Having high levels of employee engagement is the holy grail for many companies. It is seen as one of the most important factors in an organisation’s success. Engaged employees bring a huge amount to the business – not least a deeper commitment to a company that they feel shares their values and ambitions.
Take this study by Gallup, which showed that engaged businesses enjoy lower employee turnover, are 21% more profitable, 17% more productive and consistently score 10% higher customer ratings than those that are disengaged. And according to the Harvard Business Review, engaged organisations have double the rate of success compared to those whose employees are less engaged.
High employee engagement helps to create a culture where everyone feels that they can contribute. A business that they feel invested in, because it has invested in them. A place where the most talented people want to stay and build their career.
The effectiveness of your learning and development, unsurprisingly, has a big role to play in lifting these levels of engagement. Given this, what more can you do to increase levels of learning retention?
Relevant learning, improved engagement, better performance
Training and developing your people is an investment – not just in them personally, but in your own future business performance.
And yet remarkably, many companies fail to ensure that they are getting a tangible return on that investment. Whatever the training – whether it is a regulatory requirement for health and safety or a future leaders programme – making sure that the knowledge that is being communicated is sticking is vital.
Of course, one of the most effective ways to do this is to make sure that the new knowledge is relevant.
Every piece of learning your people are given should help them to do their jobs more effectively. They should be able to see for themselves why it is in their interests to learn it. This builds confidence, both in themselves and in your organisation.
And as employees feel more emotionally connected to their roles, you will see a direct rise in engagement, performance and even profitability.
What does the ‘right’ knowledge retention solution look like?
So defining what that relevant knowledge is for every learner is your starting point. But making sure that you then deliver and build that knowledge effectively across your workforce is where having the right knowledge retention solution comes in.
Our experience shows that the right solution is the one that is designed for you, your business objectives and your learners. That is why we always emphasise the importance of first designing and planning the solution you need for the outcomes you ultimately want to see.
Begin with clear outcomes in mind, and the implementation of learning retention is then relatively simple. Of course, you also need to have a trusted solution provider partner like Cognito, who understands your business and who will work with you to design the right knowledge retention solution for your people.
To discover more about how the Cognito Learning solution can help you to build engagement and boost performance across your business, just call us today on 0113 345 6957.
