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Continuous Training: 9 Best Practices for a Thriving Learning Culture

When employees begin working for a company, they often have to undergo a minimum amount of training to become familiar with the company, its procedures, and other aspects.

Continuous training is becoming increasingly common nowadays. This means that employees never stop learning. Depending on the company’s needs, they may be called upon to take various training courses to stay current or to take on new responsibilities.

It’s a well-established trend but one that needs to be implemented conscientiously. It’s not sufficient to organize a training session from time to time to achieve results within your company. Indeed, if continuous training lacks intentionality, chances are high that employees will follow the course only to forget everything they’ve learned in the weeks that follow. Here are 9 best practices for ongoing training with impact.

1. Have a Plan

Training should be aligned with organizational objectives while meeting your employees’ personal development needs wherever possible. Offering training for fun, at random, may appeal to your team, but the impact on performance and retention may be limited.

Make sure you have clear objectives. Is there technical knowledge you need to develop urgently to stay ahead of the competition? What are the ideal timescales for this knowledge to be developed and applied? What budget is available for training?

All these questions are crucial to drawing up a coherent plan. It goes without saying that if you are not part of the management team yourself, they must be actively involved in the ongoing training efforts.

2. Involve Employees

The enthusiasm for training will not be the same if you impose the subject and format. Ideally, actively involve employees in the development of the training program. Depending on the situation, this could mean asking them to fill out a survey or conducting interviews. The idea is to ensure that the plan is relevant to your team’s current skills, interests, potential to be developed, and so on.

3. Understand Different Learning Styles

We all have different learning styles. Some prefer a face-to-face format, others online. Some people need lots of imagery and examples to understand; others will be happy to read a manual from cover to cover.

Also, certain subjects, like learning a language, require both a theoretical and a practical component. The important thing is to be sensitive to everyone’s learning needs and to ensure that you adopt a variety of training formats and learning tools.

Don’t hesitate to encourage a mix of formal and informal learning. For example, in language learning, you could offer formal classes once a week and then encourage informal exchanges in that language over coffee or dinner.

4. Encourage Mentoring Between Employees

Mentoring is a form of ongoing training. Whether formal or informal, encouraging the exchange of knowledge between your employees will only achieve positive results.

Your less experienced employees will receive relevant information and be able to develop themselves further. For senior employees, it’s a gratifying experience. You’ll also see more cohesion among your team.

5. Take Time To Celebrate Learning Achievements

To maintain a high level of motivation, it’s essential to celebrate learning tangibly. Depending on the nature of the training, this can be done in several ways. For example, if a particular training course enables an employee to take on greater responsibilities, a pay rise, promotion, or more interesting working conditions could be appropriate. You can also highlight your employees’ efforts via your social networks, by offering a gift or simply offering sincere congratulations.

6. Use the Services of an Expert

According to the nature of the training, don’t hesitate to call in an expert. Sometimes, the simple fact that the training comes from outside adds credibility. It can also be a breath of fresh air for the team. Choosing an expert in a given field ensures that your employees receive the best information available.

7. Provide the Necessary Tools

If you’re asking your team to undergo training as part of their job, you must provide the necessary tools. These include books or manuals, online videos, course support material, etc. Also, make sure the material is up to date. There’s no point in creating a management manuals library if none were published after 1998.

8. Provide Time To Learn

Ongoing training must be done during office hours or, at the very least, be compensated somehow. Even the most dedicated employee is unlikely to want to attend a webinar on a sunny Sunday.

Beyond the training schedule, make sure that the learning time is reasonable. Your team will have people who learn very quickly and others who need more time, and this is perfectly normal. To avoid adding unnecessary stress, make sure that employees have enough time to assimilate the new information and have the necessary extra support when needed.

9. Encourage Continuous Learning

To maximize the effects of continuous training, encourage employees to share their discoveries and ideas. This can be done in meetings, via a platform, or through informal one-off meetings. The idea is to generate a learning culture. It will enable your team to be more innovative and dynamic.

Ongoing training is a fantastic way to motivate your team while achieving better performance and higher retention. The proof is in the pudding! That’s why it’s worth having a solid plan to benefit your whole team.