, when they need them. This was absolutely essential in Sumo Digital’s quest to foster self-led learning and learning in the flow of work.
It was no longer about pushing training content, but allowing it to be discovered when it’s required. When putting their content strategy together, Sumo Digital's L&D Manager Jenny Muhlwa asked a few questions:
- Can you encourage UGC (user generated content)?
- Which experts can get involved?
- What free content can you curate?
- What elearning do you need to buy?
- Are there any gaps you need to fill?
Harnessing the power of UGC with Thrive was a catalyst for transformation at Sumo Digital. In just 6 months, they had nearly 1,500 pieces of user generated content which gave their learners a library of resources, all built up from knowledge already in their organisation.
Using the right tools
The next step was making their resources easy to find. Jenny shared some of the tools that helped them drive engagement:
Campaigns: Using campaigns to set an agenda for relevant content or learning initiatives really helps guide your users and provide a focus. Changing your campaigns regularly also helps learners to return regularly for updates on the next new theme.
Tagging: Sumo Digital uses tags in Thrive to organise and label their content, so it’s easy to find.
Personalisation and machine learning: AI will surface and recommend relevant content to each individual based on their skills, interests and behaviour. This means they’re served the right content at the right time.
Social interaction: Drive engagement with discussions and comments and enable your people to share useful resources with others around your business.
Powerful search: This makes all your content discoverable. It’s what we turn to when finding answers in our personal lives, so why not replicate those experiences at work too?
Time and headspace
You’re all set up, now how do you actually get your employees to take ownership of their learning journey?
It starts with giving them autonomy and creating the headspace for learning. Sumo Digital rolled out a new initiative offering five personal development days a year dedicated to career development and personal growth that employees can take whenever they want. This empowers your people and gives them the go ahead to spend time on learning when they see fit.
Want to watch the full video? Take a tour around Sumo Digital's Learning Platform to see how you can create the right environment for growth too. Download the full webinar and watch it in your own time.
