If you’re not investing in Continuous Learning for your organisation then you probably should be. The rapidly changing and highly competitive workplace of today means that organisations are having to find ways to stay up to date. Investing in the continuous learning and development of employees is one of the best ways to do this.
“The only thing that is constant is change” – Heraclitus
One of the most effective ways of responding to change is continuous and lifelong learning. But what does that really mean? One suggested definition is self-motivated persistence in gaining knowledge and competencies to expand skill sets and grasp future opportunities. Continuous learning doesn’t just advance your professional development – it transcends personal development and the ability to reach your full potential. Learning and development not only enhance your knowledge but is also fundamental to advancing within your professional career.
Applying continuous learning will enable you to respond to change while also enhancing knowledge and creating new skill sets. If you don’t enhance your knowledge, you are potentially preventing yourself from achieving success and not being prepared for current and future challenges.
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn” – Alvin Toffler
The working world does not slow down, and you need to be able to keep up with it. Continuous learning is the most important, long term investment that an individual and company can make. It is the highest return on investment within business activity and is key to outperforming the competition. There is a great demand and dependence on knowledge and high skill levels. Therefore, investing in continuous learning will always yield a high return on investment. Embedding a continuous learning programme has proven results. Companies such as the BBC, Microsoft, Google, and Netflix – who all allocate a significant amount of their budget to investing in learning and advancing knowledge [1] have excelled as a result of this approach.
In a world where technology is shaping the way we work, organisations must actively promote learning and development to ensure they grow as a company, stay competitive, be more resilient, and ultimately, be ready for future challenges. If you want to achieve prolonged success in your professional career and as a company, the continuous learning programme is the way forward!
[1] Thomke, Stefan. Experimentation Works: The Surprising Power of Business Experiments. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2020.
Interested in a Continuous Learning Platform? Register for our upcoming webinar on 09th or 11th March to discover what IFOL can offer you.
