As professionals mature, they tend to take control of their own professional development. Self-directed learning becomes critical for skill acquisition in the eyes of many employees, while others just openly embrace any opportunity to discover something new on their own time.
This tendency to venture into uncharted territory and find their own answers can be harnessed by savvy employers. By setting up self-learning opportunities, companies can see success rates that outpace many formal learning tactics.
If you want to figure out how you can promote self-directed learning, here are some tips that can help.
Create Mechanisms for Skill Evaluation and Goal-Setting
By providing your employees with methods for evaluating their capabilities, you are allowing them to identify their own skill gaps or current degree of expertise. This enables them to determine what areas may deserve their focus, making it easier for them to create relevant goals.
One approach for doing this can be to provide them with access to job descriptions for positions above their own. That way, they can concentrate on learning in areas that lead to professional growth and advancement.
Make Resources Widely Available Within the Company
Self-directed learning can take multiple forms. In some cases, self-paced eLearning modules can work. This gives the employee a degree of structure while maintaining a significant amount of flexibility. With this method, you want to make sure that workers have access to a vast library of modules that align with their role or field. That way, they can easily find relevant opportunities without the need for assistance from anyone else.
At times, simply making knowledge bases, internal skill libraries, and similar resources available can promote self-directed learning. This approach is much less formal and is harder to monitor and track than using eLearning modules. However, it can be ideal if employees need quick tidbits of information fast.
Ensure That Learners Have Enough Time Available
While the concept of self-directed learning makes it seem as if employers don’t have to provide space in an employee’s schedule for training, that isn’t the case. Instead, it means that companies don’t have to block out specific times for development.
If you want to promote self-learning, you need to make sure that workers have the option to block out a certain amount of time a week or month for training. For example, you might allow every employee to allocate 30 minutes to an hour a week to the activities, but not go as far as to dictate when it has to happen or what they have to learn. This keeps your program self-directed and agile without being entirely hands-off.
Do You Need L&D Pros Who Can Add Self-Learning Methods to Your Training Program?
At Clarity Consultants, we have over a quarter-century of experience in the learning and development (L&D) field. By partnering with us, you gain access to training talent allies who can assist you with locating the L&D pros your company needs to excel. If you need L&D experts who can help you add self-learning methods into your training program, the team at Clarity Consultants can make the process as simple as possible. Contact us to discover more about our services and see how our L&D expertise can benefit you.
