Improving Learning Agility within your Team – Tips for Leaders

The need for continuous learning has never been as high as it is today. This is because of the fast pace at which technology is evolving, economic shocks are happening frequently, the Great Resignation refuses to go away, hybrid work environments are the norm, and so many other factors.

The traditional model of learning, in which employees had to take time off from their work or out-of-office hours in order to go and learn, is no longer viable. A new paradigm, one in which employees learn as they go about their daily work, has emerged. It is called learning in the flow of work.

What is Learning in the Flow of Work?

Simply put, learning in workflow entails improving one’s skill-set or learning in the course of doing your daily work. Learning and working happen concurrently, unlike in the old way which required learning to take place as a distinct activity that was often removed from the work environment.

Principles of Learning in the Flow of Work

There are three major principles upon which the process of learning in the flow of work depends. Everything you do as a manager, leader or employer with the objective of helping your teams to learn in the flow of work must adhere to these core principles.

i. Keep it Integrated

For learning in the flow of work to happen, learning and work should never be viewed as distinct or mutually exclusive domains. The highest ROI occurs when the actual work an employee does generates the prompt for what they need to learn, and any new thing that they learn is immediately applicable in their work.

For example, if an employee is in charge of taking customer service calls at the workplace, you can train them on the latest techniques in handling an irate customer and let the employee implement those new techniques during the customer calls they take.

In this way, the employee sees what they are learning as having immediate value in helping them do their job better and the organization gets an almost immediate return on the investment made to train the employee.

ii. Keep it Active

Another important principle guiding learning in the flow of work is that all parties need to be proactive and take an active role in driving the process forward.

For example, an employee should not simply wait for their immediate supervisor to introduce to them a module or skill that they need to learn or acquire. The employee can initiate the learning process by seeking for guidance with regard to an area they are struggling with, and the supervisor can then come up with the best way for learning to take place as work is going on.

In the same vein, employers or managers should not wait for employee requests so that they get the learning process underway. Leaders and employers can actively look out for information or skills that would be beneficial to the employees as well as the organization and then find ways to train their employees as work is going on.

iii. Make it Routine

Learning in the flow of work shouldn’t be an on/off or sporadic occurrence. Rather, it should become normalized at the workplace as part and parcel of the culture of the organization.

Given that organizations differ in terms of work arrangements (are some employees not in the same geographical location, do they work from home sometimes or entirely, and so on), organization size and structure, and other peculiarities that differentiate one company from another, it is incumbent upon leaders and managers to work out how to make learning in the flow of work routine.

Practices That Allow Learning in the Flow of Work

i. Leveraging Mistake Moments

‘To err is human…’, so goes the saying. Wherever humans are, mistakes are bound to happen. What do you do when a mistake is made? The way you respond when a mistake happens can either be beneficial or harmful.

One way to benefit from mistakes is to use them as an opportunity to learn in the flow of work. For example, if a sales representative conveys incomplete product information to a prospect and the person buys the product under the mistaken belief that it will confer benefits that aren’t ordinarily attributable to that product, you as a manager can leverage this mistake moment not to point fingers or blame the salesperson, but rather to help them learn why it is important to manage customer expectations as you share the benefits of the product or service offered by the company.

These mistake moments shouldn’t only be for the benefit of the affected employee. Other team members should also benefit from this learning moment so that they don’t commit the same mistake.

Involving other employees in this mistake moment shouldn’t be a problem if you have nurtured a culture in which people don’t overly fear to make mistakes and no one “roasts” another for making an honest mistake in the course of doing their work.

ii. Be on the Lookout for Strengths

Just as mistake moments provide opportunities for learning in the flow of work, so do incidences of strengths exhibited by employees.

As each person on your team goes about their work, spot the moments when they display a strength and give them positive feedback about what they have done or are doing. For example, if an employee quickly calms down a complaining client, compliment that employee and use what has just happened as a learning moment for all others to emulate.

Such positive feedback right in the moment boosts the confidence of employees in their ability to handle complex situations, and they are likely to be more satisfied with their jobs while also being more engaged as they work.

iii. Pitch-Prototype-Test

Like we have mentioned before, change is happening at a fast pace, and this calls for continuous learning if companies are to cope and thrive in this environment. You can help your teams to learn in the flow of work by giving them room to experiment and come up with new products, approaches or solutions.

For example, you can start by creating a 10-minute slot during weekly meetings for team members to table new ideas on what they think needs to be improved. This is the pitching phase of this practice. Next, ask the members to share how such an idea can be implemented. This is the prototype phase. Thereafter, find out how the prototype developed from the idea can be quickly and cost-effectively tested to ascertain its viability. That is the pilot or test run phase.

With time, make the pitch-prototype-test practice so routine that an employee can approach their supervisor and make a suggestion, which they then quickly discuss regarding the prototyping and testing approach. A lot of learning will happen as work is going on.

Summing it up…

In life, you are either growing or dying. Learning in the flow of work is a manifestation of keeping on the growth path. When learning isn’t taking place at the workplace, the company is slowly dying because the people who run it aren’t keeping with the times. The choice is yours; will you grow or die?