Learning is a continuous process. Rarely do we master every aspect of a job or intellectual pursuit on the first try. And once we learn something new, knowledge decays rapidly.
Continuous education can fill knowledge gaps, teach entirely new skills, and broaden your understanding of a field or topic.
More broadly, continuous education can bolster confidence and create a stronger sense of worth and belonging in a community. Investing in continued learning demonstrates that you take your employees’ growth seriously.
In a dynamic competitive environment, a team that doesn’t continuously learn and grow will quickly fall behind its competitors.
What is Continuous Education?
Continuous education typically describes skill-oriented learning that takes place outside of formal education programs. These programs may address recent innovations in a company’s industry and evolving best practices. In other cases, they focus on professional development, skills management, problem-solving, and collaboration.
Continuous education might take the form of one-time class sessions or seminars that meet on multiple occasions. It typically is not completed in pursuit of a degree; however, some continuous education may count toward certifications.
Some people may perceive continuous education as boring or an imposition on their time, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. Meaningful continuous education has tremendous benefits for both employers and employees.
3 Reasons Why Continuous Education is Important in the Training Sector
1. Keep Up With Changing Practices
In a fast-changing world, industries evolve quickly. For example, a doctor who completed her formal schooling in 2003 doesn’t rely solely on what she learned in medical school. Keeping up with new technologies, approaches, and methods is crucial for employee success.
Just as you don’t want your doctor relying on outdated science, you don’t want your team members operating on outdated assumptions. Continuous education, particularly digital learning, arms your team with the most recent and valuable information.
Digital training platforms like Learn to Win equip your employees with the tools they need to excel in the field. You can quickly update or create new training sessions to incorporate the most up-to-date information.
Tailoring continuous education to the specific needs of your workforce helps ensure engagement and knowledge retention. Gamifying your content with Learn to Win lessons and quizzes makes learning fun, sticky, and effective.
2. Retain Employees
Interesting, engaging work is consistently a draw for employees. It’s natural to look for additional challenges once you’ve mastered the basics.
Continuous education enables employees to develop new interests and skills within your company. Offering employees opportunities to push themselves to greater heights wards off stagnation and improves retention.
Boredom at work can quickly snowball into dissatisfaction. Heading off boredom increases employees’ productivity and feelings of belonging in the workplace.
Employees highly value opportunities to develop soft skills like communication and leadership. One study showed that a significant portion of business leaders, 74 percent, consider education in soft skills crucial for retaining employees.
Offering compelling continuous education opportunities gives your company a competitive advantage in recruiting and retention. Employees value employers who value their professional and personal development.
3. Maintain a Positive Company Culture
Training during onboarding is crucial to new employees’ success. However, new team members can’t learn everything they need to know in days or weeks.
It’s natural for company practices to shift to meet changing client and employee needs. Continuous education can help employees get up to speed on new approaches or tools your company decides to use.
Ongoing education encourages employees to see their work improving with time and effort. Adaptability and flexibility are key to fast-paced work environments. Continuous education can bolster employees’ confidence in their abilities.
5 Benefits of Continuous Education
1. Develop New Skillsets
Most of us don’t enjoy doing the same thing day in and day out. We want new and exciting challenges to engage our minds.
Employees grow into increased abilities. Providing further growth opportunities demonstrates respect for their work.
Diversifying your employees' skills ensures your company's success in a quickly changing world. Encouraging employees to see themselves as lifelong learners helps build a culture of curiosity and humility.
2. Improve Performance
A recent study discovered that 96% of employers agreed that continuous education improved overall job performance. That’s a resounding endorsement of investing in your employees.
No matter your field, pushing your employees to greater heights is essential to company growth. You rely on your employees to give you their best. Equipping them with the best professional and personal development builds confidence.
3. Increase Innovation
With new skill sets come new ideas and applications. Challenging team members to pursue new goals often sparks ideas for improving existing practices or building entirely new products.
Invest in the lifelong learning of your employees and watch their contributions push the envelope.
Learn to Win’s digital training has helped professional athletic teams, the United States military branches, and Fortune 500 corporations. We work with you to translate the critical informal knowledge that drives performance on your team into effective lessons that unlock your team’s potential.
4. Build Your Company’s Reputation
Companies investing in their employees’ success will likely build positive word of mouth and enhance employer reputations on platforms like Glassdoor and LinkedIn. This can have tremendous value in a tight labor market. More people will want to work for you, but more people will want to work with you, too.
Word of mouth travels fast. Having a reputation for treating your employees as valued team members can significantly benefit your organizational endeavors.
5. Nurture Leaders
Continuous education can encourage leadership development and highlight potential among your employees. Rather than hiring from outside the company, promoting from within bolsters company morale and increases employee loyalty.
By investing in employee education, you invest in your organization's future leaders. Developing a highly skilled talent pool creates unique opportunities for your team’s future.
Conclusion
Continuous education plays a crucial role in ensuring employee satisfaction and loyalty. It also boosts personal and company-wide well-being. Employees are far less likely to feel stuck or dissatisfied when companies invest in their professional development.
Learn more about how customized, cognitive science-backed continuous education training can benefit your company. Request a Learn to Win demo today to speak with a member of our team about your company’s needs.
