Why is having a continuous learning framework important?

Big changes to an organisation like digital transformation and hybrid working often make it necessary for employees to learn new skills. They will likely have to keep up to date with new project management tools or other communication tools they need to stay in contact even when working remotely. 

A continuous learning framework can also help you to close the digital skills gap. A study in 2022 found that only 32% of Gen Z employees felt well-equipped with the resources to learn digital skills. 

While some employees will be able to teach themselves these new skills, either through hands-on experience or online tutorials, others will probably need more assistance when learning to use new technology. Either way, allowing your employees to gain skills helps your business to stay innovative and ahead of the curve when there are new changes in your industry. Below are 10 ideas for creating a continuous learning framework or improving on your current one.

Encourage social learning

One simple way to encourage continuous learning is by making it social. This is possible even for companies relying on hybrid or remote workers if you all have the right communication tools like video conferencing and instant messaging in place. One of the best ways to retain information is by teaching others what you’ve learnt, so allowing more confident employees to teach others can not only boost their confidence but help them to remember what they’ve learned. Some instant social messaging platforms allow employees to create their own groups, which you can use to build learning or interest groups. This is particularly useful if your employees are having to troubleshoot new technology or are collectively working on solutions to difficult problems as part of a team.

Teach peer-to-peer coaching

Social learning relates to peer-to-peer coaching. This form of coaching could include shadowing another employee on a task or encouraging employees to volunteer to teach a class or provide a training course to more junior staff. Allowing your staff to share their skills can also help them to build their own confidence in their abilities, as well as strengthen bonds with other departments or team members they don’t usually speak to.

Take advantage of hybrid working

Having your remote working employees in the office for a few days each week can help them stay updated about any changes in real time. It also means that they have the chance to work out issues in person with their manager or colleagues, therefore potentially speeding up any problem-solving processes. 

By keeping some aspects of learning in-person, you’re also helping employees to build personal connections, enabling them to share learning goals and progress with their colleagues. For your fully remote working employees, however, you could live stream training workshops to help foster discussion and engagement. You might also have some e-learning courses in place that use gamification to make learning more fun and interesting.

Keep learning relevant to the interests of employees

Each employee will have their own professional development goals. They will be able to see what they need to improve on and will probably have some ideas as to how they want to get there. While goals are often unique to the employee, it’s worth bearing in mind the digital skills gap and how many employees feel like they do not have the right skills to cope in a modern workplace that requires knowledge about coding, digital communication and other emerging technologies.

Identify skills gaps and room for improvement

You’ll probably also want to identify where your employees could hone their skills, or make them more relevant to changes in your business. This might also involve preparing your employees for ongoing change, which is especially crucial considering many people are resistant to change without the right support. Some employees might be afraid of failing, particularly if the skills they need to learn are completely new to them. By breaking down learning into small, modular training sessions, you can help them feel more comfortable with transitioning over to new responsibilities. 

Help employees to understand why continuous learning is important

It makes sense that educating your employees about the importance of continuous learning can also be of great benefit to your business. This could involve providing information about how training courses are worthwhile and will benefit everyone. Employees will likely be interested to know how it will boost their career development, so explaining how continuous learning can contribute to that may keep them interested and engaged. You might offer them a certification at the end of a training course, or sign them up to courses with specialist coaches or educators so they come back to the workplace with the best possible training.

Make continuous learning company policy

You might want to build a sense of regularity in employee learning and development by ensuring that they have a couple of hours of learning each week. If this is too much for your organisation, you may find that a few hours each month are enough to keep employee skills relevant for the future of their role and industry.

Provide regular feedback

Continuous learning also involves providing continuous feedback. This could be as simple as providing a result at the end of an online training course, or a performance review. By providing your employees with regular feedback rather than feedback over only a few performance reviews a year, you can get your employees used to receiving and working with feedback. Some people are more sensitive to criticism than others, so constructive criticism balanced with positive reinforcement can be a great way to keep employees feeling supported and useful even when they’re learning new skills they might find challenging.

Teach employees how to provide feedback to each other

While you might be used to providing top-down feedback, encouraging employees to share feedback with each other can also develop continuous learning. Not only will this help employees to grow, but it also gives employees the skills to listen to each other better and communicate sensitively with each other. Showing employees how to provide feedback to each other without being aggressive or insensitive can also help strengthen team relationships.

Have a reward programme in place for continuous learning

Rewarding employees in small ways for their continuous learning can be a good way to keep them motivated. You could provide someone with a shout-out on social media for their hard work, or make them employee of the month. For employees that have really excelled at continuous learning, you might reward them with a bonus or promotion, especially if they have developed the right skills to move on to a role with more responsibility.

With these 10 points in mind, you’ll hopefully be better equipped to develop your continuous learning strategy. Educating your employees about the importance of continuous learning, as well as looking into what best suits individuals and teams, can go a long way. Making employee learning and development both routine and social can help solidify information and make it more enjoyable overall.