It is becoming increasingly difficult for businesses to retain their best talent, however, through establishing a culture of lifelong learning businesses stand a better chance of holding onto their best employees, says Hays CEO, Alistair Cox, in his latest
LinkedIn Influencer blog.
As businesses continue to struggle with skill shortages, retaining talent within skill short areas is essential to a business’s success. Business leaders must therefore look at their training offering to existing staff and ensure they are doing all they can to keep hold of them. Lifelong learning could be key in this challenge as staff look to develop their skill set and knowledge further, meaning those businesses that fail to do so risk losing their best talent.
Business leaders must establish lifelong learning as a priority and should be setting an example to their workforce by showing that they are also constantly learning. Leaders that do take part in continuous learning are often the ones leading high performing businesses and if the leader of a business is committed to learning, then the workforce generally is too. Alistair argues that it is therefore the responsibility of business leaders to teach their people that continuous learning is a priority.
Alistair states, “I personally think it's important that you actively show your business that you are genuinely committed to your own career development - that learning is personally important to you and your career, and that, essentially, the rest of the business should take a leaf out of your book. By doing so, a culture of lifelong learning will start to permeate.”
Role modelling shouldn’t end with the leader of the business, they must encourage their people managers to also embody the philosophy in order for it to make a difference. Ensuring this culture sticks may require a change in mind set. Alistair says, “Your managers mustn’t see learning and development as a cost, or a waste of time, rather an investment in the long-term health and sustainability of themselves, their team and the wider organisation.”
Alistair sets out three ideas to help managers role model lifelong learning within their organisation.
1. Managers need to be more self-aware
Managers must be encouraged to take a step back and ask themselves whether they are truly committed to lifelong learning - when was the last conference they attended or the last piece of thought leadership they read?
Alistair says, “Do your people managers feel they’re the ‘finished article' just because they went on one training course last year (and haven’t done anything since)? They shouldn’t do, and if they do, you have a problem on your hands. They may not be bothered about their own development, but if that approach permeates through their teams, you're going to struggle.”
2. Actions speak louder than words
Alistair states that in order to be encouraged and to foment the culture of continuous learning, people managers need to publicly commit to personal learning – no matter how busy they think they are.
Alistair explains, “It can be incredibly motivating for a direct report to know that their line manager also has a personal development plan they’re executing. It essentially helps the team realise and understand that it’s not just them who has to improve, everyone in the business does, including the boss.”
3. Failure is ok, as long as it comes with learning
Once the new culture of lifelong learning is established, leaders must then make sure managers know it is ok to fail, as long as they take all the learnings from the situation. Alistair explains, “Innovation and advancement is what we are all striving for in order to remain competitive, and that simply cannot happen without occasional failure.”
Alistair summarises by saying, “So, next time you’re tempted to decline an opportunity to learn something new, just because you think you’re too busy, grasp it with both hands. Stop making excuses and find the time to develop yourself and learn new things in a way that works for you. Your workforce will definitely notice this change. More so, they will admire and respect you for it, and most importantly, follow suit.”
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About Hays
Hays plc (the "Group") is a leading global professional recruiting group. The Group is the expert at recruiting qualified, professional and skilled people worldwide, being the market leader in the UK and Asia Pacific and one of the market leaders in Continental Europe and Latin America. The Group operates across the private and public sectors, dealing in permanent positions, contract roles and temporary assignments. As at 31 December 2016 the Group employed 9,600 staff operating from 251 offices in 33 countries across 20 specialisms. For the year ended 30 June 2016:
– the Group reported net fees of £810.3 million and operating profit (pre-exceptional items) of £181 million;
– the Group placed around 67,000 candidates into permanent jobs and around 220,000 people into temporary assignments;
– 22% of Group net fees were generated in Asia Pacific, 45% in Continental Europe & RoW (CERoW) and 33% in the United Kingdom & Ireland;
– the temporary placement business represented 58% of net fees and the permanent placement business represented 42% of net fees;
– Hays operates in the following countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Chile, China, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, UAE, the UK and the USA