How to Upskill your People and Win at Employee Engagement, Culture of Continuous Learning

“Continuous improvement is better than delayed perfection.” -Mark Twain

A key piece of employee engagement is the opportunity to grow. By reskilling and upskilling your employees, you’re investing in your people and your organization. It’s a way to build agility into your organization’s processes, allowing your company to effectively respond to internal and external factors.

What is a culture of continuous improvement?

A culture of continuous improvement creates an environment where learning, innovation, and small, meaningful changes happen daily. It invites everyone to spot areas for growth, share ideas, and take part in making things better. This approach encourages accountability and helps everyone feel empowered to contribute.

Learning continues to be one of the most compelling reasons people stay in their jobs.

How to build a culture of continuous improvement:

Regular Feedback:

Consistent feedback loops help employees and teams reflect, adjust, and innovate. This approach enables real-time improvements and reinforces a culture of transparency, ensuring that employees feel heard and supported in their development. Start with an employee engagement survey to identify where your organization is excelling and areas for improvement. This can ensure feedback is actionable. And, when you get feedback, take action, collaborate with teams and stakeholders to address problem areas. This fosters ownership.

Identifying Skills Gaps:

Continuous improvement starts with recognizing what skills are needed now but also in the future. This goes back to talent acquisition, being proactive instead of reactive. By regularly assessing competencies, leaders can tailor training and development programs that not only address these gaps but also align with the organization’s evolving needs. Organize skill-mapping workshops. Observe industry trends. Get insights from industry leaders. A culture of continuous learning requires vigilance. This also contributes to employee growth and ensures the company remains competitive.

Ongoing Training and Education:

A culture of learning is essential. Employees should be given access to continuous training and upskilling opportunities. Some real-world examples of continuous learning programs include:

Yelp: Everyone in this company has a stretch role. Employees are consistently promoted from within.
Airbnb: Fireside Chats are a key piece of their learning culture, inviting CEOs, entrepreneurs, musicians, and more to share best practices and knowledge.
OverDrive: This tech company has the largest digital content catalog in the world. It’s basically, the world’s biggest library. Every employee in OverDrive has a Professional Growth Planner.

Mentorship, Returnship, and Coaching Opportunities:

Leaders who invest in mentorship demonstrate a commitment to employee success. They provide meaningful guidance which, in turn, can foster innovation and continuous learning. Establish formal or informal mentorship/returnship programs where employees can learn from more experienced colleagues. Co-learning promotes knowledge sharing. This breaks down silos and improves an organization’s competencies. This practice builds leadership pipelines and increases engagement.

Democracy of Ideas:

Empowering all employees to contribute ideas nurtures innovation. A culture where suggestions are valued—whether through brainstorming sessions, suggestion boxes, or innovation platforms—promotes ownership and motivates employees to seek out new ways to improve processes and products. Leadership should actively listen and act on these ideas to reinforce their value.

Recognize and Reward Learning Achievements:

Measure what matters. When you develop strategies and actions that improve learning in your organization, you should track learning, then recognize it. Celebrating upskilling efforts motivates employees to keep learning. This improves morale. It improves skills and competencies across the organization. And it improves belonging and community. Celebrate together.

Implement learning opportunities with intention. Understand your employees' personal and professional goals and map out how they can reach them through stretch tasks, education, workshops, mentorships, and coaching. As Dr. Laurence Johnston Peter said, "If you don't know where you're going, you'll probably end up somewhere else."

How to Upskill Your People and Win at Employee Engagement

What is a culture of continuous improvement?

How to build a culture of continuous improvement:

Regular Feedback:

Identifying Skills Gaps:

Ongoing Training and Education:

Mentorship, Returnship, and Coaching Opportunities:

Democracy of Ideas:

Recognize and Reward Learning Achievements:

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