Spur Employee Learning

In a work world where people change jobs every 3-5 years (the world we’ve been living in for some time now) employers and employees often do this weird dance with one another, pretending that we’re still in the era of the gold watch upon retirement. This is disingenuous at best, and at worst it’s harmful to the interests of both employer and employed. A better approach, as framed by LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman, is to treat the relationship as an “alliance”, with each 2-3 year stint a well-defined “tour of duty.”In the past, employees used to stay with one company for their whole careers. Today, people tend to stay with a company for only a few years.Have open, honest, constructive conversations with your employees about doing tours of duty at your company. Put forth your vision of the role for a predetermined number of months or years. Ask the employee to give the company his or her “all” during that time.In return, promise to invest in the employee’s professional develo...

In today’s hiring wars, too many companies expend all their firepower getting great talent to apply for and accept their open positions. But onboarding is a critical moment when new hires evaluate whether or not they’ve made the right decision—and here many businesses drop the ball entirely. LinkedIn’s onboarding process is a shining example of how to make new hires feel welcomed, supported, and valued from day 1.Day 1Hiring the best people isn’t enough. To keep new employees engaged, make sure they’re excited about joining your company.In a typical new hire orientation the individual is flooded with everything there is to know about the company on the first day.Instead, aim to create an onboarding experience. The goal is to teach new talent about your company’s unique culture, values, and products. Employees should leave feeling as if they’ve made the best decision of their career.New Hire RoadmapOnboarding isn’t over after Day 1.Create a 30-day plan that takes new employe...

The world is changing fast. To keep up over the long haul of their careers, and even over the short haul of any given year at a company, employees need to remain in a constant state of learning. Companies recognize this, but too many of them persist in applying antiquated, passive learning models that don’t work in the sense that they don’t change behavior.Formal Learning: A rigid educational approach in which content, timelines, and objectives are organized and delivered by a dedicated institution or department.Traditionally, education has been delivered in lecture format, where students memorize facts, take tests, and get grades. This learning model has become antiquated—both for schools and corporations.Traditional, one-size-fits-all training programs tend to affect employee behaviors in the short-term only.Customized learning programs that address specific business problems or roles tend to be more effective in changing behaviors over the long-term.Informal Learning: A flexib...

The world is changing fast. To keep up over the long haul of their careers, and even over the short haul of any given year at a company, employees need to remain in a constant state of learning. Companies recognize this, but too many of them persist in applying antiquated, passive learning models that don’t work in the sense that they don’t change behavior.Formal Learning: A rigid educational approach in which content, timelines, and objectives are organized and delivered by a dedicated institution or department.Traditionally, education has been delivered in lecture format, where students memorize facts, take tests, and get grades. This learning model has become antiquated—both for schools and corporations.Traditional, one-size-fits-all training programs tend to affect employee behaviors in the short-term only.Customized learning programs that address specific business problems or roles tend to be more effective in changing behaviors over the long-term.Informal Learning: A flexib...

Talent is the lifeblood of any organization. In fact, it’s all you have. So it follows that employee satisfaction is of paramount importance. Based on her experience at LinkedIn, Kelly Palmer recommends two especially powerful tools for measuring and improving employee satisfaction: the Employee Voice Survey and the Net Promoter Score.Employee Voice SurveyGreat managers are critical for employee engagement.Ask talent: How is your relationship going with your manager? Is your manager providing you with the development you need to be successful at your job? to grow and transform your career? The goal is to make your managers accountable for having development conversations with their direct reports.Don’t sit on feedback. Actively talk to employees about their impressions on the ground. Present a list of focus areas for company-wide discussion. Establish organizational initiatives to address your talent’s main areas of concern.Net Promoter ScoreNPS can be a key metric for employee e...

In spite of the intense focus in recent years on inclusion and diversity in the workplace, organizations are still having trouble meeting their diversity targets. LinkedIn decided to take a different approach—they started with inclusion. With dozens of initiatives targeted at ensuring that employees feel at home within the company, LinkedIn works to ensure inclusivity throughout the employment cycle, not just in the hiring process. They’ve got employee resource and support groups designed to ensure that traditionally marginalized groups (women in technology, for example) feel a sense of belonging at the company. From onboarding through upper management there are open discussions and trainings on implicit bias and cultural sensitivity. And the company drives inclusivity both from top-down and bottom-up through the leadership of its Chief Diversity Officer and CEO and by soliciting regular feedback from employees worldwide (and acting on it).Lead with “inclusion”Many organizations...