Data And Learning: How To Build A Future Fit Business With A Learning Culture

How data and learning work together to enhance your workforce and improve employee performance

Today's employee wants more than just a salary from their employer. People have a continuous need to keep learning both in and out of the workplace, and every future-fit business must take heed — or face the consequences. As "The Great Resignation" has shown, modern workers are not afraid to leave companies that show little or no interest in their personal growth.

The requirement for a learning culture in your business can't be overemphasized. Not only will it help your business attract and retain top talent in a highly competitive job market, it will also benefit you by developing your current employees' skills and capabilities, upskilling them for future roles.

Promoting active learning is the first step, but data's role in maximizing its effectiveness is an often overlooked aspect of employee development. Collecting data, leveraging technological systems to improve training, and tracking learning progress are just as important as enforcing a progressive learning culture.

Here are a few steps to fully integrate and reap the benefits of a learning data ecosystem for a more empowered workforce.

Gather Insights to Form the Data Learning Foundation 

Having an effective learning data ecosystem helps your business in many ways. It's not enough to create courses and models to train your workforce without some level of input from the learners themselves. Data provides tangible insights that help your business implement impactful learning strategies. Gathering data through sources like employee engagement surveys, skill assessments, and learning completion rates enables you to dive deeper into the learner's profile, understand areas where employees excel, and pinpoint areas for improvement. You'll also gain a deeper understanding of the teaching methods, topics, and focus areas that resonate with them best rather than implementing programs you think they want.

Integrate Data for a Holistic View of Employees' Development Journeys

Most organizations rely on multiple data collection, storage, or organization platforms. However, having your employee data spread across separate platforms can make tracking or obtaining a complete view of their learning and development journeys difficult. It often leads to fragmentation, inconsistencies, security risks, or inaccuracy in the data collected. That's where a learning management system (LMS) that seamlessly integrates into your other people management or HR software can be highly beneficial. 

It collects existing employee data from your HR system so you can quickly identify skills gaps, behavioral trends, and other vital factors that contribute to a customized learning environment the employee connects with, which will yield more beneficial results.

Create Personalized Learning Paths

Personalization is critical, whether it’s in a marketing campaign or your learning and development programs. But how can you tailor employee training to fit their specific skills needs, learning styles, and course completion rates? Data analysis has a crucial role in understanding how to personalize learning. Learning analytics can take information from areas like job performance data, learner feedback, pretest data, and data from other learners to improve and personalize your employees’ learning experiences by recognizing gaps in their knowledge and assigning courses based on identified areas of improvement. You can also use this data to understand how they learn and even measure the impact of different training courses on employee performance.

Measure the Impact and Outcome of Your Learning Initiatives 

Completing all the steps above requires measuring results to be successful. After all, if your corporate learning efforts don't yield tangible benefits or rewards, you’re wasting time and money. Assessing the effectiveness of your employee development activity ensures you see the progress and success of your efforts and can measure its effects on employee performance. 

Data on learning outcomes also helps you pinpoint how effective your investment in employee development is. Measuring metrics and KPIs like knowledge assessments, performance evaluations, and skills assessments can help you determine whether your training courses have met the desired objectives and, in situations where they are not, make data-driven decisions on areas that can be improved.

Both employers and employees stand to gain a lot from data and technology's continuous evolution. Data provides valuable insights to guide informed decision-making for designing custom training programs and refining learning strategies, so they're optimized for better outcomes. Data also supports a robust learning culture that is agile and adaptable to market trends and employee interests by showing them the value of their learning efforts and fostering their need for purpose and engagement.

Author Bio

Alana Pratt is HR Advice Specialist at BrightHR Canada.