When people think about staff development chances are the first thing that comes to mind is formal training. Workshops, accredited training, or some other structured type of learning. You might be surprised that the ‘best practice’ approach for workplace learning is a blend of three types of development, with formal learning making up around only 10% of workplace learning.
Workplace learning can be thought of in three categories:
On the job: experiential learning-as-you do
Near the job: social learning that usually involves sharing knowledge with others
Off the job: formal, structured learning that involves some sort of ‘expert’ facilitation
The great news is that formal learning is usually the most ‘resource intensive’ in terms of cost and time off the job. Let’s look at the different ways you can support learning in your organisation or team. Here’s a handy guide to get you thinking.
So when you are next having conversations about learning and professional development with your team members, you might want to look at this handy guide together. Rather than jumping straight to formal learning options, encourage your team members to think about the other types of professional development.
At an organisational level you might also want to think about what systems or processes you can put in place to support social and on the job learning. For example, if you’ve got a ‘subject matter expert’ in the team, get them to record a presentation on certain tasks or processes that come up in frequent training requests. You could also start a mentoring program and think about cross-training staff in different roles to expand their skills and share knowledge across teams.
By Nicole Weber
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