The world of business doesn’t stand still; in fact, if you run a company, there’s a great need for you to ensure that your employees aren’t relenting in their drive to develop. However, you might find that some workers need a bit of a push along the way. Perhaps they have settled so deeply into a routine that they are reluctant to break out of it for fear of going off the rails. Here are some ways that you can encourage each member of your team to learn a fresh and useful skill.

Take account of differences in learning styles

People don’t all learn in the same way. Some of us are very visual; we can’t understand unless we see. Perhaps you are yourself an auditory learner who thrives on listening to lectures. You might also find that several of your workers like learning in a tactile fashion; in other words, by going hands-on as they learn. Such differences in your own workforce can make it more dynamic, but you should remember to keep them in mind and tailor learning opportunities accordingly.

Let employees direct their learning experiences

You don’t have to settle just for a top-down approach. In an Entrepreneur article, business etiquette expert Jacqueline Whitmore advises that you encourage your staff to have their say on the manner in which they learn. You could, for example, ask them what specific educational opportunities they are interested in pursuing. There might also occasionally be the possibility of you allowing workers to educate their colleagues. It can all help to make everyone’s learning more enjoyable.

Place genuinely challenging tasks in front of your team

You have likely had your own experiences where you have developed new skills through overcoming big challenges. You can heed this by giving your personnel responsibilities that you know they could find taxing. However, writing for HuffPost, leadership professional Anush Kostanyan urges that you still make those tasks “reachable and in the frame of the person’s interests.”

Utilise onsite, rather than external, training where possible

Naturally, you can benefit your team’s development by utilising the expertise of training professionals from outside your company. However, if you make it necessary for your staff to travel to learn that external knowhow, they may be reluctant to take up the opportunity. You can ease things for them by arranging for experts to come to your premises rather than vice versa. Such onsite training is possible with this novice-friendly Tableau tutorial from Cloudstream Partners.

Follow up with your staff

Once a training session has finished, you could assess the extent to which that newly learned information has genuinely sunk in. After all, it wouldn’t be to your company’s long-term benefit if your employees quickly forget much of what they learn.

You could occasionally converse with workers one-on-one or in groups to see if they can verbally process what they have been taught. Also, should someone learn a new skill outside of work, invite them to impart the freshly-gained knowledge to fellow team members.