Learning and development (L&D) in the workplace have always played a critical role in the fast-changing world. It has taken on a prominent role in the hybrid workplace. It has also forced the development of learning prototypes rapidly.
By learning new skills, you can stay ahead and keep well-informed about industry trends. However, knowing something new-fangled at work can come across as a challenge to some. Let’s understand why workplace learning is essential and how you can simplify the learning curve, ensuring continuous growth and learning.
Why is learning important in the workplace?
Developing new skills is no easy feat, so can it be avoided? Unfortunately, the answer to that is a loud no!
Developing new skills is crucial for several reasons. Acquiring new skills is necessary for improving leadership and building a positive and healthy work culture. In addition, upskilling employees can also help companies avoid the costs they can incur from lack of communication, absenteeism, low quality work, and ultimately losing good talent.
Have you ever given a thought, why are learning and development important for employees? Given the shift in balance the pandemic has created, learning in the workplace, regardless of their industry or market position, is among the top five priorities for most organizations. Hence, in these cases, Learning and Development must be more strategic and proactive to ensure holistic development.
While the nature of work and workplaces were already changing, the pandemic has fast-forwarded many aspects of the upcoming work. We are at the inception of a new era of work. The recent shift to work remotely has driven the human race to reimagine how businesses and people operate when virtual meetings are the only way to go.
Despite all the challenges, the new normal is to provide an opportunity to improve them wherever they are. The path forward is definitely “Hybrid Workplace.”
Benefits of learning and development in the workplace
Every day all you need is just 15 minutes to obtain new expert skills. But why is learning new things important, particularly at work? Well, the benefits are ample.
While you are trying to handle the constant change during this pandemic, learning and development in the workplace can help you keep up with the industry trends and stay pertinent. Adding new skills is sure to help you stay alert and very sharp. Finally, you can maintain stable psychological health and sturdiness.
Many employees want to have better skills at work. But how does that happen? And what is the most significant way to go about it? Unfortunately, there’s no easy answer to this. Of course, You can’t attain the skills needed for work by simply reading or observing others.
You cannot become a pro golfer by reading books on golf or watching tournaments on TV. One can’t just expect to learn new skills at work by attending one-time training programs. One must also be aligned, committed, and desire the change; they need feedback and practice to develop the skills.
How to improve training and development in the workplace
Encourage a mindset of learning
Encouraging and boosting yourself to learn and upskill yourself at the most needed time will help you grow and automatically evolve. All you need is to embrace yourself with the change and set your mind to learn.
Begin the Learning Process Right
If you are interested in molding yourself and learning a new skill set at your workplace, treat it as an initiative to the change and not as an event or forced task. Your learning should start with high relevance to the business or job, people, and your industry.
It is all up to you to build your skills. In your own interest, it is best to invest time and energy to learn fresh skills compared to all the other priorities on your plate. You will personally have to understand how new skills will take you to net steps at work, your team, and the organization as a whole.
Break It Down Into Micro Behaviors
Once your business case for upgrading your skills is clear, break down your desired skills into micro-behaviors. They should be directly associated with the desired outcome of your performance. For example, to learn how to hit an appealing serve in tennis, you need to break down your learning.
- Have the proper posture
- Use the suitable grip technique
- Toss the ball decorously
- Twist, bend your knees, and punch the racquet to gather verve
- Hit the ball at the top
- Follow from side to side
Create a New Habit with Micro Behaviors
There will be excellent outcomes when your new behaviors turn out to be a habit. If you want to create new habits, the best way is to couple up your behavior with a cue and then practice them repeatedly. For example, if your team meetings need to be more beneficial,
- The first and foremost skill would be preparing an agenda.
- The cue would be the setting up of a meeting.
- The micro behavior would be detailing the agenda.
- Then spend the initial portion of the following meeting discussing key points on the previous meeting with the meeting attendees. This way, every new meeting will soon become easier to be conducted, and the behavior will become a routine or a habit.
Subsequently, you can focus on the meeting facilitation skills like how to focus on the topic, how to cope with the conflict and how to stick to timings, and more. One skill builds upon another will soon make your meetings more productive.
Impart skills that are lacking
Sometimes, all it takes is imparting knowledge that there is a better way to do things, such as learning how certification could help you develop yourself and hone. Do a SWOT analysis, get to learn where you are lagging, and focus on the skills to develop yourself.
Learn one skill at a time. It is vital that you set a short-term learning goal and learn one by one to master it. Also, it is relatively not an easy feat to learn and upskill. But it is very crucial. So keep updating yourself.
Apply what you have learned
You should not stop with just learning. You will have to apply whatever you have learned in your workplace for your betterment. It could be anything like problem-solving skills, time management, or any technical skills. Let the organization discover the skills that you have acquired newly.
Unless you apply your skills, there is no way that your organization knows your capability. So, keep yourself updated and keep showing up when your teammate or organization needs your help.
Accept feedback
It is vital that you accept feedback from your higher officials about how you have been performing and improving yourself in the areas you lack. Feedback in the right spirit should always be well received- especially if you are looking forward to learning and growing.
While learning and development in the workplace are essential, it is equally important to accept the feedback positively to improve you in the workplace when there is an obstacle in learning a new skill.
The Bottom Line
You are the difference! You can bring in change in the organization by bringing change in yourself. Focus, time and energy are the thumb rules to learn and develop the inner you.
As companies are looking for the best out of their employees and work with maximum efficiency, learning and development is the need of the hour. They can give a company a competitive advantage, improve work culture, and even positively affect its bottom line.
As you transit to a hybrid workplace, you may face unfamiliar work situations when brainstorming, collaborating, and problem-solving. To meet these challenges, see if your organization leverages training and continuous learning. There are organizations like Texila in virtual collaboration and offering learning environments with significantly more options than traditional in-person complements.
As the avenues for traditional upskilling are ruptured, there is a lot of shift towards on-the-job learning, training, mentoring, and cross-functional live projects. While the company does not mandate non-structured learning, it is a crucial part of learning in any hybrid workplace. It can give more insights into interest areas, study patterns, and also engaging formats.
And now, it is your turn! If you have assured to learn and upskill yourself, then it is time to go ahead and hone yourself. Also, you need to know if you are in the proper organization where you get the opportunity to improve your skills through learning and development.
In the context of remote working, businesses are becoming more conscious of dwindling engagement levels among workforces. Social learning is becoming a much ordinate part of the agenda and is an effective approach.
Update the skills required in the workplace. All the best!