When asked the question, “what do employees look for in a job,” you might imagine the answer would be a higher salary, greater workplace flexibility or more chances for promotion. And yes, these are certainly all effective strategies to attract and retain talent. It turns out, however, that providing on-the-job professional development and skills training is one of the most desirable, effective and feasible strategies organizations can implement to improve company culture, engagement and employee retention.
Research by Deloitte revealed that organizations with a strong learning culture had between 30 to 50 percent higher engagement and retention rates than those without one. A study of tech workers by Indeed found that self-improvement in the form of employee development or tuition reimbursement was the most-valued job characteristic. And recent research by McKinsey & Company found that between April 2021 and April 2022, the number one reason people gave for leaving their previous jobs was inadequate career development and advancement opportunities.
Employees want learning and development opportunities. And if they are lacking, the majority of them will seek employment with another organization that does value growth, advancement and transformation, and demonstrates this by offering professional development for their whole career journey.
Those working in the world of education know a great deal about how learning works and ways to create effective, efficient and inclusive learning environments (it’s called learning science). Let’s consider some of the lessons we can learn from the world of educational scholarship:
- Learning is not just about content or skill acquisition. Learning, as described by Amy Edmonson, is an “ongoing process of reflection and action, characterized by asking questions, seeking feedback, experimenting, reflecting on results and discussing errors or unexpected outcomes of actions.”
- Learning is hard and requires time and effort in any context and the workplace is no exception.
- The fact that learning to do something well requires sustained motivation, time, persistence and focused effort is often under-appreciated.
- Goals and expectations must be clearly articulated, feel achievable and be accompanied by opportunities to practice, learn, apply knowledge and receive timely feedback on progress.
- Because new learning depends on prior knowledge, spacing out learning opportunities, taking care not to overwhelm and providing new employees with appropriate scaffolds and supports provide a foundation for future learning.
- Environments characterized by high levels of psychological safety help support people in making contributions, innovating, taking initiative, making suggestions for improvements and sharing information and knowledge. In the context of L&D, a psychologically safe environment is the space that trainers, colleagues, managers and others create for other employees to engage in collaboration, be vulnerable and discuss ideas without the fear of making mistakes or being judged by others.
- Social connections matter. People learn best when they trust and feel supported, connected to and accepted by the people and environment around them.
Leveraging learning science in L&D efforts
With these things in mind, ask yourself this: Are you leveraging principles of learning science in your L&D efforts? Are you doing everything you can to create the kind of meaningful, authentic and relevant learning opportunities that signal to employees that you believe in them and want them to succeed and grow? If not, lessons from the world of education and learning science can help you get there.
Workplace professional development requires us to create and build space and time for formal and informal opportunities for people to learn and grow on the job. Employees need significant time to experience a variety of situations, master systems and processes, practices, to be able to connect with others and learn how to best work and communicate with people at all levels of the organization. Borrowing lessons from the world of education and learning science can help you in these endeavors. After all, learning is learning no matter the environment.
Typically, there are three key intentions guiding employee training: skill-based improvement, compliance requirements and generalized growth of an individual’s character competencies. Employees desire a balance of L&D programs that blend these three areas and help them grow beyond skills needed merely to improve their current roles and responsibilities.
It’s not always easy to create all of these different opportunities for growth. But with an understanding of the scholarship relating to how learning works (including factors that can impede it), we can better design learning experiences that help keep learners engaged, paying attention, motivated, inspired and on-task — which, in turn, helps organizations maximize employees’ success.
7 key strategies of learning
Below are seven key strategies borrowed from the scholarship of how people best learn, which organizations can implement to create a robust workplace learning culture, centered around trust, increased motivation, and psychological safety.
Encourage questions and normalize mistakes as part of the learning process. We can do this by not suppressing innovation or creative ideas. By helping employees accept tasks or challenges that may be a little out of their comfort zone or outside of the scope of their typical responsibilities. Encourage risk-taking and make sure that there aren’t negative consequences for those who try something new and fail, or make mistakes. Depending on the organization and the impact errors may have, this might involve creating a “sandbox” or other kind of “container” for experimentation and practice to happen. Or engaging a more seasoned employee to serve as a guide, sounding board or other kind of support as a new employee learns the ropes.
A learning environment where mistakes, or not knowing, are seen as learning opportunities, fosters a sense of belonging, support and trust. In turn, this enables employees to:
- Feel comfortable in speaking their mind, seek clarity if they are unsure about a task or deadline, and ask for help.
- See teammates as collaborators instead of competitors.
- Receive critical feedback.
- Own their mistakes and work through them in a positive way.
- Brainstorm, express ideas (even if they are not fully formed) and think through problems.
All of these can prevent self-defeating behaviors and mindsets, and allow employees to be more open to guidance and feedback — especially when it is more critical in nature. When an employee receives critical feedback from someone they trust, they are more likely to accept that the person delivering the feedback has their best interests at heart, has confidence in their abilities and is acting in good faith.
Foster an incremental and flexible view of learning (aka growth mindset). Because learning and skill acquisition accumulate gradually, employees must be given many opportunities to practice, learn and respond to timely feedback in an iterative fashion. Focusing on strengths (and not deficits) leads to a more incremental, flexible view of learning, sometimes referred to as a growth mindset or dynamic intelligence. When people embrace a growth mindset, they are more willing to put in the time and effort necessary to learn and improve, rather than seeing their capabilities as fixed and obstacles they encounter as insurmountable. Those with a growth mindset are more likely to be able to accept criticism or persevere with a difficult task. Why? Because they view these moments as learning opportunities. Making sure mistakes are encouraged however,, is a necessary foundation. If mistakes are seen as failing, and criticism as an attack, learning is not likely to happen.
Nurture employee’s sense of confidence, competence, and self-efficacy. In “Drive: The Surprising Truth about What Motivates Us,” psychologist Daniel Pink writes that people are driven by “autonomy, mastery and purpose.” You can foster this drive by helping employees articulate and understand their skills, strengths and motivations, how they can be applied within their job, and recognize that others in the organization understand the employee’s value. To boost self-efficacy (one’s belief that they are capable of doing what is necessary to achieve a stated goal) the goals employees are working toward need to be challenging but also achievable with effort and support. People need to understand their progress and have multiple opportunities to improve. This can be achieved through progressively more difficult tasks and challenges, as well as breaking down tasks into more manageable components. Have discussions about potential and growth and build opportunities for employees to develop skills for the roles they’re in now, as well as those to which they aspire.
Allow employees to experience the connection between effort and success. People learn best when they believe in their ability to grow and expect they will succeed. These expectations are influenced by prior experiences in similar contexts, seeing others (similar to themselves) succeed on a task and when success (and related praise) is attributed to a combination of ability and effort. To help employees make the connection between their work and results, sincerely praise effort and the processes or strategies used instead of focusing solely on outcomes. Doing so helps nurture perseverance, resilience and determination.
Collaboratively establish clear, measurable, achievable short-term goals. Short-term goals provide opportunities for employees to make incremental progress and experience small wins. In the early days in particular, these wins can boost motivation, confidence, trust, engagement in work and overall happiness during the workday. Experiencing wins also supports the development of skills and mindsets that support an employee’s belief in themselves. Setting goals collaboratively (with leaders and managers contributing) is also beneficial. This approach gives managers greater insight into how to best leverage an employee’s strengths to help them reach their goals and beyond. Have discussions about potential and growth. Build opportunities for employees to develop skills for the roles they’re in now, as well as those to which they aspire.
Encourage employees to reflect on their growth. People learn best when they are able to plan, observe, evaluate, reflect on and adjust their own learning processes — in other words, develop their “metacognitive muscles.” Metacognitive skills (thinking about one’s own thinking) involve reflecting on one’s strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures and planning the best next steps. Encourage employees to monitor and reflect on strategies used to complete a task or project as well as their progress and performance. By not only looking back but looking forward, employees:
- Become more aware of their own strengths and weaknesses with particular skills or in a given context.
- Can better plan what’s required to accomplish a specific learning goal or activity.
- Learn to open feedback channels to improve training effectiveness.
- Are able to identify and correct errors should they arise.
- Can determine the resources and support necessary for growth.
Metacognition is a powerful driver of learning. It’s critical, however, to keep in mind that for metacognitive skills to be learned and honed, employees must be clear on their roles, responsibilities and key goals they are expected to achieve within the organization.
Provide regular feedback about current progress, clearly articulate next steps and provide opportunities for continuous improvement. Managers should continually be talking with employees about their role and their performance, and giving timely, actionable feedback on progress focused on specific goals. These touchpoints are important for assuring new employees that they are on track, or letting them know if they are not, and providing clarity on how to close any gaps. These conversations also support a smooth transition into a new role by helping managers and employees get to know each other better and identifying roadblocks as quickly as possible.
Employees are more likely to learn and grow when they receive specific feedback targeted at their development from someone they trust and are able to implement the feedback right away. As Kim Scott, author of “Radical Candor,” puts it: “Overall, effective feedback — based on caring personally while also challenging directly — shows us what to do more of and what to do less of.”
Setting employees up for success and growth within an organization is inherently complex and nuanced, more so than it may appear. The value of doing so, however, is high. In a world where companies desire to attract, advance and retain top talent, an emphasis on building a strong workplace learning culture based on the proven methods of learning science is an important value proposition. We suggest organizations:
- Align their training according to the best practices of learning science.
- Implement those solutions in varied real-life contexts and for a variety of people.
- Identify and explore the factors that can impede success as well as those that can increase success.
Developing and building skills is an ongoing process. Leaders can support this process by implementing the seven key strategies (shown together in the figure below). Doing so can help organizations nurture a strong learning culture grounded in trust, continuous learning and growth.
