Why is continuous learning important for organizations?
Staying competitive in today’s global marketplace means that organizations need to be innovative, adaptive, and ever-changing. Achieving this depends on the skill and knowledge of the workforce. But how do you get this kind of workforce to begin with?
To innovate, to try a new process, or to do something new all requires learning.
- People need to learn new knowledge or skills in order to see things in a new light and take that next leap.
- When organizations do not support a continual process of learning, innovation does not happen, processes remain unchanged, and nothing new is ever accomplished.
- Employees need to be able to challenge themselves in order to obtain new knowledge, ideas, and skills. Learning needs to be on a flexible, on-demand and continual basis in order to contribute this kind of cutting-edge performance.
Benefits of continuous learning
Benefits for the organization
- Creating a learning culture within the organization is an effective way to improve performance and innovation, as mentioned earlier, but also employee satisfaction and retention. Here’s why:
- Knowledge is power – The more employees know and the more they can do, the more they can contribute to the organization.
- More cost effective – Investing in the development of employees is less expensive than rehiring and retraining new employees.
- Show that employees are valued – Support of continuous learning indicates that employees are worth the investment and that the organization is genuine about employee career development.
Benefits for the individual
Continuously updating knowledge or skills can help an employee in both their professional life and personal life for a number of reasons. Here’s why:
- Top Performer – Developing new skills and knowledge can increase personal performance or competence on the job.
- Career development – Additional training, education, or skill development can help achieve goals for those pursuing a career path or wanting to rotate into a new position.
- Licenses or Certifications – Pursuing additional learning is also important for those employees who need to obtain or update professional licenses or certifications.
- Promotions or incentives – Spending time to learn a new skill or obtain new knowledge can benefit work performance and influence future promotion or financial incentives.
- Personal enrichment – Often a person’s interests extend beyond the job they do on a daily basis. Pursuing extracurricular interests can lead to insight and developments that open the door to new, future opportunities.
- Stay marketable – Staying current in the trends and advances of one’s profession can help an employee stay marketable in their profession should anything change.
As a child, they gain superior knowledge and learn the most in the first 8 years of their life.