Whether you’re a business owner, HR, or L&D professional, encouraging your workforce to learn and develop new skills is a must for business growth. Here are six ways to motivate your workforce for learning and development
No matter your business size, your workforce should be ready for capturing the skills shifts in the market. While only 29% of the U.S. workforce is engaged at work, employee motivation leads to the positive growth of the company. Thus, motivating your employees for learning and developmentOpens a new window is a way to not only prepare the workforce for changes that may occur in the modern economy but also reduce employee turnover.
Check out six proven ways to motivate your workforce for learning and development:
1. Create a Positive Work Environment
Since the majority of people spend 1/3 of their lives working, being happy at work is an important element of overall well-being. Job satisfaction affects employees’ motivation, so HR specialists should create a positive work environment. It is not just about the office design and up-to-date gadgets; it’s also about relationships between workers and employers, career growth opportunities, and inspiration.
When it comes to office work environment, it’s easy to take care of office stuff and design, organize workplaces, supply snacks, and provide workers with feedback face-to-face. However, things are different when people work out of the office. One of the most important changes in the workforce’s digital transformation is that 70% of people around the globe work remotely at least once every week. Thus, it’s also important to ensure your workers stay productive and motivated, so you need to teach them how to increase brainpower at the workplace.
Working in a positive environment, employees are motivated to achieve career goals, so they are more likely to dedicate themselves to learning and development.
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2. Discuss and Create a Development Plan
No matter how good an employee is, he or she needs to have a clear direction on how to improve skills, and therefore advance the career. Thus, the majority of workers seek out feedback, so discussing personal career growth is a way to get a better understanding of necessary knowledge and skills. Moreover, it motivates employees for learning and development.
Having a plan is not just a step-by-step guide for personal growth but also an important element of a successful employee development strategy.
Since workers need to have quick access to the document to track achievements and measure progress, it’s a good idea to use the cloud for file storage. Living in the digital era, people are pressed for time, so they don’t waste a minute: keeping files online is a proven way to work on them wherever you are. What is more, it’s also a way to work on the process once an employee is motivated.
3. Reward Employees’ Enthusiasm
One of the most difficult tasks for employers and managers is keeping employees motivated. While most workers start a new job full of enthusiasm, they lose motivation with time. Thus, it’s important to nurture positive relationships with employees with the help of reward systems.
If you wonder whether your business can afford to implement ongoing recognition programs, you may need math help to ask for complex financial calculations, and therefore estimate your potential investment. However, it’s also important to remember that employees crave recognition, and it’s not about good pay and bonuses. All in all, it means you have cost-effective ways to reward employees’ enthusiasm. To motivate your workforce for L&D initiatives, your company can offer education-funding programs: training courses, business conferences, or industry events.
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4. Encourage Workforce Collaboration
When it comes to the hiring process, employers want to find the best staff. Although all your employees are good at their job duties, they can learn from each other to improve skills and obtain knowledge. Moreover, workforce collaboration is good for team building, and it is a key to business success.
For example, it’s a good tactic to ask experienced workers to help new colleagues during the first weeks at work. Not only will it help new employees feel welcome, it will also make workers feel valued. Moreover, 38% more employeesOpens a new window who experience effective onboarding are confident in their ability to do their jobs.
5. Provide Mentoring Programs
Both new and experienced employees need mentors to achieve career success faster. According to the 2016 Deloitte Millennial Survey, 83% of workers are satisfied with mentoring, 91% believe their mentors are interested in their personal development, and 94% claim that mentors provide good advice. All in all, it means employees find mentoring programs effective and motivating. Moreover, there are many ways to make the most out of mentoring programs without spending much time or effort. AI has transformed learning and development: virtual mentoring is a new way to track learner’s progress and send feedback online.
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6. Promote E-Learning
To motivate your staff for learning and developing, it’s important to prove that the process won’t take much time. Unlike offline educational events, e-learning allows people to schedule their time for studying. What is more, it’s easy to study at a desk or table which means people can learn on the go.
At the same time, it’s important to make sure the format of online courses is interesting and engaging for your workers. For example, people perceive video content better these days, so it’s no wonder that 98% of organizations would implement video as part of their digital learning strategy by 2022. With a variety of e-learning tools on the market, it’s easy to train even if they work remotely.
In a Word
While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to motivating your workforce for learning and development, finding out ways that work best for your workers is a must if you crave for business growth. With the impact of digital technologies on the workforce, modern L&D strategies allow employees to obtain knowledge without spending much time and effort. Thus, it’s important to keep up with the trends and motivate workforce for learning and development in an interesting and engaging way.