What you sell as a person, brand or company is knowledge. That is why constant learning process is a must for future competitiveness and employability.
Information and knowledge combined with people within the company generate new applicable knowledge in a form of products or services that is valuable to the clients or customers. What you learned in school 5, 10, 15 or even more years ago might not be today’s recipe for success. Speaking from knowledge perspective, what used to be an essential tool helping you communicate, sell and engage with consumers in the past, might have upgraded or is now completely obsolete.
To keep up with the world around you and participate in future business revolutions that will keep your company relevant, you and your employees need to be on top of everything that shapes your industry and beyond. But the irony of today’s world isn’t lack of information – it is the overload of it. And sadly - quantity prevails over quality. That is why learning processes must not be left to chance; it must be carefully designed to achieve our goals.
Successful companies systematically invest in knowledge
Researches show: investment in knowledge is investment in the company’s future success. For instance, top 10 Slovenian companies systematically invest in improving knowledge and training of employees. They realize the need for new knowledge derives from individuals themselves and is closely related to their personal development (as an expert) or from the company, which serves collective business strategy. The company might need to update or upgrade knowledge to face current HR or other organization-related problems, keep up with customer’s needs and wants, satisfy legal requirements etc.
Successful companies encourage a culture that embraces both the informal and formal side of learning that allows people to leverage information, knowledge and social contacts to solve problems. GetAbstract’s (the world’s largest resource of business knowledge) CEO Michel Koopman for instance follows a “70/20/10 holistic learning strategy that includes around 10% formal training, 20% coaching, and 70% informal learning through experience and practice.
Internal knowledge gathering
Coaching and informal learning are two ways to promote knowledge within your company. Employees learn from everyday work processes, interacting with their coworkers. It is crucial that leaders set an example as mentors and coaches. Successful companies share their knowledge among employees in a form of lectures, trainings and workshops. For instance, workers that visited conferences or working visits can organize a short presentation for their coworkers. Another idea: company can hold a library with relevant and up-to-date literature from the industry or a subscription to one of the many online services offering best practice, evidence and insights from the world's leading companies or brands. A weekly/monthly review of relevant best cases from the industry can also be sent to workers in a form of newsletter.
External knowledge gathering
Formal trainings and enrollment in business schools encourage employees to take on new, more creative ways in meeting their challenges and upgrading informal learning processes.
Business schools, like IEDC-Bled School of Management, provide world class professors from best business schools and a creative environment to meet your company’s challenges. The school is driven by a vision that successful management is not only affected by one’s own company and the business world it is part of, but also by the society that surrounds it, and aims to promote ethical, socially responsible and creative leadership. Significant emphasis is put on exposing the participants to experiences from broader human activities and in particular arts, science and philosophy.
Art as inspiration for managers and leaders, and learning from other professions, are special features of the IEDC approach. Not only does the school feature a contemporary art collection, but it regularly invites guest lecturers from society at large, including prominent creative and performance artists, sportsmen, leading politicians and philosophers, NGO representatives, as well as successful business people, to open up the mind to the importance of original and creative thinking, quality and communication.
The title of the article “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest” is a quote by Benjamin Franklin.
Sources:
Forbes: 4 New Year's Resolutions Every Leader Should Make; available at www.forbes.com/sites/johnhall/2013/12/08/4-new-years-resolutions-every-leader-should-make/
Delo: Vlaganje v izobraževanje zaposlenih je najboljša naložba; available at www.delo.si/gospodarstvo/infrastruktura/vlaganje-v-izobrazevanje-zaposlenih-je-najboljsa-nalozba.html