Here is Why You Need to Build a Learning-centred Approach at Workplace Learning helps to entice the crème de la crème talent and gives your people the tool they need to grow and make your business grow

With decades of experience in working with people and running a successful organization, I have time and again believed that the true growth of an organization depends on its people! Investing in building a learning culture at an early stage helps not just large businesses but also entrepreneurs and startups to meet their goals, vision, and mission of the organization.

Building a learning culture or cultivating a learning-centred approach at a workplace is significant. This will help to entice the crème de la crème talent and give your people the tools they need to grow and make your business grow. Any organization with a learning culture organically encourages a continuous learning process, promoting individuals to consistently learn and elevate their performance thereby opening new opportunities for the organization to transform continuously and march towards improvement.

There are multiple advantages to inculcating a learning culture in an organization, some of them are:

· Employee satisfaction

· A substantial increase in competence, productivity, and profits

· Creates a culture of knowledge sharing and innovation

· Learning goals are aligned with the organization's vision and mission

Creating a learning culture to drive business goals and organizational growth should be a continuous and well-planned activity. It involves taking a few steps back to see the big picture and rearrange or reorganize the pegs to ensure a holistic approach is adopted. Some of the key areas to focus on are:

People

The passion for your people, clients, customers should be the primary focus. An investment in bridging the skills gap needed to elevate your employees and their performance. Continuous learning motivates employees on both professional and personal fronts. Although, learning should be kept relevant to the area of work or line of business for employees to succeed, I would highly recommend that an overall development plan or career development plan is charted out to ensure your employees are well equipped to handle them and take your client's requirements and customers satisfaction to a whole new level - Instant and quick scaling up will become organic and come more naturally to them.

Knowledge

Today linking your competency and skills with organizational goals and objectives is considered the most relevant step to take towards an organization's growth. Training and development teams need to ensure they are in pace with the swift changes in not just technology but also the development of soft skills and other competencies required to A) develop a culture of innovation B) Timely Sharing of Knowledge

Methodology

Experiential Learning is all about experiencing multiple forms of learning. Organizations today have a variety of learning techniques or methodologies to choose from. We no longer just rely on classroom training and on the job training but have leapt ahead by venturing into Outbound training, blended learning, e-learning, micro-learning, theatre-based learning or just learning based on fun activities. The methodology used to train needs to be one that enhances the performance of team members and increases training effectivities. Usage of situational training tools to enhance product knowledge and transfer.

Facilitator

I Every learning program is a crucial project not just for you but for the participants as well. It is prepared to plug in the learning gaps, hence it is imperative to choose the RIGHT facilitator, someone who has the industry experience and the relevant experience, someone who is RIGHT for the audience and the organization in terms of meeting the objectives, methods, concepts, and the budget. The idea is to have someone who understands the content and context, technology and pedagogy. Very often we come across individuals who have the RIGHT product knowledge, however, may not possess the facilitation skills to deliver an impactful program. At times like these, one would thoroughly benefit from investing in People - by training Subject Matter Experts, Senior Leadership Team members and people who are passionate about knowledge sharing to conduct in-house training. A good Train the Trainer program will act as a guideline that allows facilitators and potential facilitators to conduct programs that guarantee positive outcomes.

Time

The need to link or tie your training with the strategic business objectives or organizational goals is imperative. The two aspects of time relevant training are

• Identifying the problem areas such as the gap in skills and competency impacting operations and service at regular intervals - by conducting surveys, C-SATs and TNAs.
• Addressing the problem and resolving it at the earliest. The urgency or the immediate need for training to fix this gap and tie all the loose ends.

The true question that organizations would have to answer is its readiness to hold on to a continuous learning culture; one which will guarantee your survival in a hostile economic environment and promise organic business growth.