When you picture, “learning” what do you see?
For most of us, images of rows of desks and students, dutifully studying their course material probably come to mind. But while there’s certainly nothing wrong with traditional methods of learning, there’s another way to learn that’s shaking up the business world, and providing a new, and more accessible way for many time-crunched managers and their teams today.
This method? Just-in-Time-Learning.
Imagine a world where the means to learn something is available to you, at all times. There is access to knowledge, on demand. Gone are the days of depending on someone else to teach you or waiting until someone’s schedule frees up. Instead, there is on the spot learning, whenever the learner needs.
You’ve just had an inside look at Just-in-Time Learning.
Today, we value our time above almost everything else. As Richard Branson said, “Time is the new money,” and Just-in-Time Learning is something that fits in well with our busy lives. In fact, many people today are coming to expect it. Some 57 percent of employees expect learning to be more “just in time,” or as needed, than it was three years ago.
This shows that for companies today, taking a Just-in-Time approach with training could be a preferable option, and something that could be beneficial in more ways than one. With this in mind let’s look at a few benefits of taking this approach and see if it’s ideal for your organization.
Improves Worker Productivity
Perhaps one of the key benefits of Just-in-Time Learning is that it improves productivity among staff. Not only will having access to information on-demand help your staff to perform their jobs correctly, they’ll be able to do it more confidently as well. Your workers will be able to focus on the task at hand, without having to second guess whether they are doing it correctly.
Speeds Up the Learning Process
People tend to learn better when they are able to take a hands-on approach. When they can learn on the job, as they go, they’ll be able to pick things up more quickly than if they were put through a crash course days prior, and expected to retain that information for weeks and months to come.
Creates Engaged Employees
An unmotivated workforce can lead to a drop in revenue. If left unchecked for too long, it can contribute to a toxic work environment as well. With 51 percent of the U.S. workforce not engaged at work, companies should be doing everything that they can to help improve employee productivity and engagement. With a Just-in-Time Learning system, you can empower and motivate your team by giving them access to knowledge instantly.
Increases Knowledge Retention
Finally, by allowing your employees access to a Just-in-Time Learning system, they’ll be able to retain information better. While you can tell your employees how to handle certain situations, if they aren’t in the midst of it, chances are, they won’t remember it. By giving them access to this information when they need it, they will be able to retain that knowledge much better, mastering it once and for all.
While the right approach for training will vary, depending on your industry and the organization’s structure and needs, it’s important to find an approach that will work best for you and your team. Just-in-Time Learning embodies all of the features of a memorable learning experience, and can help companies to balance resources with the need to train new staff. To learn more about this approach, take a look at the Just-in-Time teaching website.
About the Author
Eric Czerwonka is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Buddy Punch, an employee time tracking software company founded in 2013 that provides employee management solutions for any small and large companies alike – anyone with employees from startups right to corporations and anyone with a remote team to manage.
In the future, Eric hopes to continue to fit each problem with the correct solution through the use of technology as well as innovation. Eric also holds a Bachelor’s of Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.