ATD Blog
How Continuous Learning Can Help Your Organization Thrive
Thu Jan 05 2023
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Regardless of your industry, you’re likely always searching for a competitive advantage.
Regardless of your industry, you’re likely always searching for a competitive advantage.
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While nothing remains constant in business, you can achieve that competitive edge by empowering employees and fueling your organization with a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
While nothing remains constant in business, you can achieve that competitive edge by empowering employees and fueling your organization with a culture of continuous learning and improvement.
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Building a learning culture allows you to keep up with technology changes and innovation, ensures team members excel in current and future roles, and upskills and reskills your workforce to meet industry trends and demands. Discover how to adopt a continuous learning mentality for your organization.
Building a learning culture allows you to keep up with technology changes and innovation, ensures team members excel in current and future roles, and upskills and reskills your workforce to meet industry trends and demands. Discover how to adopt a continuous learning mentality for your organization.
What Is Continuous Learning?
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Continuous learning promotes ongoing opportunities to learn, develop, and enhance skills and knowledge.
Continuous learning promotes ongoing opportunities to learn, develop, and enhance skills and knowledge.
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Ongoing learning can be facilitated in various ways to support different learning styles, including instructor-led training courses, informal learning, peer learning or shadowing, one-on-one training, and more.
Ongoing learning can be facilitated in various ways to support different learning styles, including instructor-led training courses, informal learning, peer learning or shadowing, one-on-one training, and more.
Why Is Continuous Learning Important in the Workplace?
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The business world is constantly changing. If you want to stay competitive, you must adapt and evolve. A continuous learning culture in the workplace forestalls complacency and enhances knowledge and skills to help your organization stay competitive.
The business world is constantly changing. If you want to stay competitive, you must adapt and evolve. A continuous learning culture in the workplace forestalls complacency and enhances knowledge and skills to help your organization stay competitive.
Benefits of Continuous Learning
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Maintain a skilled, competitive workforce. Prioritizing learning and growth helps employees excel in their current roles and better equips them to advance.
Maintain a skilled, competitive workforce. Prioritizing learning and growth helps employees excel in their current roles and better equips them to advance.
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Decrease employee turnover and retain engaged workers. Employees want to work for organizations where they have opportunities to learn and develop. Among American workers who quit a job in 2021, 33 percent cited lack of advancement opportunities as a major reason. Providing such opportunities can also save money, as the cost of employee turnover is estimated at one-half to two times an employee’s annual salary.
Decrease employee turnover and retain engaged workers. Employees want to work for organizations where they have opportunities to learn and develop. Among American workers who quit a job in 2021, 33 percent cited lack of advancement opportunities as a major reason. Providing such opportunities can also save money, as the cost of employee turnover is estimated at one-half to two times an employee’s annual salary.
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Boost employee engagement. Learning and development (L&D) helps employees feel more satisfied at work. According to a study , 54 percent of respondents said they would leave a job due to a lack of professional development opportunities.
Boost employee engagement. Learning and development (L&D) helps employees feel more satisfied at work. According to a study, 54 percent of respondents said they would leave a job due to a lack of professional development opportunities.
How to Use Learning Content to Promote Continuous Learning
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You must provide the right resources and materials to ensure team members have ample opportunities to grow and develop.
You must provide the right resources and materials to ensure team members have ample opportunities to grow and develop.
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This means they need access to the right learning content when and where they need it.
This means they need access to the right learning content when and where they need it.
What Is Learning Content?
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Learning or training content includes instructional materials and resources to help individuals learn new skills or build on their existing skill sets. The most common types of learning content include:
Learning or training content includes instructional materials and resources to help individuals learn new skills or build on their existing skill sets. The most common types of learning content include:
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Onboarding. Documents and training materials inform employees about role expectations and job responsibilities and help them learn more about an organization and its company culture.
Onboarding. Documents and training materials inform employees about role expectations and job responsibilities and help them learn more about an organization and its company culture.
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Ongoing L&D and professional development . Beyond onboarding, it’s essential to provide ongoing training to help employees develop role-specific, soft, and technical skills to help them advance into more senior roles.
Ongoing L&D and professional development. Beyond onboarding, it’s essential to provide ongoing training to help employees develop role-specific, soft, and technical skills to help them advance into more senior roles.
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Compliance and regulatory training . These outline the rules and regulations employees must understand. It can include HIPAA awareness, sexual harassment prevention, safe work environment routines, and more.
Compliance and regulatory training. These outline the rules and regulations employees must understand. It can include HIPAA awareness, sexual harassment prevention, safe work environment routines, and more.
How to Build an Effective Learning Content Strategy
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Understanding the specific training content your team members need will ensure that you provide the right resources and opportunities to help them excel. Because individuals have a wide range of learning styles, it’s vital to use different styles of learning content to promote engagement and retention.
Understanding the specific training content your team members need will ensure that you provide the right resources and opportunities to help them excel. Because individuals have a wide range of learning styles, it’s vital to use different styles of learning content to promote engagement and retention.
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Incorporate training formats such as:
Incorporate training formats such as:
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Video
Video
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Slides and presentations
Slides and presentations
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E-books
E-books
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Podcasts
Podcasts
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Social learning (interactive activities and role play)
Social learning (interactive activities and role play)
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Challenges
Challenges
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Interactive content
Interactive content
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Certification programs
Certification programs
Learning Content Best Practices
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While using the right format is important to engage various learning styles, training content must be memorable and engaging to boost learner retention.
While using the right format is important to engage various learning styles, training content must be memorable and engaging to boost learner retention.
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Make it interactive. Kinesthetic learning, or learning by doing, is one of the most common teaching styles. Incorporate interactive elements like scorecards, matching, quizzes, and more.
Make it interactive. Kinesthetic learning, or learning by doing, is one of the most common teaching styles. Incorporate interactive elements like scorecards, matching, quizzes, and more.
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Incorporate social learning. Create opportunities for team members to share what they’re learning; this could be in a face-to-face setting or using communication tools like Slack or Teams. Also, encourage team members to teach each other. According to the Learning Pyramid , individuals retain nearly 90 percent of what they learn when teaching others.
Incorporate social learning. Create opportunities for team members to share what they’re learning; this could be in a face-to-face setting or using communication tools like Slack or Teams. Also, encourage team members to teach each other. According to the Learning Pyramid, individuals retain nearly 90 percent of what they learn when teaching others.
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Keep it short. The average learner’s attention span is around 15 to 20 minutes. Limit training increments to 10 to 20 minutes to keep learners engaged.
Keep it short. The average learner’s attention span is around 15 to 20 minutes. Limit training increments to 10 to 20 minutes to keep learners engaged.
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Refresh and reinforce. Provide ongoing refresher training sessions and create opportunities to test knowledge and retention.
Refresh and reinforce. Provide ongoing refresher training sessions and create opportunities to test knowledge and retention.
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Use a learning platform. A learning platform can help you create engaging training content and organize learning materials in a central location so employees can access resources on demand.
Use a learning platform. A learning platform can help you create engaging training content and organize learning materials in a central location so employees can access resources on demand.
Learning Content Challenges
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Content Curation. When culling from many different sources, curating learning content can take time and effort. Using an all-in-one learning platform, you can connect to training created by subject matter experts and manage and deliver e-learning from multiple sources.
Content Curation. When culling from many different sources, curating learning content can take time and effort. Using an all-in-one learning platform, you can connect to training created by subject matter experts and manage and deliver e-learning from multiple sources.
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Budget and Resources. Creating custom content for your team requires funding and buy-in from stakeholders. According to some estimates , developing a one-hour training course can take 80 to 280 hours and cost anywhere from $5,850 to $15,000.
Budget and Resources. Creating custom content for your team requires funding and buy-in from stakeholders. According to some estimates, developing a one-hour training course can take 80 to 280 hours and cost anywhere from $5,850 to $15,000.
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Keeping Learning Content Up to Date. Most learning content isn’t evergreen, and it can be difficult for learning management system (LMS) administrators and L&D professionals to continually update it to comply with technology or policy changes, industry shifts, and innovation.
Keeping Learning Content Up to Date. Most learning content isn’t evergreen, and it can be difficult for learning management system (LMS) administrators and L&D professionals to continually update it to comply with technology or policy changes, industry shifts, and innovation.
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Using an LMS can help you keep learning content updated and ensure employees are getting the most current training materials. If your LMS integrates with third-party content providers, you can ensure content will be updated as necessary.
Using an LMS can help you keep learning content updated and ensure employees are getting the most current training materials. If your LMS integrates with third-party content providers, you can ensure content will be updated as necessary.
Leveraging Prebuilt Content to Empower Your Team
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You no longer need a large team of instructional designers to create effective content. With an LMS that has integrated, prebuilt content, L&D professionals can combine internal resources with off-the-shelf content from subject matter experts.
You no longer need a large team of instructional designers to create effective content. With an LMS that has integrated, prebuilt content, L&D professionals can combine internal resources with off-the-shelf content from subject matter experts.
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Prebuilt templates are customizable, which saves time when creating course content from scratch. But it’s important to ensure your LMS platform integrates seamlessly with prebuilt content.
Prebuilt templates are customizable, which saves time when creating course content from scratch. But it’s important to ensure your LMS platform integrates seamlessly with prebuilt content.
Finding the Right Resources
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Creating and curating the right learning content means your team members have the materials they need to learn and grow. Still, you also need a learning platform to bring everything together.
Creating and curating the right learning content means your team members have the materials they need to learn and grow. Still, you also need a learning platform to bring everything together.
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Having the right learning platform saves time when creating and sourcing content and keeps it in one place so users can access materials on demand. This enables employees to learn in the flow of work, which embeds continuous improvement into your workplace culture rather than creating additional work on top of day-to-day responsibilities.
Having the right learning platform saves time when creating and sourcing content and keeps it in one place so users can access materials on demand. This enables employees to learn in the flow of work, which embeds continuous improvement into your workplace culture rather than creating additional work on top of day-to-day responsibilities.
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An all-in-one learning platform like WorkRamp can help you make the most of learning content with:
An all-in-one learning platform like WorkRamp can help you make the most of learning content with:
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A fully integrated content experience that combines powerful and easy-to-use course authoring tools, customizable templates, and off-the-shelf content for L&D, compliance, enablement, and more
A fully integrated content experience that combines powerful and easy-to-use course authoring tools, customizable templates, and off-the-shelf content for L&D, compliance, enablement, and more
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A single, cohesive learner dashboard that contains prebuilt and custom content in one view
A single, cohesive learner dashboard that contains prebuilt and custom content in one view
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Curation from a catalog of more than 85,000 content resources from industry leading providers in multiple formats, learning styles, and languages
Curation from a catalog of more than 85,000 content resources from industry leading providers in multiple formats, learning styles, and languages
Embrace Continuous Learning to Future Proof Your Teams
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No matter the type of learning content you use, the importance of ongoing learning cannot be denied. Motivate your employees to continuously learn and improve, and turn learning into a growth engine for your organization.
No matter the type of learning content you use, the importance of ongoing learning cannot be denied. Motivate your employees to continuously learn and improve, and turn learning into a growth engine for your organization.
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WorkRamp content offers a curated catalog of ready-to-go content from experts on compliance, professional development, sales skills, and more in your learning platform. Enrich your programs with content that aligns with business objectives and expedites and enhances performance without creating content from scratch.
WorkRamp content offers a curated catalog of ready-to-go content from experts on compliance, professional development, sales skills, and more in your learning platform. Enrich your programs with content that aligns with business objectives and expedites and enhances performance without creating content from scratch.
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Learn more about using WorkRamp content to build effective programs that attract, develop, and retain talent.
Learn more about using WorkRamp content to build effective programs that attract, develop, and retain talent.