If you want to build a culture of continuous learning, you need people on your team who are both collaborative and curious. Sounds nice, right? But how can hiring managers single out those attributes in job candidates? According to talent consultant and learning experience designer Bill Cushard, the answer lies in storytelling.
Build a Team That Wants To Learn
In a world full of fast-paced technologies, both individuals and teams must be able to learn quickly in order to stay competitive and relevant in their industries. Learning is part of the story: "Only a team that likes to, knows how to, and is willing to learn will be successful," Cushard writes.
Identify Collaboration and Curiosity Through Storytelling
When interviewing potential hires, one way to harness the story — and to tell if the candidate is prime for continuous learning opportunities — is to ask candidates to describe something new that they learned recently, what the process was, and what the results were. According to Cushard, "it doesn’t matter what these stories are about. You are not necessarily looking for specific content, but for process and result. The point is to find people who love to learn and are capable of learning."
Continuous Learning is a Must
The results of this process, explains Cushard, can help managers build a team of high performers. "The lesson for managers is that in order to build a high performing team, a culture of continuous learning is a must, and this learning culture can be created by finding people who are collaborative and curious."
Have you ever been part of a culture of continuous learning? How would you describe your resulting performance and the performance of your team?
Read more at Human Capitalist
Photo: Can Stock
Related Resources
Want to keep learning? Explore our products, customer stories, and the latest industry insights.
On-demand Webinar
Strategies and Tools for Driving Learner Engagement
Many organizations are prioritizing learning to attract, retain, and grow top talent, but implementing the strategies at the right time for the right learner can be tough. Doing it with tight resources, even tougher. Andersen Corporation has experienced this. They knew it wasn’t enough to follow the standard “if you build it, they will come” mentality for learning.
On-demand Webinar
The Power of Workplace Empathy
As an HR leader, if your goal is to nurture organizational empathy, then you have to make empathy a conscious part of your day-to-day. Unfortunately, many leaders and HR leaders struggle with how to exhibit empathy and build an empathetic organizational culture.
eBook
5 ways to make your workplace more LGBTQ+ inclusive
A diverse workplace is only as strong as the measures it puts into place to foster authentic and meaningful inclusion. People know when you're making a real effort or just going through the motions. We need to create work environments where everyone feels welcome and is empowered to bring their full self to work.