1. Align learning to business objectives. An organization's people are its engine of business success and transformation. Yet, many companies don't have their engine optimized for the proper terrain. In other words, employees aren't learning skills that align with business objectives. It's important to avoid a scattershot approach to learning as it could misalign with the business strategy and hinder roles from progressing in the company. Since no organizations are identical, try not to lift the competency and skill matrices from another brand. Every company is a unique blend of processes, culture and technology, and businesses must tailor their learning strategy accordingly.

2. Create motivators for learning. Employees typically view the standards for promotion as vague and unclear. As a result, the incentive to learn new skills gets undermined by feelings of doubt and cynicism. However, by flipping the learning economy on its head – connecting role-relevant learning opportunities to career progression and making learning a prerequisite for job advancement – employees will meaningfully engage in reskilling and upskilling. This motivation method, particularly evaluating a candidate's aptitude and attitude toward learning, is also helpful when examining new hires.

3. Leverage informal learning. When someone acquires new skills or gathers information, it typically comes from informal sources and not always from formal training. Indeed, it is well-known and well-supported that around 10% of learning happens in a formal setting, while 90% comes from these informal situations. Organizations should employ the acronym STRIVE in their learning culture.

• Social: The feedback gained from job shadowing or mentors and coaches.
• Training: Formal education and training courses taken at work.
• Reflection: Looking back and learning from past events.
• Investigation: Any personal study into various topics via social media, podcasts or magazines.
• Vocational: Certification programs from organizations such as Google.
• Experiential: Putting ideas into action and learning from trial and error.

4. Involve leaders. A survey of learning and development professionals found that 76% did not feel that learning was viewed as a priority by management. If an organization hopes to successfully traverse the ever-evolving changes in customer expectations, technology and business models, it needs everyone – especially leaders – to actively participate in learning. Moreover, by serving as a role model, a brand's leaders can positively influence the rest of the company through their actions.

5. Implement Theory One. Harvard professor Dr. David Perkins defines Theory One as the idea that people learn best when given reasonable opportunity and motivation. To make Theory One a reality, organizations must remove the data siloes obstructing talent development and management, or the gap between learning and hiring, retaining and developing employees. Businesses can then enhance their efforts with AI and automation. Nevertheless, in the words of computer scientist Kentaro Toyama, technology is an amplifier for good or bad. If a talent approach is good, technology will make it more effective; if it is bad or lazy from the start, technology will make it worse.

Future-proofing the unexpected  

As competitive markets, supply chains and customer demands continue to change in unexpected and surprising ways, companies must prepare accordingly by embracing a culture of learning. Furthermore, businesses should never grow weary of improving, evolving and adapting. These habits will only become more critical to success as the world continues to automate and digitize in the wake of Industry 4.0 and other such trends.

Sandra Loughlin, Ph.D. is Chief Learning Scientist and Global Head of Learning & Talent Enablement at EPAM Systems, Inc.