Learning something new does not require enrolling in a certificate or a four-year degree program.

Opportunities To Learn

It can be a simple as:

• Learning a new app for a phone or mobile device.   Too often, we download a tool someone has recommended, but we don’t try to use it. A quick check of You Tube offers instructions showing how to use most new techniques.
• Reading a post on a blog that offers leasing, maintenance or marketing tips.   Then, sharing the information during the team meeting.
• Discovering a You Tube video with information on repairs or cleaning.
• Monitoring Instagram for the advertisement for a marketing competitor.

Role Model

This experience creates an impression on team members.  Someone respected makes time for learning.  Using self development or a practical application to solve a situation. When team members are creating goals for themselves, then establishing the steps to move themselves along the career path.  They observe and apply this example for their career development.

“If I want to succeed in this industry, I need to learn about it.”

Skills and education are not achieved by osmosis. Attending seminars, webinars, or reading resource material provide a foundation for the practical day-to-day application. This translates the knowledge to a skill.

Leaders set the learning example.   Reinforcing the value of training and learning.  Otherwise, the team views their employment as an hourly job and is not invested to see training as career development.   Nor do they recognize the training as an investment by their employer in their future,.  Education as a requirement, generates little value.    A certificate is provided for the personnel file.  Hopefully, the individual views the occasion as an opportunity to avoid the tasks scheduled for that day and a free lunch.

Encouraging learning can be as simple as sharing an explanation of a new app for a smart phone; a new technique learned on you-tube how to clean a bathtub or shower that is badly stained. A leader sets the example for the team. The age old excuse of being too busy, has long since been discounted. Everyone is busy, everyone has 24 hours in a day…and everyone is encouraged to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep. Reading or viewing something worth sharing with the team might take 10 or 15 minutes..information on any subject, or a solution to any problem is available via the internet.

More Than A Requirement

When team members are scheduled for training, provide an explanation outlining the objective.  Upon completion, share the information with the balance of team.  This reinforces the importance of the training.

Mentoring a learning environment can change the attitude of the workplace environment. Shared learning, skill development puts everyone on a path for advancement and development, viewing each day by the tasks accomplished instead of the hours on a clock.