At the risk of belabouring a point, Covid-19 has changed the way corporations conduct learning, and the adaptations companies have made in response to the pandemic e.g. conducting training using virtual classrooms, using gamification in learning, adopting microlearning and a higher acceptance of online learning are here to stay.
There’s a high probability that online delivery of corporate learning is going to be the norm moving forward, but let’s take a step back and have a look at the types of learning goals companies should be helping their employees meet.
A 2016 LinkedIn article by Kresimir Profaca broke down the types of employee goals that companies should acknowledge when setting goals for their employees.
Corporate Goals
These are the types of goals that would influence a corporate learning program and are designed to help a company move towards meeting its current strategic direction. Some common examples of corporate goals could be:
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- Increase Market Share
- Improve Client Retention Rate
- Reduce Operating Expenses
These goals would then be further reduced to the employee level i.e. managers would have to set specific employee goals which in turn help the company achieve its overall corporate goals.
An example could be an employee needing to pick up an Excel course to improve her efficiency in a role which is heavily focused on handling data. A common thread among this type of goal is that the learning enables an employee to perform at their role with the ultimate goal of improving a company’s bottom line.
Personal Goals
Personal goals refer to goals that employees have which may not completely align with their employer’s. For instance, these could include having a work-life balance, wanting to achieve a certain career milestone, or learning new skills that fall outside of their job scope.
You might be thinking, why should a company bother with employee goals that aren’t directly aligned with the company’s? Taking learning as an example, allowing employees to learn skills outside of their job scope helps to engage employees, which in turn has a whole slew of positive benefits for an organization. In The Josh Bersin Company’s 2021 guide on employee experience, it was found that companies who emphasised their employees’ experiences had positive business outcomes, people outcomes, and innovation outcomes.
A great example of how employers can support their employees’ personal goals was when Cycle & Carriage Singapore built a central knowledge library and made it available to employees across all departments in the organization. This allowed staff to preview the knowledge required for any potential role transfer and helped Cycle & Carriage build a more informed and engaged workforce.
In the broader context of corporate learning, what can employers do to help their employees reach their learning goals while still meeting business objectives? A 2017 article by Forbes lists 13 ways employers can support their employees’ personal development. Here were the three that resonated with me the most.
Create A Culture of Learning
When an organization enables a culture of learning, this creates a ripple effect that encourages employees to continuously develop their skills and capabilities, which will, in turn, benefit the organization (and any future organization they should choose to work with).
Ask And Listen
Sometimes, the easiest way to help employees achieve their goals is to simply ask them. What are your goals and what can we do to help you reach them? After getting the answers to these questions, it’s then up to organizations to provide access and then encourage their learners to enrol in the relevant learning programmes.
Simple actions like these let employees know that their career aspirations are being acknowledged and improve the employer-employee relationship.
At SmartUp.io, I’m happy to share that we have a similar policy in place. Every so often, our CEO, Eunice schedules time to speak to each member of the team, in what she calls her T.E.A. (Tell Eunice Anything) sessions. Is the name corny? Perhaps. Does it make me feel valued as part of the organization? Definitely.
Build in “Growth Time”
When employees are sent for training workshops, it can feel like a hassle for them as it takes time away from their “real” job. By building in this “Growth Time” directly into someone’s role, this removes that hassle and employees can develop themselves without any guilt
This involves allocating time for employees purely to focus on their personal and professional growth, whether it’s 5% or 10% of an employee’s schedule. A key point to note is that the skills that employees choose to develop should be tied to improving their value to the organization.
When all’s said and done, employers need to remember that employees are just as important as clients to an organization, and meeting employee needs keeps a business running and helps a company avoid the downfalls of high employee turnover. With that in mind, it’s a good idea for organizations to continuously support their employees’ learning goals.
On SmartUp.io’s Humanizing Learning podcast, we’ve previously talked about corporate learning, specifically on how to level up your talent development and experience program, the role of a corporate learning team, how millennials approach corporate learning, and more. I recommend checking them out to learn more about how employers should approach corporate learning for a new generation of employees.
Are you interested to find out how SmartUp can support your organization in meeting your employees’ learning needs? Get in touch with us here and let’s have a chat.
