It takes three weeks to form a habit. But did you know that an average employee only devotes 1% of their week to learning? That's only 24 minutes a week, or 4.8 minutes a day.
Is this you? It can be hard to prioritize learning because of how busy work and life can be. But the little habits we perform everyday determine future outcomes. When we put learning on the backburner, we wake up to discover we lack the relevant skills needed in the market because we didn't prepare enough for them.
The trick here is to learn while you work! Here are some tips:
1. Bite-sized learning
Always wanted to learn something new without having to go back to school or attend an entire workshop? YouTube videos, short articles, e-courses, podcasts, TED Talks, and even games are your friends. You don't have to force yourself to read an entire textbook just to boost your knowledge about your work and industry -- just three to fifteen minutes of your time can go a long way, as long as you are consistent. Commit yourself to learning something new everyday. Here's Where Filipinos can find online courses to develop their digital skills
(Tip: This is called bite-sized learning. Efficient and agile companies provide short learning materials that are easily digestible -- like e-courses that are 7 minutes long per session -- as opposed to making employees sit through an entire one-hour webinar. Does your workplace have bite-sized learning materials?)
2. Constantly ask for feedback
We tend to wait for feedback to come to us, whether we commit mistakes or do exceptionally well. But what if we're simply in the middle, doing the same thing day after day?
Constantly asking for feedback, whether it's from your managers, customers, or peers, is one way to make sure you do things differently from before. Your workplace will not only see how willing you are to learn, but how much it can trust you to deliver results excellently.
(Tip: Using technology for feedback, such as online customer feedback surveys, will be beneficial for you or your team.)
3. Know the latest buzz in the Industry
Are you updated on the latest in your industry? There are a plethora of niche-specific newsletters, websites, and communities that can be relevant to your career if you search well enough. Just a few minutes of reading these updates a day will keep you updated on the latest trends in the industry. It is a habit of executives too: 94% of business executives get their news via email.
(Tip: Plus points if your company sends out those newsletters themselves. Newsletters are a great way to boost employee engagement if done the right way -- through using catchy layouts, interactive graphics, and short but sweet updates.)
4. Find a company that values learning
We can be enthusiastic about learning, but at the end of the day, we need to be in an environment that fosters it. A plant cannot grow on poor-quality soil, just as a lifelong learner like you shouldn't be in a company that cannot provide you new skills and insights. How do you know if a business is devoted to making sure their people learn? Look at how they're investing in digital learning. The role of Agile learning in developing skills needed in the age of automation.
Is information dissemination in your company up to date? Or do they still rely on outdated tools? (Example, Microsoft Word over Google Docs, messaging channels for sending files instead of using cloud services.) Bringing teams together through technology
Is all the information you need in one platform while you work, or do you have to search extensively just to get the knowledge you need?
Does your company invest in technology, or do you see it becoming Jurassic-like in the future? An L&D Leader’s Guide to Implementing Digital Learning
Does your manager care about your growth? No matter how much you want to advance in your career, you can only go so far in the company if your leaders encourage learning. (In fact, two out of three employees are more likely to engage in learning if their managers were directly involved.)
Are you that kind of leader or business?
We need to teach our employees the relevant skills they need in the future. Our business will be far behind the increasingly digital times if they don't learn.
But we often do not have the time. It's not just employees who say they are busy, but also organizations.
So how do businesses and leaders fuse learning into the workflow?
Find out in our next webinar!
On JULY 28, Wednesday
Digital Learning:
Developing agile learners to boost performance and productivity
It's 100% free.
We issue e-certificates at the end of each course.
Our resource speaker has more than a decade of human resource expertise -- even international accolades -- to make sure you get the best tips on becoming the next digital leader.
We promise it will be fun, interactive, and it won't be your typical classroom session.
Here's what people thought about our last webinar:
Hurry, slots are limited. We want to see you there!
Or if you want Digital Design Thinking tailored specifically for your organization,