Professional Development: How to Build a Culture of Learning in Your Organization

Most kids love to learn in some way, even if they’re not crazy about spelling and math tests. They’ll ask endless questions, share stories, and want to try an activity they’re far too young for, all because they have curious, eager little minds. 

Fast forward to adulthood, and the enthusiasm for learning wanes slightly. Adult learners are busy, their training materials might not be engaging, and worse still, they may not have “permission” to keep growing and developing in the same way they did as kids. 

But, learning and development is crucial for both businesses and their workers. This guide discusses the benefits of continuing professional development, how best to fund individual development, and some strategies you can use to ensure a lifelong love of learning. 

Why does professional development matter?

It’s clear that offering professional development opportunities should be a priority for employers who want to equip their employees with the tools, skills, and knowledge they need to succeed. Here are the specific reasons to invest: 

Professional development encourages growth 

Employers are conditioned to hire candidates who “already” have the experience or qualifications to perform well in their roles. This approach keeps recruiters locked in the past, focused on what they’ve achieved historically. Future-facing employers are committed to using these accomplishments merely as a starting point to build on. They understand that employees need to keep acquiring new skills to maintain pace with the new era of work. 

The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 reveals that 44% of workers’ skills will be disrupted in the next five years, and 6 in 10 workers will need training before 2027. Of note: 

• Cognitive skills are growing in importance most quickly. 
• Analytical thinking is the highest priority for skills training. 
• Technology literacy is the third fastest-growing core skill. 

Professional development achieves company goals 

At first glance, professional development can seem like an individual pursuit providing benefits for employees rather than the overall organization. After all, once employers have plunged money into employee training, there’s nothing to stop workers from quitting and taking their new-found qualifications and professional abilities with them to a rival employer. 

But, when executed correctly, an effective professional development strategy aligns individual growth with the business. The proof? LinkedIn’s Workplace Learning report highlights that 7 in 10 people believe learning improves their sense of connection to their organization. Similarly, 8 in 10 people say learning adds purpose to their work. 

Professional development improves employee retention 

Only 24% of employees were convinced they would remain with their employer this year; the Achievers Engagement and Retention report highlights that 41% of people were actively seeking a new role, and 35% could be swayed by the right opportunity. Career progression opportunities were the second most common reason (after compensation) for moving away from a current employer. 

People development is inextricably linked to career advancement, so intuitively, employers willing to keep their workers moving forward could also hang onto them the longest. 

3 benefits of building a culture of learning

Employee development shouldn’t be a one-time exercise. If your current strategy centers on one-off new hire training or an annual refresher, you won’t reap the limitless benefits of providing ongoing development opportunities. 

When employers commit to building a culture of learning—where continuous upskilling is the norm your employees want to engage in, and managers are happy to dedicate resources to it—expect the following benefits: 

Fostering a culture of innovation 

Companies willing to let their employees learn and experiment within their roles could achieve fantastic results. Take it from the likes of 3M, whose engineers accidentally created the Post-It note when they were actually trying to create a strong adhesive for planes. Or Nintendo, whose development team brainstormed an idea for an interchangeable game device, resulting in the Gameboy. 

80% of executives agree that employees’ growth mindset directly contributes to revenue growth. Who knows what your team members could create if you give them the space and resources to continuously grow and upskill? 

Keeping pace with technological developments

Just as no one has ever completed Netflix, there’s no end point with employee development either, especially when you consider the pace of technology. Artificial intelligence is one of the biggest trends at the moment, with LinkedIn data highlighting that 4 in 5 people want to learn more about how to use AI in their jobs. 

Improving productivity 

In a podcast on “How to revive U.S. productivity,” host Roberta Fusaro asks McKinsey senior partner Olivia White what companies can do to improve productivity. Her response points to the importance of learning and development: 

“Labor markets are going to be tight in some form for the foreseeable future, and human capital plays an incredibly important role. As you’re hiring people for their talent and relevant experience, don’t focus just on credentials or where someone has a degree from. Make sure that once you bring people in, you really invest in on-the-job training and rotation programs that build skills over time.”

The knowledge and skills that employees pick up as they learn can immediately be put to professional practice in daily work tasks. This leads to improved efficiency, quicker processes, and ultimately, a more productive workforce. 

5 unique strategies for cultivating a learning culture

Choose from the following building blocks as you design and launch your company’s unique learning culture: 

Peer-to-peer learning program 

Employees from the same rank and responsibility level can come together collaboratively and learn from each other. You might assemble a group of people to brainstorm a topic, such as in leadership roundtables. One leader could bring a problem to the table, and their peers could help them find a solution based on their experience or personal strategies. 

Some peer-to-peer learning programs will use a facilitator to maintain the focus, not as a teacher, but to ask the right questions. This encourages critical thinking while avoiding bias from one particular viewpoint or style of learning. 

Maureen Cawley, Chief People Officer at Saatva, reports an incredible 100% retention rate among those employees who have participated in a cohort-based learning program with a third-party facilitator. 

“The combination of effectiveness, efficiency, and impact that we see with this peer learning approach makes it a no-brainer investment for us, even in this challenging talent market.”

Mentoring programs 

57% of “mature career development” companies use mentorship programs, according to LinkedIn. This learning arrangement involves partnering a seasoned professional with a more junior-level employee. The experienced person can pass on their knowledge and guidance, enabling the mentee to develop and foster the skills they need to advance in their role. 

This isn’t a new arrangement: Mentorships have existed since Homer wrote “The Odyssey.” In this poem, Odysseus puts Mentor in charge of looking after his son. Since then, some of the more famous workplace mentorships include: 

• Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg
• Bill Gates and Warren Buffet
• Maya Angelou and Oprah Winfrey 
• Steven Spielberg and J.J. Abrams 
• Michelle Obama and Barack Obama 

To keep mentorships thriving and continuous in your workplace, structure them with goal-setting and accountability to make sure the pair meets regularly. 

Self-led learning and development initiatives 

Self-led learning gives employees the freedom to choose their own development initiatives, often through learning management platforms. This method of learning is particularly appealing to Millennial and Gen Z employees who value autonomy and personal growth opportunities. 

Workers can dip in and out of their learning programs, perhaps listening to an interesting podcast on their lunch or taking a training quiz while waiting in line for a coffee. 

The problem? Discipline. While it’s convenient not to involve anyone else in their learning journey, it also means there’s no one to hold them accountable. To make sure self-led learning is effective, managers must check in regularly and help employees create a development roadmap. 

Gamified learning experiences 

Gamification takes employees back to their childhoods and makes learning fun. It uses game design elements, such as points and achievements, in a non-game context, such as through challenges or simulations that require learners to navigate a virtual environment. 

It’s engaging, spirited, and cultivates friendly camaraderie between employees who can compete against each other’s scores or progress levels. 

Cisco’s Black Belt Academy is a great example of gamification, incorporating game elements like points, badges, challenges, customizable avatars, and themed stories into learning, to encourage user interaction and competition via leaderboards. 

Lunch and learn sessions 

Lunch and learn sessions are similar to peer-to-peer learning, but the slight difference is the people involved and their formality level. A group of people from all ranks and roles of the organization comes together and will be hosted by one employee who shares their unique knowledge with the rest. 

For example, Mia might share her knowledge of Arabic with the group, teaching her audience some words they can use in their customer service interactions. Similarly, Benny might offer a talk on time management, describing the Eat the Frog technique which sees him tackling the largest job on his list first. 

How to measure the success of your professional development initiatives

So, you’ve rolled out some development initiatives and want to know if they’re going to achieve any of the results other organizations have experienced. How can you track whether your professional development efforts have been successful? 

1. Set goals for your professional development strategy 

The first step is to clearly define what you want to achieve from your employee development investment. One way to do this is to create SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Here’s an example: 

• Our professional development program should increase employee engagement by 20% within the next six months. We’ll measure this by conducting engagement surveys at six-month intervals, focusing on specific questions related to development opportunities. 

2. Track key performance indicators

Set key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your professional development goals. These could include metrics such as: 

• Employee engagement
• Retention rates
• Skills acquisition levels
• Productivity
• Learning outcomes 

Regularly track these indicators to see if they have improved since implementing your initiatives.

3. Collect employee feedback 

Supplement tangible results with feedback from the people participating in your professional development plan—your employees. Our recommendation is to ask a range of qualitative and quantitative questions: 

• Quantitative questions may invite Yes/No answers or allow respondents to choose answers from a 5 or 7-point Likert scale to indicate how strongly they agree or disagree with a statement. These questions are easy to evaluate and present, often as percentages expressed in a pie chart or graph. 
• Qualitative questions invite employees to share their thoughts, feelings, opinions, or experiences on a particular topic using open-ended questions. These are valuable for getting unfiltered feedback and can provide insights to shape future learning initiatives. You could ask these in focus groups, interviews, or through anonymous feedback forms.

How to overcome common challenges in professional development

Is professional development important? Absolutely. There’s no argument that it’s essential to the growth and success of individual employees and the companies they work for. But is it easy? No. Some of the most common hurdles include: 

Employees lack time to learn 

A top question workers have when their employers expect them to engage in learning and development is “When?” How can they fit extra training into a schedule that’s already jam-packed with meetings, project deadlines, and fire-fighting the latest issue? 

An eLearning Industry report on the State of Employee Experience finds that: 

• 20% of employees don’t have time to learn, despite a love for learning. 
• 36% of employees believe their employer’s training is a waste of time—would they find the time if the training was more meaningful to them? 
• 2 in 5 employees admit they only participate in the training to avoid their regular work responsibilities. 

Company cultures where employees must trade work for learning or vice versa aren’t getting the message: Business success depends on both. To address this challenge, organizations must provide flexible learning options that employees can access at any time and from any location. This could include virtual training sessions or online courses.

Employees aren’t engaged in their learning 

Time isn’t the only issue. Some employees just aren’t jazzed about the type of training they receive at work. According to the same eLearning Industry report: 

• 43% of employees describe their training as outdated.
• A further 28% say it won’t benefit them personally in terms of their personal or professional growth. 
• 63% of employees consider training a checkbox exercise, mandated by their employer to meet their annual performance appraisal requirements. 

Companies can modernize their approach to learning by first collecting employee data to understand what’s great and what’s missing from their current professional development programs. From here, they might: 

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• Include more experiential or hands-on learning.
• Offer bite-sized microlearning modules accessible on demand.
• Gamify their training to make it more engaging and competitive. 
• Create tailored employee development plans to ensure training is relevant to each individual. 

Employers can’t afford to offer professional development 

The case for employers investing in employee growth and development is strong. But, startups and small businesses may not have the budget (yet) to plunge into formalized learning programs. So, what are the options? 

• Use free development: Your company is already filled with skilled employees with experience you can repurpose into other areas of the business. Lean on mentorships, peer-to-peer learning, and lunch-and-learn sessions to continuously upskill your employees without a price tag attached. 
• Source free materials: There are plenty of free professional development courses available, including those from universities and colleges. Continuously market these to your employees so they understand their options for self-directed learning. You might also provide suggestions for articles, books, podcasts, and YouTube videos they can engage with. 
• Share the cost: If your business can’t afford to foot the entire bill for a professional development course or conference, consider splitting the cost with employees. Professional development stipends are an excellent way to do this, providing set funds for each employee to use toward their learning and development goals. 

Develop your employees with Benepass

Professional development is an investment you can’t afford to get wrong. Instead of providing a one-size-fits-all approach to individual growth, consider creating an employer-funded Benepass Professional Development Account for each of your employees. Here’s how it works: 

• You’ll choose what your employees can spend their professional development allowance on, such as courses, books, seminars, coaching, etc. 
• Based on your selection, we’ll code your unique policy details into our Benepass platform to create your unique benefit template. 
• We’ll connect with your payroll system to automate enrollment. 
• You’ll communicate your new development approach to your employees and invite them to enroll in Benepass. 

Ready to take your people to the next level? Book a free Benepass demo to learn more about our professional development benefits, or contact sales@getbenepass.com to connect with a benefits specialist.