Learning is a lifelong process. This is a truth for learning for personal and professional development because, through learning, you never cease to grow. In the workplace, continuous learning can serve as a driver to career success. Below, we outline the concept of continuous learning and explore ways that you can set yourself and your business up for market success.
What is continuous learning?
Continuous learning can best be described as the process of learning and acquiring new skills and knowledge. It’s an indispensable tool for advancement and making headway into ventures. It’s a process that circumvents career stagnation and allows you to reach your goals and full potential. Learning can take various formats like job shadowing, training programmes, coaching, formal courses, and informal learning.
What is the importance of continuous learning in the workplace?
The world is constantly evolving. With this change, how people work, and businesses function is changing. Industries and businesses are becoming innovative and adaptive, and looking for ways to edge the competition. Therefore, to remain relevant and successful in the marketplace, businesses need to take action to keep up with the changes and stay ahead of the game. Continuous learning is a survival tactic.
What are the benefits of continuous learning?
Companies are open to flexible working solutions and must meet the demand of the workforce. Lifelong learning creates a platform for companies to place themselves as an enviable and valuable employer to keep and attract high-value staff. Additionally, organisations can reap the following benefits:
- Invested and engaged employees who stay longer in the company
- Staff is better equipped and prepared for any changes because of the skills they possess
- Business growth resulting from the productive, innovative, and creative thinking of employees
- Shows employees that they are valued, and their growth is supported
Ultimately, continuous learning and development are both for the individuals who will perform better in the roles and for your company, in how it positions itself as a growing solution-oriented business.
Are there any great continuous learning examples?
Now, at first glance, it may seem like there’s no time to invest in taking learning courses, but the good news is that there are various examples of learning that you can use.
- Formal continuous learning
Formal learning is the traditional learning method that individuals use to gain new skills and knowledge. They are organised and purpose-driven toward a specific learning goal. Some examples of this are workshops, conferences, organisation-led training programmes, or courses from a university or college.
- Self-directed learning
In self-directed learning, there is no restricted or formal approach to learning. It can take on various forms like watching instructional videos, listening to Ted TALKS or podcasts, reading and conducting research on a particular subject, or exploring and experimenting.
- Social learning
As the name implies, social learning is a style of learning where the learner engages, interacts, deliberates, and collaborates with others to gain knowledge or understanding of a topic or skill. This can include coaching, mentoring, working with other employees, and using social media platforms as a learning resource to expand their knowledge in an area.
Whatever approach you choose to take to learning, the key is to be active and engaged to make the process worthwhile.
Is there any difference between lifelong learning and continuous learning?
You may often hear the terms continuous learning and lifelong learning used interchangeably. But depending on the context they are used in they can mean something different. The latter is mostly associated with learning at the individual level. This means the learner has made learning a part of their lifestyle and is voluntarily learning skills and want to do so long-term. For example, a lifelong learner is someone who has committed to spending an hour daily reading or developing a new skill.
Continuous learning on the other hand, while it too can be characterised by commitment, it is more temporary and used in the formal context. An example of this is someone who is enrolled in a course for their job and its goal is to learn a new skill to help their performance and enhance productivity.
What are the ways lifelong learning will benefit your business?
Continuous learning is an investment and the return on this seed will be to the advantage of your business.
- Your business will remain relevant
- You’ll be ready for the unexpected
- Boost your brand
- Competent employees represent you – they’re the face of your business.
- New ideas for days – The more employees know the more ideas they come up with and share.
- Improve the course your business is on – Educated and trained employees see things the leadership doesn’t
How do you build a continuous learning environment in your company?
Learning and development are essential for an organisation’s success. You not only need to invest resources and time in it, but you also need to create a culture and environment that your employees can buy into and thrive in.
- Plan with an LMS
- Get your team on board and excited
- Encourage learning as the sole basis of your business
- Create learning experiences
- Reward learning
- Create a mentorships
- Monitor employee developments
- Make it relevant
- Make it social
- Ensure it’s aligned with your business objectives
Embrace learning and invest in your employees – you’ll reap the benefits
Employees want encouragement, recognition, and love learning new things. They also want to know that the company they devote their time and energy to cares about their growth. Employees at any level want to grow, to be challenged, to feel like they are on par with their colleagues in other organisations, and so much more. Continuous learning helps them to get promoted, get more responsibilities, be more fulfilled, and that their work and what they do has meaning. When you choose to put financial resources to train and equip your staff, you’ll reap long-term benefits.
Alison can help with your continuous learning and make your employees satisfied – for free.
Alison has a free learning management system (LMS) that is set apart from other e-learning platforms. The over 4000+ courses you can register for that cover a variety of topics, subjects, and industries. Through our LMS, you can create learning paths that are suited to your business needs and fill employee skills gaps.
- Unlimited number of team members
- Quick and easy set-up time and process
- Aggregate and individual reporting: set up your group’s training progress with a choice of daily, weekly, or monthly reports, you can keep track of the academic progress your team makes.
So, what are you waiting for? Visit our LMS page and find out how Alison’s learning management system can help you achieve your continuous learning objectives.
