Building a Learning Culture to Stretch Training Dollars While Keeping Employees Engaged

Summary:

Dr. Jim discusses strategies for small HR teams to effectively allocate training and development resources in a challenging economic environment. He emphasizes the importance of creating a strong skills inventory and prioritizing the most critical skills for development. Leveraging free or low-cost resources, such as Coursera and LinkedIn Learning, can supplement training initiatives and foster a learning culture. Building collaboration and peer-to-peer learning opportunities within the organization can also enhance training effectiveness. Integrating training into practical on-the-job experiences and implementing mentorship programs further extend the value of training. Dr. Jim highlights the significance of measuring impact and adjusting approaches based on feedback to continuously improve training efforts. Delegating responsibilities to managers is crucial for creating a self-sustaining learning and communication culture within the organization.

Key Takeaways:

• Prioritize the most important skills for development to ensure training dollars are effectively allocated.
• Leverage free or low-cost resources to supplement training initiatives and foster a learning culture.
• Foster collaboration and peer-to-peer learning opportunities within the organization to reinforce training.
• Integrate training into practical on-the-job experiences to extend its effectiveness.
• Implement mentorship programs and one-on-one opportunities to facilitate learning and engagement.
• Measure impact and adjust training approaches based on feedback to continuously improve.
• Delegate responsibilities to managers to create a self-sustaining learning and communication culture.

Quotes:

"By making sure that you're focusing on the most important skills that need to be developed, you're going to make sure that training dollars are directly contributing to your managers and your employees being most effective."

"Leveraging these resources helps you build a learning culture and puts training in the hands of the manager and the employee."

"Integrating mentorship and one-on-one opportunities, peer-to-peer learning, is part of your learning strategy."

"You should always be measuring, getting feedback, adjusting based on feedback, looking at impact, and adjusting the approach as well."

"Delegate as much as you can down to your managers to build a self-sustaining learning culture and communication culture."

Timestamp

[0:00:00] Introduction to the challenges of training and development in a small HR team

[0:01:40] Leveraging free or low-cost resources for training and development

[0:03:33] Integrating on-the-job practical experiences and mentorship for training

[0:03:33] Measuring and adjusting training approaches based on feedback

[0:03:33] Delegating training responsibilities to managers for a self-sustaining learning culture