Cultivating Learning in the Modern Workplace

The work environment constantly changes over the years, along with its workforce. With technology and social media surrounding their lives, this generation’s goals are becoming more of self-actualizing and empowerment. These people are yearning for experiences that will lead to more learning. In response to this need, companies are imploring a more intact approach to help their own grow in their own careers, social relationship and life.

A book called “Make More Money By Making Your Employees Happy” by Dr. Noelle Nelson, a clinical psychologist, explains how business owners should find what’s important to their employees and help them achieve it. “When employees feel that the company takes their interest to heart, then the employees will take company interests to heart.” says Dr. Nelson. Among the actions that a company does to make people more inspired are office renovations with upgrades meant for lounging, having fun and collaborating with others.

According to the Social Learning Theory of Albert Bandura (1977), behavior is learned from the environment through the process of observation learning. By applying this theory’s concepts in the workplace, the learning of each employee becomes apparent.

Learning through Observation

One of the most common training techniques that supervisors support is ‘shadowing’. A new employee (NE) is tasked to observe the regular employee on his regular work day: what he does and how he gets it done. One of the concepts in Social Learning Theory suggests that people can learn thru observation. For example, if the person the new employee is shadowing does his work in an efficient manner, the NE may be as enthused at work as the latter.

Reinforcement aids Learning

After a day of shadowing, the NE is given a light task that will show if he learned some things when he was shadowing. His progress may be slow or may make a few mistakes, remember that this employee is new to this environment and may take time in adjusting to his new job. When he gets his task/s done excellently, commend him by saying so and tell him that he may be ready to handle bigger tasks. This positive reinforcement acts as a reward and drives him to repeat the behavior. Employers and supervisors should do this to all their employees if they are looking to help employees in their own personal growths. Bandura mentions that intrinsic reinforcement is also a form of reward, like satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. Employees that feel appreciated are happier and are more productive than those who are not. “Be encouraging to your employees and offer praise when appropriate. Thank employees for doing a good job and let them know that you value them.” Dr. Donna LaMar (2009), director of the counseling center The Farm, noted in an article.

Make the Most of Reciprocal Determinism

Albert Bandura states that behavior is influenced by three factors: environment, cognition, behavior. If the goal is to develop an employee’s learnings and productivity, then the employer should control the environment he’s in and find out what his goals are (cognition) in order for it to have an effect on his behavior. Provide online classes that can be accessed easily through smartphones, adapt to different learning styles, make the training session fun and memorable. This can also help build rapport among your team and promote camaraderie among them. Involve them in planning and ask for their feedback so they know the supervisors value their opinions. A positive experience helps to retain the information to be learned thus affecting the cognition of the individual and his behavior.

Learning doesn’t end after training. Engaging experiences allow employees to retain more information that they can easily process and pull up for later instances.

 

Sources:

• Cherry, K. (2014, November 24). Social learning theory: How people learn by observation. Retrieved from Psychology.About.
• Cherry, K. (2015, May 18). What is reciprocal determinism? Retrieved from Psychology.About.
• LaMar, D. HOw to Keep Your Employees Happy and Productive. Retrieved from Reliableplant.
• Cooper, S. (2012, July 30). Make more money by making your employees happy. Retrieved from Forbes.