Building A Learning Organization
Each and every business—be it small, medium, or big—needs to take steps to build and encourage a robust learning culture. While large organizations have dedicated L&D teams, it’s the smaller ones that do not focus on robust learning due to multiple reasons, the most notable being budget constraints. Yet, as motivational public speaker Brian Tracy says, “Continuous learning is the minimum requirement for success in any field.”
In fact, fostering a learning culture is all the more vital for small and medium businesses for employee satisfaction and retention, as well as organizational success. Continuous learning and career growth opportunities go hand in hand and are responsible for driving employee engagement.
A McKinsey insights episode points out that nurturing a learning culture is what drives businesses forward, and this is particularly important for smaller businesses that need a different kind of flexibility to reach their business goals [1].
Critical Role Of Learning Culture In Business Success
Creating a learning culture is about encouraging employees to participate in continuous learning opportunities that would help them advance their knowledge and contribute to the organization’s success. This could mean offering them upskilling opportunities related to their job roles. It could also mean reskilling employees and letting them learn additional skills so they can move horizontally within the company to a different department.
But it’s not enough to just encourage a learning culture. Technically, it should be in line with the individual goals of employees as well as those of the business. This way, whatever new skills are learned by the workforce can instantly be applied to enhance the company’s productivity.
How Learning Culture Can Benefit Small And Medium Businesses
A learning culture can prove advantageous for every organization but is especially useful for small and medium businesses that face budget constraints.
1. Improved Engagement And Retention
Building an organization-wide learning culture is a great way to encourage employee engagement, which, consequently, increases the retention rate. This is especially true at a time when one of the most dominant cohorts in the current workforce, Gen Z, is more focused than ever on their career growth and appreciates learning activities [2].
Overall too, employees today want more than just job security. They want opportunities to upskill their knowledge and advance in their career. This is where L&D teams play a role in creating a learning culture that presents these growth opportunities.
For more effectiveness, you could create customized and personalized learning experiences for each employee that fulfill their needs, aspirations, and job roles. It’s best to offer tailor-made L&D programs rather than one-type-fits-all solutions.
2. Increased Agility
In the presence of a learning culture that helps employees upskill for new roles within the organization, there are more chances of flexibility and agility in the working of the company. Since smaller businesses may have budget constraints in terms of hiring, they can bank on their existing employees for internal hires. Moreover, employees are also more equipped and enabled to multitask and become stronger resources.
According to Mark Lobosco, vice president of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn, “Employees stay 41% longer at companies that hire internally compared to those that don't.” So, now is the time to offer better upskilling or reskilling to employees to leverage the benefits of highly skilled employees to enhance your small business.
3. Better Onboarding Process
A company that has a good learning culture will be better off during the onboarding process while training new hires and helping them acclimatize to their role. A successful onboarding process is essential for employee retention and productivity. It’s all the more important for smaller businesses because hiring frequently is a resource-intense activity.
As an L&D professional, you can keep track of the onboarding process and draw conclusions to improve the results. This will help you make the process much smoother for new hires.
Takeaway
Smaller businesses often face the predicament of limited resources, which means they have to utilize what is available in an optimum manner. If you are a small business or a startup, it’s definitely a payback to invest time, effort, and money into nurturing a learning culture. Encouraging a learning culture is not just about helping develop technical skills but also focusing on soft skills that are imperative in today’s corporate world. Overall, nurturing a learning culture should be a priority for every small business to make the most of its available resources.
References:
[1] Building a learning culture that drives business forward
