Online learning boosts company culture, especially in a remote work environment.
Working from home is here to stay. Most people love the extra flexibility that it provides them in their workday and many companies are embracing working remotely as a long-term solution. The positives are easy to understand for the worker and the company...but one important potential negative impact to address is what “working from home” is doing to your company culture and camaraderie.
As a business leader, building a strong and positive company culture can be the difference between success and failure. As an employee in today’s job market, culture is a key consideration in deciding whether to work at a particular company. Building a positive culture and team connection was challenging even when there was a lot of time spent together in the workplace, now with the shift to remote work the challenge is even greater.
Employers and employees everywhere are trying to figure out how to build a positive work culture and a sense of team without a lot of face-to-face time in person. The good news is that with a basic approach, consistency, and some creative uses of technology anything is possible.
The answer to building a positive culture is tried and true:
Bring people “together”
Make people feel valued
Show them that you are invested in their success
Give them something meaningful to become a part of
Easier said than done in today’s remote workplace, but start with what makes people feel good at their core. People want to feel like they matter and that they are doing something that matters with people that they enjoy spending time with.
Of course, there are many things you can do to accomplish the points above and help people feel connected and valued. I’m not here to run you through all the ways to build culture and team, instead I’m going to focus on one solution that is sometimes left out or not given enough credit for the positive impact it has on culture: Online Skills Training.
What does training people on skills like data and analytics have to do with building company culture and team connection?
It helps in a handful of ways especially in a remote work environment:
1. Most importantly it makes people feel valued:
When your company invests money and provides you time in your workday for you to improve your skills, that makes you feel like the company values you and wants you to succeed and grow. It’s amazing how often we hear our customers say things like “By getting me access to Maven Analytics, I know that my company cares about me and my success.” When someone feels valued by the company they want to reciprocate and it quickly fosters a positive vibe towards the company and their work.
2. It can be done from anywhere in the world with a decent internet connection:
In today’s work from anywhere environment, there are few things that are as accessible as online training that can have such a large impact on people and the culture. Not everything fits into remote work, but online training is perfect for remote teams to incorporate into their day to day.
3. Fosters a growth mindset in the individual and the team:
Having a professional development plan with defined learning objectives keeps people progressing. In a remote workplace this is easily carried out with online learning platforms like Maven Analytics that provide custom learning plans, skills assessments and the ability to assign courses, set deadlines and track progress. Individuals are constantly learning and therefore growth and up-skilling becomes the norm on the team.
4. Becomes a positive thing that everyone has in common:
Learning becomes contagious when everyone is doing it. By providing skills training like Maven Analytics to your entire team it is something that everyone has in common and can connect with each other on. Having learning goals in common is a great way for people to develop a sense of team and share in each other’s growth.
5. Creates some friendly competition and camaraderie:
Learning is a productive way to stoke some friendly competition and camaraderie.
We often see our customer teams spark some informal and healthy competition on earning course completion badges. Whether the managers add incentives and recognition or not, a typical byproduct of an online learning program is some bonding around the results and accomplishments.
All of this adds up to something amazing. It creates a culture where team members are constantly motivated to improve.
The result is a culture with learning as a part of its DNA. Now that’s a truly positive impact on company culture as a result of online skills training.
So what can you do to make this happen for you?
If you are an employee at a company that could use a boost to your work culture...then ask your boss for training. Be sure to let them know it benefits the company and team in multiple ways. Remember it’s not just making people better at their jobs, it’s also making the work environment and culture better.
If you are looking for a job...ask if the company you are interviewing at provides access to ongoing skills training.
Not only will the answer help inform your decision on whether or not you would want to work there, by asking the question it shows that you are hungry to learn. By showing curiosity and eagerness to learn you just might stand out from the crowd as a great candidate.
If you are a manager or company owner
...what are you waiting for?
You can have more productive, more efficient and happier employees that are more effective as individuals and as a team. The barriers are low. In today’s market you can provide meaningful and high quality online training for around $30 a month per employee. The benefits are tremendous with so much positive impact to your people, their satisfaction and their perspective on the company and its culture.
If you are ready to give it a try or want to learn more, we are here to help. The following links will help you on your way.
Happy Learning,
Jason
