Editor’s note: This op-ed for Bus & Motorcoach News is written by James Blain, President of PAX Training, an online-based Training and Certification program.
When it comes to moving the performance needle in your business, few things are as powerful as developing a learning culture. Regardless of how good someone is at any one task or job, in order to reach their full potential, they have to constantly be learning and growing. More importantly, to keep performing at peak levels, they must get feedback on how they are doing, what they are excelling at, and areas where they are starting to slip or could improve.
However, all too often, companies assume that once someone learns the fundamentals of a job and begins performing it, they no longer require additional learning or coaching. This flawed approach contributes to employee turnover, errors, and other challenges.
This applies to everyone at your company, but it is especially true of employees who spend their time outside the office and out in the field. In the ground transportation industry, this is most often the case with drivers; since they spend the majority of their time on the road with passengers, they are the most at risk of becoming stagnant in what they do and falling into bad habits. As a result, if you don’t focus on continuous improvement, the only indication that a driver is slipping or not performing at the levels they should be may end up being a passenger complaint or accident.
To avoid falling into the trap of thinking that learning stops once someone is working in their role, it is essential to create a culture where employees are encouraged to look for ways to improve and grow, even when they are already doing well. This begins with fostering a continual development mindset from the top down. Leaders have to be willing to take calculated risks on new ideas, invest time and money into employee training, and reward those who are continually striving to improve.
What is a learning culture?
Culture is what the norms and expectations are. A learning culture is when you expect continued improvement and ongoing learning. This typically takes two forms: the mental form of the expectation and the physical form of what your company does to embody and facilitate it. At its core, a learning culture is a spirit of self-improvement and ongoing development that encourages employees to extend their capabilities. However, you shouldn’t confuse it with an environment or company that has unrealistic expectations of employee performance or work.
The key thing to know about a learning culture is that your goal is to create an environment where employees feel supported and where even failure is seen as an opportunity to learn and grow rather than a source of shame or punishment. A learning culture should foster an atmosphere of continual development and growth but also allow employees to stop and recognize their successes.
The importance and benefits of creating a learning culture in your company
As we all know, accidents, service failures, and mistakes are inevitable and can cost you dearly. They can affect customer relationships, and create distrust and reputation problems – they can also cause you to lose key clients. However, with a culture of continuous learning, employees are encouraged to improve their skills to reduce accidents, service failures, and mistakes. With this mindset as part of the underlying mission of the company, employees are empowered to take initiative and apply what they have learned. This will lead ultimately to fewer accidents, improved customer experience, and stable growth – all achieved through fostering a learning culture within your company.
By forging a culture that is focused on sharpening those personal development skills, you can ensure you’re at the top of the game in your industry and empower your employees with the most relevant training and knowledge necessary for them to perform at their best. When done right, developing a learning culture in your organization allows both your team and your business as a whole to benefit from greater productivity, higher morale, and improved profitability.
Creating a learning culture in your company is essential for getting everyone on the same page, inspiring employees to become better every day, and cultivating an atmosphere that emphasizes delivering superior quality service. It also creates a nurturing work environment in which everyone feels supported and engaged in the company’s success. It also has the following added benefits as well:
Keeps Employees Engaged and Motivated
When employees feel like they are learning and growing, they are more likely to be engaged and motivated in their work. The result of this is a reduction in turnover, increased productivity, and higher job satisfaction.
Improved customer and passenger satisfaction
When you create a learning culture in your company, employees can better understand customer needs and deliver services that meet those requirements. This leads to better experiences for your passengers that will ultimately result in more return business.
Increasing your company’s reputation
By creating a learning culture, you can build an organization that is known for its commitment to excellence and continuous improvement. This helps increase your company’s reputation in the industry and establish a strong, positive brand.
The benefits of learning culture on drivers
At the heart of a successful transportation business are its drivers – their skill, knowledge, and dedication are integral to keeping customers happy and ensuring that retention, referrals and repeat business remain consistently high. By creating a culture of learning, organizations provide their drivers with opportunities to grow, develop and improve which in turn leads to decreased accidents, improved efficiency, and increased morale. Such rewards not only help drivers stay engaged but can also lead directly to retention, return business, and improved customer referrals – ensuring greater success for the company as a whole.
Ultimately, creating a learning culture in your business is essential for its future success. It encourages employees to continuously develop their skills, keep up with the latest technologies and trends, and contribute to the growth of your organization. By providing employees with opportunities for continual learning
Why companies struggle with creating a learning culture
Many companies struggle with creating a learning culture because they don’t feel like they have the time or bandwidth for it. To meet demand they have to get drivers on the road quickly and keep the wheels turning. So they rush through hiring and training and then pressure the new employee to perform well on the road. The result of this is a short-term gain for the business in that they now have another employee on board, but the long-term effects are often mistakes, not following procedures accidents and other issues that ultimately cost the company even more time and money in the long run.
In addition to this, there are also several other common reasons why companies struggle to get a learning culture in place. Knowing what your looking for can help you avoid them:
- A lack of clear expectations.
- Focusing on short-term results over long-term development.
- Poor planning, organization, and communication in training.
- Not actively taking control of their culture.
- A false sense that it will cost more.
- Viewing employees as replaceable, especially drivers.
- Not explaining to employees why continuous improvement matters.
How can you create a learning culture in your company?
It isn’t enough to just talk about the culture you want, you need to have a plan in place to support it. Map out what you want your learning culture to be like and how you plan to put it in place. You should also have a plan on what you’re going to do to prevent it from getting looked over or brushed aside when the pressure is on.
The first step is to make sure that everyone in your organization has access to the resources they need to continuously improve their skillset. This means having your procedures and processes documented, even the most simple ones. You also need to have systems in place to ensure ongoing training is automatic and easy, for example using the PAX Training built-in On-Going Service and Safety weekly training. Additionally, it’s also important that you set aside time for employees to focus on their development.
There are four key areas you want to focus on: communication, collaboration, feedback, and recognition. The most successful companies have embraced these 4 areas and instilled the importance of each of them into their employees. As a result, they have seen the performance of their employees soar.
Communication
Effective communication provides employees with clear expectations, which is essential to creating an environment where they can measure themselves and improve. Encouraging employees to share ideas, provide feedback, and hold up to one another is a crucial element of a learning culture. Trust, caring, and ownership are the cornerstones of creating a successful learning culture in any company.
When employees understand that their contributions are important, they will be more engaged and motivated to continually develop their skills. By valuing their input and showing that you care about their ongoing development, you can create an environment where each driver can reach their fullest potential. Trust, ownership, and the importance of learning are essential components of success, not just for your drivers but for your company as well. With this commitment to continuous improvement, you can easily create a learning culture within your team that leads to greater success and productivity.
Collaboration
Feeling like you are a valued part of a team and having a strong relationship with the people you work with plays a big role in productivity and motivation. It can also make a difference when it comes to going above and beyond. Working together as one unit creates an atmosphere of learning, where each person is contributing their skills and knowledge for the benefit of the whole team.
When employees start to feel like orders are coming down to them from above or that they are on their own, it can create a feeling of disconnection and disempowerment. Especially for those who spent little or no time in the office, like drivers and staff that work remotely. Making sure there is ample facetime and communication can make a big difference.
Having time when everyone can come together as a team is also important, even if it is only once a quarter, the time you spend as a team at a company meeting, outings, or events is important. It helps to build relationships and trust between employees. However, you need to make sure that your activities include a team development component and not just a pure work or social focus.
Feedback
If you look at the highest-performing teams in the world you will see there is one clear thing they all do. In addition to planning and training before, they always take time to review how it is going or how it went after. A debriefing is when you go over what went well, what didn’t go well, and what can be learned. It is just as important as planning, especially when it comes to maintaining and ensuring continued performance. This process sets the stage for future improvement and continued development.
In the business world, it is this debriefing step that is most often overlooked or skipped altogether. The focus often shifts to the next task or continuing to meet clients’ demands. Typically things start well, but without any feedback employees that perform well at the start, start to slip over time. This can lead to turnover and other issues. The best way to avoid this is to focus on implementing a continuous feedback loop where employees’ performance is discussed and evaluated, they then receive constructive criticism, and can learn from it.
Feedback should be given to employees on an ongoing basis. It helps to ensure that expectations are clear and that everyone is on the same page. Additionally, it provides a platform for constructive criticism which will help each employee understand their strengths and weaknesses. Providing positive feedback can also go a long way in creating a culture where employees feel appreciated and valued.
Recognition
Providing recognition for a job well done is often overshadowed by critical feedback about where they can improve or about mistakes they have made. However, it is just as important in maintaining a healthy learning culture. Celebrating wins and successes provides employees with motivation to keep going and maintain the same level of excellence.
Recognizing employees for their hard work can come in many forms such as verbal praise, awards, or being rewarded in front of their peers. Regardless of how you do it, you should not only reward performance or those that go above and beyond but recognize those that improve and are striving to be better. Rewarding learning reinforces the idea that learning is important, which encourages others to follow suit. Additionally, it’s important to provide personal coaching and mentorship so employees can get the expert guidance they need.
A positive work environment is essential for creating a learning culture. This involves creating a supportive and inclusive environment where employees feel valued and respected. This can include providing a safe and healthy workplace, promoting diversity and equality, and encouraging a healthy work-life balance.
Demonstrating commitment and leading by example
Leaders play a critical role in creating a learning culture. When leaders actively participate in training and development opportunities and encourage their employees to do the same, they set an example and send a clear message that learning and growth are valued.
Leaders must demonstrate their commitment to the learning culture by setting an example and engaging in their development. By embracing the culture and leading by example, managers can help foster an environment in which everyone feels supported and motivated to learn.
Your end goal
The end result of creating a learning culture is improved safety, increased efficiency, and higher morale. By investing in training and taking the time to provide support while employees learn, companies can reap the rewards of having skilled drivers behind the wheel. Not only will you have more satisfied customers but you’ll also be setting your organization up for long-term success.
Creating a learning culture is an ongoing process that requires dedication and commitment to make sure it’s successful. The key is to focus on setting the right foundation, providing continual support and feedback to your employees, and keeping an open mind to new ideas and methods of learning. With these in place, you can be sure that your organization is on its way to a brighter future.
James Blain is the President of PAX Training, an online-based Training and Certification program.
