Cultivate a culture of holistic learning in the workplace.
We all have an innate thirst for cultivating our growth and development. It’s a natural desire to want to improve our skills, talents, and geniuses. However, finding the time to satisfy this craving can be challenging in a world where the workplace is constantly evolving. This blog will explore the importance of cultivating an environment that builds an individual’s unique abilities and provides them with the tools to grow.
In this post (click to jump to content)
- Transparent Performance Evaluations to cultivate learning, performance, and inclusion.
- Cultivate learning with these three strategies.
- Mutual feedback cultivates a Conscious Leader’s growth.
- Make your contribution now.
By Suzanne F. Stevens, Conscious Leadership and Social Contribution Cultivator, Founder, YouMeWe Social Impact Group Inc., Part of the Nobody Wants to Work Series.
Growing up, I was always curious. I would go for a bike ride, hoping to lose myself and figure out how to get home. Getting lost was one of the ways I found myself. I would bring that same curiosity into my career to many of my CEOs’ chagrins.
I remember storming into the president’s office at my first marketing job, demanding some initiative to serve our customers better. To my final employer, I challenged how we could approach learning and development strategies for our clients and ourselves. I left the office with a recommendation to become an entrepreneur.
No one would argue that I wasn’t transparent, curious, and probably most evident — courageous.
Unfortunately, none of the organizations I worked for could cultivate my curiosity enough to keep me engaged. As a result, I kept leaving to green pastures. Opportunities would land me closer to my vision of being an inspirational speaker.
It wasn’t until I became an entrepreneur and, more significantly, interviewed conscious leaders that it became clear what is needed to cultivate talent that won’t sit idle.
To create an environment that fosters growth and development, organizations must embrace three fundamental principles: transparent performance evaluation, mutual feedback, and team member self-select skill development.
Transparent Performance Evaluations to cultivate learning, performance, and inclusion.
It’s essential to clearly understand an organization’s values and how individual performance is measured against those values.
It allows colleagues to understand why specific individuals have received promotions, pay raises, or opportunities. By communicating a matrix attached to the values of an organization, team members won’t feel that there is any bias, favoritism, or nepotism influencing the growth decisions of the organization.
Also, celebrating and communicating a colleague’s advancement will provide individuals with a beacon to direct their efforts for progress.
This knowledge empowers team members to take ownership of their growth and development.
Cultivate learning with these three strategies.
Organizations that invest in skill development produce a more engaged and skillful workforce; we know that. Investing in their growth and learning communicates to employees they are valued and therefore empowers them.
However, as someone who has worked in training and development for over 20 years, I, like every other trainer, have been in front of a room of prisoners – people who don’t want to be there!
Adopt three approaches to cultivate learning and progress.
1. Have the leader/manager in training – not as an observer but as a participant.
Be vulnerable next to your team. Participate next to your team. Receive feedback next to your team.
2. Ensure the organization supports the training practices by embedding the learnings into the culture
When developing collaboration skills for a client, I identified gaps in the organization’s structure – stifling collaboration and communication. By sharing the performance gaps with leadership, they created teams across departments to collaborate and present solutions for implementation. Departments’ voices were heard. Teams were empowered. And leaders removed one major item off their plates. Check, check, check.
3. Team members self-select skill development.
By allowing colleagues to self-select what they need to reach their goals, we empower them to design their lives and careers, taking ownership of their growth and development.
Start with implementing a self-evaluation process; individuals can reflect on their strengths and areas for improvement. This approach promotes accountability and provides a foundation for continuous learning and development‑ on their terms.
It’s essential to avoid forcing training on individuals to enforce performance, as this does not guarantee they will embrace the skills taught. Instead, investing in individuals committed to their development cultivates a culture that values growth and personal satisfaction.
Mutual feedback cultivates a Conscious Leader’s growth.
To cultivate a learning culture, conscious leaders can encourage their team members to provide them with feedback. Mutual feedback keeps leaders grounded and allows for holistic growth. By reducing layers, silos, and egos, the organization can foster a culture where open, honest, and constructive feedback is encouraged and embraced.
Organizations must create an environment that fosters growth and development in a rapidly changing workplace. Cultivating a culture that values transparent performance evaluation, mutual feedback, and team member self-select skill development is vital. By investing in their people and empowering them to take ownership of their growth and development, organizations create a culture that values growth, development, and continuous learning.
What can you do now to make your contribution count?
Sit with your team members and ask what areas they want to develop. Why do they want to grow in that area?
How will that development impact their work now?
And how do they see that development impacting their performance in the future?
Curiosity through questioning will expose if other colleagues also want to improve a particular skill. Alternatively, the team member can dive into their allocated training and development budget for the year.
Let’s do this! 