Build a learning culture for the future of work

Why are these organizations so optimistic about the future of work? They understand and embrace the reality behind the challenge

• While experts predict that 52 percent of existing human tasks will be performed by robots by 2025ⁱ, technology will create 133 million new jobs by 2022ⁱⁱ.
• Organizations are looking to upskill and reskill the workforce faster than ever before, and yet today’s employees are wholly on board with intensive, continuous education. Employees across generations, not just millennials, are eager to learn and ready to play a lead role in their own development
• Traditional career paths are disappearing, but they’re being replaced by dynamic experiences, paths that can generate more engagement, enthusiasm and motivation from employees.

Still, it’s one thing to recognize opportunity and quite another to fully leverage it. Vanguard organizations are becoming learning organizations, where “learning is work and work is learning.ⁱⁱⁱ In contrast, static organizations continue to “repeat old practices,” implementing change that remains merely “cosmetic and…short-lived.”^iv

While this kind of high-impact environment can’t be achieved overnight, organizations can begin to build by focusing on these six areas:

1. Establish a learning culture

From the Harvard Business Review to Forbes, McKinsey to Mercer, experts encourage organizations to “build a learning culture.” This learning culture provides a foundation to address everything from the skills gap to the talent shortage, from disengaged employees to the need for a more agile workforce that can meet the demands of a rapidly changing economy. But what does a learning culture look like in the day-to-day work world? An effective learning culture within an organizatio

• Prioritize learning. An organization with a robust learning culture prioritizes learning across all roles and departments and has established development as a pathway to and foundational element in the organization’s future agility, flexibility and success.
• Integrates learning throughout the organization. In a learning culture, development doesn’t take place solely during off-sites or within micro-learning sessions, but instead is integrated into the fabric of the organization. That means learning and development is no longer a phase in the employee lifecycle but instead is a constant companion during an employee’s career. It’s part of hiring, with organizations sourcing candidates not just for existing skills but also for learning aptitude, and it functions in a feedback loop with performance management. Learning transforms onboarding; instead of merely filling out paperwork, new hires build new skills and increase productivity. And because employees are learning even before day one on the job, organizations with a learning culture find it easier to build capable leaders and can navigate succession planning more successfully. 
• Provides multiple learning pathways. An organization with a learning culture provides learning opportunities to all employees — regardless of level or role — using a variety of tools and technologies, each adapted to the individual’s needs. Content isn’t just curated, it’s contextualized — and thus made more relevant and meaningful. The right learning opportunity goes to the right person at the right time when content is, per Josh Bersin, “organized and arranged by role, job title and competency”^v within a learning platform.

2. Nurture curiosity by offering learning opportunities to everyone

Much has been made of millennials’ appetite for learning. But curiosity and a desire to learn are human traits that transcend artificial generational boundaries. It’s up to organizations to provide the kind of learning opportunities and ways of working that nurture this innate curiosity instead of nullifying it. It’s worth it: According to research by Deloitte, organizations that prioritize continuous learning are 46 percent more likely to be first to market, 92 percent more likely to innovate and have 37 percent greater employee productivity.”^vi

Curiosity isn’t innate to those in certain roles, either. Too often, organizations create development opportunities for some jobs and not others. Just as age doesn’t dictate an employee’s appetite for learning, neither does role. Many organizations focus on training entry-level employees and developing the leadership capabilities of high-level employees, leaving midlevel employees without equal opportunities for learning. In the new world of work, leaders can (and should) be developed from anywhere in the organization.

3. Enables employees to drive their own learning

According to research by Mercer, 83 percent of surveyed employees take responsibility for keeping skills current.^vii Organizations can capitalize on this desire by providing a full range of learning opportunities using a variety of technologies and methods. This includes microlearning, in-person classes and game-based lessons to reach different types of learners.

4. Develop employees' learning agility

The half-life of professional skills is now 5 year^viii, 8 and according to research by the World Economic Forum, one in four workers reported a “skills mismatch” between the skills they have and the skills they need in their current job.9 How then can organizations keep up with the rapid obsolescence of skills? By realizing it’s not so much about keeping up as it is about developing fluidity and agility around skill development and learning. Employees today need an overarching aptitude of how to learn.