subject: Continuous Learning: Driving Employee Development And Organizational Performance [print this page] In contrast to traditional learning methods, continuous learning is an activity that is not restricted by time and goes on along with employees daily job activities. With new arenas of business unfolding at every step and unstable economic scenario, the need to reduce training budgets and keeping the employees ahead of the competition has become important and it has also made the organizations to understand and adapt to the idea of continuous learning. The following factors when kept in account make the process of constant learning effective:
Acknowledge the two-way learning process
Constant learning is vastly employee dependent; it emphasizes the importance of employee motivation and engagement in organizations core processes. The employees need to imbibe the goals & objectives of the organisation with their personal aspirations and should contribute in the right direction to satisfy both requirements.
Moreover the managers have to act as the stimulators for employee motivation and engagement. They need to communicate with each of the team members on a regular basis to provide an effective feedback. This continual feedback when inculcated with learning leads to development of the employees as well as the organisations productivity.
New Learning Opportunities
With endless learning in place the employees gain the opportunity to understand the requirements and challenges of their jobs, but to make learning more effective they need to develop their soft skills and at the same time they should be able to function independently. Therefore apart from the experiences gained from the day-to-day activities the organizations should plan and implement few formal coaching activities. This helps in the organizational development and enhances their performance in the current job roles and simultaneously prepares them for the future roles.
Amongst multinational giants, Nokia is one company, which has successfully integrated learning & development to improve the daily operational performance. The company follows a defined system where 70 percent of the learning is taken from the daily task execution, 20 percent of the learning is achieved through interactions and networking, only 10 percent learning is provided through formal training programmes. This structured approach results in development of the workforce making them capable of fulfilling their potential in the future as well as within their current roles.
