There was a time, not so long ago, where successful career growth was seen as strictly linear. Employees were expected to climb the '“'career ladder'”', from an entry-level position to a senior role, then to the manager, etc checking off an established set of accomplishments along the way.
Today, that structure has changed and rightly so moving to an increased focus on the importance of personal and well-rounded growth.
Modern careers are no longer ladders – people grow in all directions, not just by climbing a vertical career ladder.
This is more so the case in companies with a positive learning culture, as shown in the recent report How the workforce learns.
Employee growth is ultimately the biggest driver of organisational growth and innovation
Growth extends beyond promotions
While promotions matter in a positive learning culture, they’re not the only – or even the most important – kind of mobility for employees. In positive learning cultures, professional growth is recognised more continuously than just promotions every few years.
Lateral moves, stretch assignments, and mentorships all provide crucial opportunities for individual development as well as workforce agility.
How the Workforce Learns data shows that opportunities to move laterally or work on collaborative stretch assignments are just as important and boost retention.
Promoters are 235% more likely to switch to a new function in their organisation, 101% more likely to work on temporary projects and 189% more likely to work with a mentor or coach; ensuring all of their skills are used to their full potential.
Employee growth is ultimately the biggest driver of organisational growth and innovation. The cost is high for companies that neglect the growth of their internal talent.
The benefits of offering growth opportunities
Companies need to meet their employees where they are with dynamic, democratised and data-driven growth opportunities. If they don't, they will not only risk their bottom line, but they will handicap their best talent as well.
What better way to improve the employee experience and worker retention, than by offering a variety of growth opportunities, in a positive learning culture, allowing both your company and employees to grow together?
The benefits are important and numerous. They include employee development, wellbeing, loyalty, building a dexterous well-rounded workforce who can more easily shift into alternative roles.
Not to mention building a better bank of skills to create a stronger, more resilient, innovative workforce, while improving teamwork and the overall company culture and relationships.
Employees are learning on their own, whatever they want, every day.
The way of learning is less linear than ever before
Just as career paths are becoming less linear, so too are the ways employees learn and develop new skills.
Today, career development is complex, occurring across multiple mediums inside and outside of the workplace. It’s driven as much by employee passions and interests as it is by the parameters of their job description.
Employees are learning on their own, whatever they want, every day. They can find the content they need through articles, books, videos, podcasts and more.
It’s worth noting that, in a positive learning culture, people are more engaged with all three types of learning experiences in the 70|20|10 model: experiential, interactive, and instructional.
Support growth with a positive learning culture
L&D leaders have a bigger opportunity than ever to improve the employee experience and worker retention by implementing a positive learning culture.
But until now, learning leaders have struggled to even define learning culture, let alone build or improve one.
To create a positive learning culture, L&D teams need to offer opportunities to work with other teams, take on temporary internal gigs, and more.
Your people own their careers now, and that changes everything. Promotions matter, but they’re not the only kind of mobility.
What employees need from their managers and your learning team are the support and resources to grow in all directions.
That could look like a mentorship or working on a temporary project on another team. Opportunities must be extended to practice, apply, and stretch skills in order to do this.
Your people own their careers now, and that changes everything
Understand the learning journey
Learning no longer stops after the ‘learning event’ is over. People grow in all directions, so offer experiential learning for them to practice, apply and stretch their skills.
It’s likely that many of these opportunities already exist in your organization, like secondments or volunteering. Offering a range of experiential learning opportunities will also reinforce new skills.
Overall, constructing a positive learning culture based on guidance, diverse experiences, feedback and active development opportunities is the key to not only keeping up with the needs of your business but staying ahead with a skill-based, agile development strategy.
Looking ahead, l;earning and employee growth will play an increasingly vital role in helping organisations prepare and adapt.
Understanding how your people are learning today and offering them the opportunities to grow in all directions will help you better support them tomorrow.
