Anne M. Mulcahy, former CEO and chairwoman of Xerox Corporation, says- “Employees are a company’s greatest asset – they’re your competitive advantage. You want to attract and retain the best; encourage them and make them feel that they are an integral part of the company’s mission.”
Just like a chisel needs polishing, a tool needs cleaning and oiling to work efficiently, a human mind needs constant challenges and learning new things to work efficiently day by day.
Mundane and repetitive tasks make the human mind dull and idle, gradually making the person unmotivated and disinterested in work. Like products become obsolete if not updated, employees also can become obsolete very soon, leading to an obsolete workforce and, hence, an obsolete organization. The employees need to upgrade their skillsets constantly and upskill themselves.
The surest way for an organization to keep its employees motivated and productive is to improve their skills with training & development. This needs a learning culture to be taught in the organization. Learning should be nurtured as an integral part of the organization. It should become a habitual behavior for all employees of the organization.
Most importantly, this learning culture should follow a top-down model, i.e., starting from the leadership team and trickling down the line. A good learning culture encompasses processes that remove barriers, encourage learning, and create a support system for seamless access to all learning aids.
Creating a sustainable learning culture in an organization needs a breakdown of traditional silos. For learningability to become a part of the organizational culture, specific necessary and supportive policies must be implemented and followed.
Some of these are given below:
Automate
Most manual tasks are often repetitive, mundane, and tedious in an organization. So, these manual and repetitive tasks must be automated as much as possible. Once people are free from these tedious tasks, they can perform higher-level tasks. These tasks are more productive for the company and more fulfilling for the employee.
Technology Usage
Technology has reshaped the way organizations work. This can impact the work environment by streamlining tedious & wasteful processes, expediting access to systems, and making communication more efficient. Today, technology can do much more than one can think of. Be it voice typing, online conversions of currencies, various measurements, calculations, translations, etc., many tasks can be done by clicking a button. The active usage of technology makes employees more productive and efficient.
Pushing people to higher-order tasks
Once technology makes tasks easier to perform and automation frees employees from tedious tasks, they can acquire newer and advanced skill sets. The aim should be to ensure the employees upskill and upscale to doing higher-order tasks. Re-skilling the workforce helps them carve out their path for career advancement.
Applying the learning to work to be efficient and productive
Once the employees undergo a rough training process and are upskilled, they must efficiently apply their knowledge to jobs. It needs to be understood that effective employees are, more often than not, one of the most productive in their workplaces.
Creating a culture of lean structure
Having a learning culture in the organization can also help create a lean structure and remove waste from the processes. The tangible benefits of lean culture include retention of good employees, improved bottom lines, revenue growth, etc.
Setting up an innovation culture
An organization that wants to grow needs to foster an innovation culture. Innovation saves the company from redundancy; innovation should be everyone’s responsibility. Innovation is essential for the company’s survival and is a competitive advantage to become a market leader. This is also an excellent boost for employee morale.
Thinking and staying ahead in the market
Organizations need to think ahead and stay ahead to achieve continued growth in today’s competitive market. One way to accomplish this is to be a good employer with a motivated and skilled workforce. Continuous training & development of the employees will help in achieving this objective. Getting employees trained and certified helps the organization have a skilled workforce and helps the employees gain knowledge and confidence in their work.
For example, when a business analyst is trained and gets certified (CBAP, CCBA, ECBA, AAC, CBDA, PMI-PBA, etc.), the knowledge and skills learned to help them perform their job better and more confidently. That is a sure win-win situation for the organization.
Becoming financially healthy & profitable
Following a lean structure, reducing wastage in both workforce & resources, and becoming efficient helps an organization have significant financial savings. These practices increase the company’s profitability, allowing investment in better technology and people development.
Becoming an admired organization
An admired organization is financially strong, offers quality products/services, is a market leader, has a loyal set of customers and employees, and is a company with good people management policies.
Attract and retain ring-good talent.
Once a company gains the title of ‘an admired organization,’ it becomes forward attracting good talent. Organizations that empower their employees by giving them training, helping them upskill and upscale, and giving them access to tools and processes needed for their job, creating an innovative environment, etc., are always a preferred employer. Such companies attract employees with the willingness and desire to learn and succeed, eventually resulting in the organization’s success.
Adopting and nurturing a learning culture is a dynamic process. It becomes successful when it becomes a part of the organizational DNA. Companies embracing the learning culture’s values, processes, and practices gain and sustain a competitive edge over their competitors.
