Improving productivity in the workplace is high on the agenda of many organisations – and rightly so. But an often-overlooked aspect of protecting and enhancing people’s productivity is the role that learning has to play.
The World Economic Forum estimates that 54% of employees will require reskilling or upskilling by 2022. External and online training courses may play a part in this, but for groups and teams of people in your business to to learn effectively and efficiently on a day-to-day basis, dedicated space for learning – or space that encourages or facilitates learning – is needed. A recent feature on the website raconteur.net looks at this in more detail.
If the idea of a dedicated learning space conjures up a picture of something from the ‘chalk and talk’ era with neat rows of desks, think again. Today’s best learning spaces can be much more relaxed, fun and flexible than that – and can be focussed on collaboration, communication and creativity, not simply lectures and lessons.
As mentioned in the Raconteur article, upskilling a workforce may be less about prescriptive training and more about giving people space to share information and best practices for themselves. And if space is limited, then your business’s learning areas can be designed to take on other roles at other times.
A key point is that having a dedicated space for learning – and ensuring that this space makes people feel comfortable and empowered – will be far more successful than trying to deliver training while people are sat at their desks, or using somewhere lacking a learning vibe, such as the staff canteen.
While spaces for learning make sharing and assimilation of knowledge easier and more effective, they also show that your organisation cares about the skills, knowledge and ideas of its workforce, which in turn make employees feel more valued. Which helps make them more loyal and, importantly, more productive!