Jack Welch, the former CEO and chairman of General Electric once said, “An organisation’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.”
Although I agree with that statement, I personally feel that learning is much more than an advantage. In fact, it is obligatory.
The world we’re living in now is moving at the highest speed. The rapidity of information, advances in communication and technology, and rising diversity in the workforce are among the major changes we’re experiencing. We’re also moving toward a fourth industrial revolution that will bring with it innovative robotics, autonomous transport, artificial intelligence and advanced biotechnology.
While such dramatic changes undoubtedly hold great promise, the patterns of consumption, production and employment generated by them also pose major challenges requiring proactive learning and adaptation.
Surely we will see the changing patterns of skills needed from the future workforce in order to match this transforming business landscape. In other words, the skills we have today might not be adequate for the job tomorrow. The only solution is to never stop learning and staying ahead of the game.
Given the advances in digital communication and technology, learning is something that can be done anytime and anywhere, far beyond the classroom or training room. What’s more important, however, is ensuring that everyone in the organisation realises the importance of learning, as capabilities need to be constantly developed and continuously put to work.
In addition, true learners don’t just gobble up new information; instead, they do something useful with it. In practice, true learners take what they know and then quickly apply it to new situations before going back and learning some more. True learners also understand that in order to learn something new, they have to let go of what they have been holding onto for so long, even when it used to bring about results. It might not always involve learning something entirely new, but it will be learning with a new perspective.
At the individual level, by learning continuously you will become happier in life when you achieve new target, and when you are looking to learn as much as possible, there’s less of a chance that you will come off as arrogant. Instead, you can build more connections when people realise that you are trying to learn from them, not by making yourself look smarter than them most of the time. Most importantly, you will become irreplaceable to everyone around you because you’re willing to push yourself beyond your limitations and not be limited by your contribution.
An organisation full of learners will innovate more quickly, become more productive and efficient, and able to deliver more value faster. That’s the main reason why we need to make sure that the learning capability can go viral across organisations to guarantee that they can stay ahead of the game and win in this highly competitive and cut-throat market.
There are certainly many ways your organisation can encourage learning. At the fundamental level it is necessary to set the right mindset for your employees to view challenges and difficulties as learning opportunities, and the occasional failure as a stepping stone to success. That’s because someone who survives failure will gain irreplaceable knowledge and the unstoppable perseverance born from overcoming hardship.
Also, learning can arise from expanding your network. For example, questioning and exchanging ideas on many topics with peers or colleagues you normally interact with can be an unparalleled source of learning opportunities as it will enhance your understanding.
At the higher level, which I deem vital to ensure continuous learning and development becomes part of the organisational culture, is appropriate leadership support for any learning activities. From line managers to chief executives, all need to be publicly seen as role models in advocating and valuing learning while they themselves need to walk the talk: they never stop learning and openly accept the fact that they cannot know everything.
All in all, what you learn in college isn’t enough to keep you going throughout your career. New skills are constantly required and continuous learning is essential.