By Chally Kacelnik
Keeping on learning is critical for satisfied and functional human beings, and it’s also essential in order for organisations to stay relevant and competitive. Beyond initial training and development programs, fostering a culture of ongoing development helps leaders and teams to continue growing their skills and capabilities in a way that lasts. At LKS Quaero, we emphasise the importance of integrating formal follow-up opportunities and enabling learning as a regular part of business operations. We never want people to politely nod their way through a program and then never think about the content again – relevance and continuity are key.
Development programs often provide a strong foundation, but without follow-up opportunities, much of what’s learned can be forgotten or underutilised. Formal follow-up – such as workshops, refresher courses, or advanced modules – helps participants to consolidate their knowledge and deepen their skills. Leaders, in particular, benefit from revisiting key concepts and exploring how to apply them in real-world contexts as they take on more complex challenges.
Where people at different organisational levels have a common leadership language and toolkit, people are also able to help their reports with continued, less formal development by asking them to apply their learning to new scenarios at work, as well as by passing on higher level learning. Similarly, enabling time for skill-building activities – such as cross-functional collaboration or mentoring – makes learning a tangible part of daily work. We’re often asked to come back to deliver leadership programs or follow up workshops to organisations several times over, which builds capacity within the organisation as that common language and toolkit start to snowball. One of the benefits of this for us is that we’re able to see this connectivity form between leaders and their reports, to everyone’s benefit.
When organisations actively support continuous learning, they create an environment where workers feel valued and engaged. People are more likely to stay with organisations that invest in their growth, and they’re better equipped to take on new responsibilities. Investing in learning – and thereby in people – drives both individual and organisational growth.
At LKS Quaero, we really like helping people with their development in the short term, but the most satisfying part is seeing the ongoing impact. To make development deeply worthwhile, integrate follow-up opportunities and tools for ongoing learning. By embedding development opportunities into day-to-day operations as well as formally, organisations enable sustained growth and improved performance.
At LKS Quaero, we design development for lasting impact. For more information, visit us at lksquaero.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.
