How to Motivate Your People to Always Be Learning

Your cell phone can do hundreds of useful things you know nothing about. But just how much time are you willing to invest in learning about all these features and functions when there’s so much else to do? It’s rare to find an employee who gets excited about training. For most of us, it’s a chore. And that’s not good for business because your company is only as effective as your people are knowledgeable. The payoff of continually adding to your employees’ skill sets is huge. They’re your most valuable (and expensive) resource, and the imparting of new skills they can apply to their jobs pays off many times over in increased productivity and the ability to take on new responsibilities. Training and promoting people from within is significantly more cost-effective than bringing in skills from outside. That’s why there’s been such a big buzz across American industry lately about the “gamification” of learning, based on the same psychology that causes us to enjoy racking up points in trivia contests or Fantasy Football. We like rewards, we like to achieve, and we like to win. Gamification rarely involves physical rewards or prizes. It’s built around the fact that intangible rewards such as points, badges and other markers of achievement are plenty motivational for most of us. That’s the key – motivation is for everyone. Katie McCaslin, Senior Director of Product Learning Solutions at RealPage, says there are different types of learners, and an effective training system must appeal to all of them, whether new hires or long-time employees. There are those who are naturally curious and like to explore; they’re the easy ones, and the training system should make it simple and inviting for them to jump in. There are people who are naturally competitive, and they’ll be attracted to things like badges, points, and progression to higher levels. There are collaborators who enjoy g...