Following performance reviews, employees often find themselves in situations their skill or performance gaps are pointed out. However, they are often unaware of the means to address those gaps. It is essential for employees to be exposed to consistent learning in order to accelerate their performance. Infact, research claims that a proper link between learning and performance improves performance by 95%. The relationship between learning and performance depends upon the content's relevance to the employees' skills or goals, and the time phase between learning and performing.
Here are three main reasons why learning and performance are connected to each other:
1. Nowadays, it is vital for employees to know where they are going, and how to get there. Exposure to constantly relevant learning will inform the employee regarding concepts that can be employed to enhance their performance. Once an employee is more cognizant of the methods of performing a task, they are more likely to be effective and efficient. Lack of learning and information can develop unprecedented confusion and delays.
2. In order to boost employee performance on a long-term basis, it is crucial for organisations to provide everyday learning and ongoing feedback. Access to daily, informal learning will allow the employees to glean new information without noticing that they are learning. Similarly, ongoing feedback will keep them updated about their performance and scopes for improvement. Continuous feedback will encourage the employees to continuously improve their performance. Teams that focus on regular positive feedbacks, achieve 12.5% greater productivity.
3. Lastly, learning must be measured on the basis of performance. Just learning for the sake of it will not be useful until the learning process enables employees to use the information correctly and enhance the organisation's Return on Investment through improved performance. It can be concluded that access to everyday learning will permit employees to not just be aware of their skill gaps, but also train them to fill those gaps and thus maximize company performance in the process. Integrating ongoing feedback will allow the employees to learn about their contributions and positive feedback can subsequently motivate them to augment the quality of their performance.