To grow as people, we should each constantly be striving for improvement, looking for ways to learn, progress, and better ourselves. A good company does whatever it can to educate and cultivate well-preforming employees, but the best employees are ones that take the initiative themselves and continually look for ways to expand upon their current knowledge and skill set. These are the employees who will shine in their positions. As employers, there are certain ways that we can cultivate an environment of learning, and encourage people to take the initiative, ultimately giving better benefits to both the company and themselves. But how does one do that? How exactly can your employees take the initiative and grow in your field? Here are a few ideas you can inculcate among them:

While formal learning is still one of the most commonly used training methods in companies, it’s just one way of the many ways of approaching training. In addition to learning formally, individuals can also learn informally and non-formally. Let’s review these three learning methods, analyze their meaning, depict their main characteristics and discuss examples. After reading this post, you’ll know when and how to best implement each type of learning, and how to combine them to keep your employees engaged and continuously learning. Combining formal, informal and non-formal learning is key to train today’s modern workforce.

How well do you know the people you lead? How can you create value for your employees, so they stick around and support your business visions? Are you sure that your employees are happy and don’t sigh because they believe the grass is greener on the other side? To be an inspiring leader, you have to understand the modern workforce. You have to delve into their minds to find out what inspires them to come to work every day (or if they have to beat themselves to come to work) and what keeps them around (or are they eyeing greener pastures). You would want to know how they expect you to train, inspire, and help them succeed in their careers. You should also be aware of the trends in the workplace and the changing needs and aspirations of the workforce.

Does your company need to implement a virtual training program? If this is the case, you've probably done a lot of research on the subject, including providers, tools, and methods. By now you’ve probably discovered there are so many different forms of virtual training available, from eLearning, mobile learning, to blended learning courses. Each method has its own benefits and its best use cases. If you’re wondering which modality is more effective; there is no easy answer for that. Making a decision comes down to the individual needs of the company, as well as the expected organizational outcomes. So, before resuming your research, ask yourself this question: What are your company’s training needs?

Why You Need to Prime Your Learners Before They Start Your Courses You spend a lot of time focusing on engagement within your courses, and this is indeed critical. You need engagement when it comes to employee training, onboard learning, and all other types of courses. But, what you may be overlooking is how to engage learners before they begin these courses. This is why pre-training engagement is so important.

One of the biggest challenges that any operation deals with is new hire training. Your company likely has a specific way it wants things to be done, and there are often a lot of processes in place too. If you’re dealing with people who’ve been in your organization for a long time, it can be easy to forget how many functions of your business you don’t think about on a daily basis. With a new hire in place, however, you’ll likely be facing some questions about what to do and why it’s done that way. One solution that’s growing in popularity is microlearning.

We’ve come a long way in the ways of corporate training and learning. The history of corporate training and development dates back to 1872 where Hoe and Company established factory schools to help train machinists during the Industrial Revolution. By 1917, corporate training had expanded into “Show, Tell, Do and Check” method from Charles R. Allen where he would walk his shipyard workers through complex processes. By the 1950’s and 1960’s, computers help introduce virtual reality and technology-assisted instruction. As the world becomes more innovative, so are the ways we learn in school, at our jobs, and in life. Gone are the days where onboarding and corporate training is a one size fits all video for employees to learn and engage in. Today, corporate training programs have the choice, from microlearning to custom eLearning development, on how to best train their incoming workforce. As such, these training programs will most likely incorporate current digital trends to not only help engage top talent but help them grow within their career and stay with the company longer. Below are four digital trends that are impacting corporate training and learning, and why organizations should consider incorporating them.

ATD International Conference & Exposition 2016, the world’s largest event dedicated to training and talent development was held last week. A massive turnout of over 14,000 L&D professionals attended the annual 4-day conference which included keynote speakers such as Brené Brown, Simon Sinke, Jeremy Gutsche and many others. Networking opportunities and a chance to learn about cutting-edge techniques and trends also greeted attendees of this world-class event. Even if you weren’t able to attend, you can still catch all the leading thoughts, opinions, and insider insights of industry professionals who tweeted about the event using the hashtag #ATD2016. And we’ve captured the highlights for you here: