Creating a Culture of Continuous Learning and Development ‍

"Michaelangelo at the age of 87 said ‘Ancora Imparo’ which means “I am still learning”.

‍Why is Continued Learning so Important in the Workplace?  

The pace of change in all industries is quickening. Technology that is current in 2020 will likely be out of date by 2022 therefore, continuous learning allows your employees to keep in touch with what is new and useful, and what could be relevant within their sales approach. With technology ever evolving continuous learning is vital to future success.

If we think about a type of rapid change that very much affects one of our clients - mobile phones - and how often new devices are released, it’s important that the salespeople have a constant learning stream to ensure they’re able to answer customer questions and sell the suitable device for them.  

It is not just new products that salespeople need to continue to learn about. Details of existing products are just as important, so employees can refresh the knowledge they already know - be it for new sales, or to support with customers who may have previously purchased a handset.  

Sales techniques can be learnt that may be useful across the board. This could include cross-selling, upselling, defining your customer and what your competitive advantage is.

Brand knowledge and awareness can also be learned by employees to show them what makes a memorable impression on consumers and allows your customers to know what to expect from your company or brand.

How to Implement Learning in the Workplace?

Creating a learning culture with a healthy dose of competition can help to motivate your employees. This can be in the form of league tables so that scores are visible in your teams, stores, or regions or through a competitive reward and recognition platform.

This not only incentivises the employees to complete the learning but also encourages them to try and score as highly as possible. This works exceptionally well if a competitive sales environment already exists within the company, either at individual or team/store level.

Creating a continuous stream of learning without it becoming overwhelming or boring is key to ensuring that it is specific and engaging. This can be done by employing different engagement answering mechanisms (e.g. multiple choice, drag and drop), including pictures and videos so that it is not too word heavy.

Incentivising your workforce to take part and complete any learning is always important, as you will want to maximise those that are trained and keep them up to date. You could do this by providing prizes for those that complete the learning to a high standard, ensuring it isn’t just being completed to tick a box but is being engaged with in a way that benefits the employee too!  

We have also run programmes where the learning completion is built into the campaign requirements so it must be completed before any rewards can be received.  

Increase in Performance and Outcomes Due to Continuous Learning and Development  

In a recent sales campaign we ran for a client, we saw that the employees that took part in the programme had a sales volume increase of 46%. In addition, those that completed the learn modules relevant to the products they were selling saw their sales volume increase by 97%!

Completing the learning modules was a requirement in order to receive any of the further incentives, so we also recorded 92% of the audience engaged in the programme and 70% of those that completed the learning scoring 80% or above.

Contact us to get a great return on investment by empowering your team through learning and development to succeed and help your company grow.