Create an Effective and Efficient Employee Learning Program in Six Steps

Continual learning enables employees to do their jobs effectively and keeps them satisfied at work. Find six ways to start a corporate learning program at any company.

As any successful leader knows, a business is only as good as its employees. To keep your employees performing at their best, it is critical to invest in their training and continual learning. This will benefit your company through the addition of new skill sets, and it will also help to retain employees. A study completed by Bridge reported that “almost 100 percent of employees with a strong culture of learning reported feeling engaged at work and loyal to their company.”

However, many organizations must consider tight budgets and time restraints when crafting an employee training program. Regardless of the size or success of your company, there are cost-effective steps that you can take to ensure that your employees are always learning and improving.

Establish A Mentorship Program

The best place to begin a corporate learning program is with new hires. To make this process easier, implement a mentoring program in your company that pairs each new hire with a more experienced member of their team. Depending on the level of training necessary, new hires can shadow their mentors or meet with them regularly. This will work not only to teach new hires how to complete their job, but it will also help to make them feel more comfortable. Additionally, mentors will feel a greater sense of responsibility in their own roles. Your mentors don’t need years of experience or an important title, and you might be surprised by who thrives in this role.

Appoint A Learning Liaison

Think about each of the departments in your company and the managers within those departments. Who stands out to you? Are there people who consistently go above and beyond? Meet with them to see if they would be willing to act as a learning liaison. Have them work directly with their colleagues to share tips and secrets to success. When the budget allows, send them to relevant development seminars and have them report back to their group.

Train Across Departments

To truly utilize your company’s resources, be sure to expose all employees to every possible career path. Hiring from within means that your employees will already have background knowledge on your company. To pique their curiosity, host regular meetings in which employees from each department get a turn to present on their role in the company. These meetings don’t have to be formal — let employees speak honestly about their day-to-day jobs.

Regardless of the size or success of your company, there are steps that you can take to ensure that your employees are always learning and improving.

Don’t Skip Soft Skills

Many companies put their training emphasis on technical skills. However, soft skills can be just as important. Soft skills are “the personal attributes, personality traits, inherent social cues, and communication abilities needed for success on the job.” Some important soft skills include communication, problem solving, teamwork, time management and networking. Developing your employees’ soft skills will help improve their performance and their relationships with their coworkers, resulting in a more positive work environment.

Implement Microlearning

If you and your employees are short on time, make your corporate learning program micro. Microlearning is a technique that involves ingesting tiny chunks of information in short bursts of time. This new corporate learning trend allows employees to learn on their own schedules. Microlearning is perfect for any company as it is efficient, accessible, effective and customizable. Learn more about microlearning in EBSCO’s free e-brochure.

Invest in the Technology

There are a number of tools available to help streamline your company’s continual learning program. EBSCO’s Accel5 is a corporate learning platform that helps employees develop their soft skills. This cost-effective solution features business book summaries, videos and articles from top thought leaders such as Marshall Goldsmith, Daniel Pink and Liz Wiseman. All content is designed to be consumed in five minutes or less, giving your employees the flexibility to learn on their own time.

Employee learning programs do not need to be expensive or time consuming to be effective. With a few creative ideas, any company can provide its employees with the opportunities they need to succeed.

Begin your employee learning program today with a free trial of Accel5.