Creating a learning culture in a modern workplace

In a modern organisation, how do you ensure that everyone has the knowledge they need to work efficiently? While also continuously upskilling and staying ahead of the curve.  

By creating a learning culture. 

 

What is a learning culture? 

In short, a learning culture is when the whole organisation is engaged with learning and personal development.  

A learning culture exists when every employee has a hunger for learning and improving skills. Both for their own development and the development of their team.  

 

What are the benefits of a learning culture? 

With a learning culture deeply embedded across the organisation, you can expect a number of benefits. Both for individuals and wider teams.  

1. Improve employee motivation, productivity and retention

2. Save time and money on hiring new people, by upskilling from within

3. Keep employees up to date on the latest technology, internal systems and software

4. Enhance creativity and innovation within your teams

5. Prepare the organisation for change 

But every organisation is unique. As are the many benefits you could gain from successfully embedding a culture of learning.

 

Learning culture within the workplace  - the stats

If the above benefits aren’t enough to convince you of the importance of embedding a culture of learning, take a look at some of these stats: 

• 94% of employees feel investment in training and development is one of the major reasons they would decide to stay in a role for longer (LinkedIn Learning Report 2018) 
• 76% of employees say that a company would be more appealing if it offered additional skills training (Lorman) 
• 11.8 million (36%) of the workforce lack essential digital skills for work (Lloyds Essential Digital Skills Report) 
• 59% of employees believe in the importance of developing their digital skills (Microsoft)
   

How do you create a learning culture within the workplace? 

With a culture of learning enabling your organisation to stay ahead of the curve, how do you successfully create and embed one? Here are 8 top tips, taken directly from our team of talented learning consultants: 

1. Assess where you currently are and where you want to be  

What level of knowledge do your people currently have and where would you like them to get to? Ask your employees where they have gaps in knowledge, and what they would actually like to learn. This step helps you begin your journey to embedding a learning culture, and identifying the needs of your people. Without this step – it’s all just guess work!
 

2. Ensure learning is a priority, right from day one

A true learning culture will be evident right from day one, deep-rooted from the moment an employee joins your organisation. It all starts within the onboarding process. Whether through peer mentoring, training videos, or informative learning resources. 
 
It shows your people that learning is a priority, right from the very beginning.  

3. Allow time to learn within the workday 

With project deadlines, back-to-back meetings, and long to do lists, it can be hard to find time to make learning a priority. To successfully embed a learning culture, your people have to feel empowered to make time for it. Leaders and managers have to champion and advocate setting time aside for learning. People have to feel they are allowed to take time out of everyday business tasks to improve their knowledge and skills. This could be as simple as an informal regular reminder from managers, or something more structured like an internal training programme during work hours that teams can sign up to. 

4. Cater for various learning styles, ensuring it’s accessible 

We know that everyone learns in different ways. Be it through reading, listening, writing, or doing. Making sure there is something available for everyone is key to embedding this culture company-wide. With 1 in 7 people with some sort of disability, it is also crucial that accessibility is considered. Your learning must be accessible regardless of the mobility and needs of your staff. 

5. Bring in external subject matter experts  

We have often found that learning outcomes are improved by bringing in external subject matter experts, rather than training internally. People feel empowered, because the organisation is seen as investing in upskilling properly. And the external experts have the knowledge, time, and resources to craft bespoke learning plans effectively.  
 

6. Store learning materials in one central place  

A culture of learning can’t exist if your people don’t know where to learn. Keep a bank of all learning resources in one central place: either on an intranet, in a central file, or in an LMS. Hold PDFs, training videos, or links to training to ensure everyone has access to learning whenever they need it. 

7. Keep learning continuous

Learning needs to be a real investment. A ‘one and done’ approach isn’t going to be effective if you want to achieve a deeply embedded culture of learning. Instead of offering one training session and letting people get on with it, look at rolling out a full learning programme. Keeping learning continuous and consistent. Keep adding new resources. Update old ones to ensure they’re still relevant. And offer refresher courses every few months to keep knowledge fresh.  

8. Measure and monitor  

Without measuring and monitoring, you won’t discover the true impact or success of the learning. We recommend staff pulse surveys, but every organisation will have a different method of monitoring success.  
 
You’ll also be able to adapt learning programmes based on feedback, offering more or less of certain topics depending on their relevance and success. 
 
Ultimately, measuring and monitoring helps to ensure maximum impact for your people.