Leaders understand the importance of ongoing growth and learning not only for themselves, but equally for the culture of their organization. Humans by nature need continual growth and development. It is easy to forget the importance of creating new opportunities to learn when others see it as change or more work. Consider reframing “more work” to “we are all works in progress.”
“You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach her/him to learn by creating curiosity, (s)he will continue the learning process as long as (s)he lives.”
– Clay P. Bedford
Fostering learning and growth amongst your team is one of the best ways to ensure success in your organization. Not only does it help build skills and knowledge, but it also provides additional motivation for staff. It also shows you are invested in their professional development – which creates an engaged and fulfilled workforce. Let’s explore effective strategies for developing a culture of engaged learners within your organization and how these can help move your team forward together.
- Embrace mistakes
Team members will make mistakes and when they do, it’s up to you to take the time to show them a better way. Mistakes become teaching moments. Find these moments early and often.
Leaders play an essential role in making sure their teams feel confident and equipped to take risks while they pursue their goals. Rather than discouraging mistakes, embracing mistakes as learning opportunities is a powerful way for you to foster teamwork, build relationships, and help employees gain the skills necessary to move forward. By creating a culture that sees mistakes as inevitable stepping-stones in the pursuit of success, you’ll promote growth-mindset thinking among staff. This helps team members learn from past errors and operate with increased confidence. In this way, you can create a safe place to make mistakes while also using those same moments to facilitate personal growth within your team.
- Encourage best practice updates
People will learn not only from you, but from others, and the world. Create an environment where your team members are eager to share new techniques that are providing more success, ease, effectiveness, creativity, and vitality.
Creating an environment of sharing is key in promoting teamwork and encouraging people to learn best practices from each other. When everyone feels comfortable expressing their opinions, but grounded in respect for each other, it can lead to exceptional collaboration and help everyone grow within the team. Take time to create an open environment that not only challenges new ideas but also celebrates individual successes by providing recognition and support. Not only will this quality of working together help individuals with personal growth, but it will empower the whole team with a sense of purpose and accomplishment.
- Unleash the love of learning
Nourish a spirit of exploration – open up to new ideas and figure out what they mean for your team’s goals. This way, you can uncover fresh insights that benefit everyone by leading the charge on new ideas. Through teaching others what you’ve learned, encourage collaboration and watch peers become mentors!
“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.” – Anthony D’Angelo
- Mission success
Ask your team to find the new knowledge, tools, or best practices that result in even better success for the mission and overall company. Engage your team as hunters of the “best practices” and challenge them to look at each phase of a project with the following question: “What don’t we know, that if we did know, would make this phase even more successful?”
By granting team members the authority and trust to explore cutting-edge solutions in support of success for the organization, you will be nurturing an environment of self-motivated innovation that is bound to yield results sooner rather than later. Encouraging employees to build upon a culture of ideas can go a long way towards cultivating a track record of success and propel corporate growth.
Creating a love of learning and hunting of the best knowledge, advancing techniques, and the desire to gain and practice new skills will build an unstoppable team.
Commit, grow, and develop,
Bobbie
