Learning and development (L&D), now more than ever, is a crucial aspect of any company’s employee experience and ongoing success. According to Harvard Business Review, growth opportunities are the second most important aspect in happiness at work (after the kind of job itself). The truth is that most employees genuinely want to continue to improve and perform at higher levels in their roles. In fact, 92% of U.S. employees say learning something new on the job motivates and engages them more in their work.

What is also imperative is the structure and support system provided for teams to learn on the job. The reality is that employees are often inundated with multiple meetings, projects, and tasks. This can make it challenging to show up and dedicate time for their own growth, even though the data above shows that they clearly want to develop their abilities further. 

The problem is the system and approach, not them. Expecting people to take long hours away from their work to attend lengthy conferences and training seminars for professional development is overwhelming and unrealistic given their already hectic schedules. Often learning this way means getting a massive amount of information fed to them in a short amount of time. But how much of that is really digested and incorporated into their work this way? Does this really boost business outcomes over an extended period of time?

 

Goals vs. Systems

We live in a world of work that is obsessed with goals. Businesses love KPIs and OKRs. They can set lofty goals all they want, but unless they are broken down into clearly attainable habits and systems, they are wasting their time and setting themselves up to fail. Employees don’t rise to the level of their learning goals, they fall to the level of their systems (or lack thereof) set to obtain knowledge. Why? Because goals have an end point, you achieve one and you’re done. Systems, however, last forever.

 

1% Better Everyday

Here's what the modern workforce truly needs for effective learning and development: a well thought out framework that is repeatable, achievable, and requires little effort for long-term growth. Ideally, employees need an L&D structure that allows them to set aside a little time to build habits that make them 1% better everyday without a huge disruption to their very busy lives. This is the best way to set them up for success and ensure that they can meet their goals  on time, every time while continuing to grow. The key here? Consistency. 

Helping them show up each day in a very small way for their own development can surprise both them and the business with the big results over the long term. Think of it this way, what could they stick to even on their worst or busiest day?

The idea is to create a workplace culture that inspires and supports continuous, bite-sized learning and growing, rather than just meeting one-and-done grand objectives. This doesn’t mean you need to shrink your strategy by any means. When setting goals or making plans, help your teams think big. Reach for the stars. When executing to win though, you must think small for sustainable and achievable success. If you’re scratching your head at this point on how to actually implement this, look no further.

 

Atomic Habits at Work

We’re so excited to host a global habit expert, the bestselling author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, for our first ever instructor-focused MasterClass at Work webinar event: Atomic Habits at Work: Building a Culture of Lifelong Learning. That’s right, he is a brand new MasterClass instructor, too. The live online discussion on September 26th will feature James and his newly launched class with us on habit building, highlighting the importance of habits in the workplace, and inspiring learning as a habit in the workplace. He has mastered the art of small, incremental changes for personal and professional growth and has lots of wisdom to share. 

Joining him in conversation is Dr. John Scott, PhD, our in-house L&D expert. Dr. Scott will directly relate the concepts discussed to workplace applications, so you can leave with clear, actionable ways to help your employees get 1% better everyday. 

Learn more and sign up below. We’re excited to see you there.

To save your seat, please register here.

 

We hope to see you there!

The MasterClass at Work team