Continuous Learning And Its Pluses

It is said that learning is a lifelong journey; and this is more so evident in business and management because they are “moving targets” where new working methods, technology and operational practices are developed. There is need for guidance about how to maintain one’s knowledge and understanding of business and management aspects.

Discharge of new solutions should always include bringing the workforce up to date with the consequent change of work methods. Taking into consideration the continuous evolvement of the technology and business processes, a culture of employee’s self driven quest for knowledge should be encouraged by organizations. On-going research needs to be conducted in relation to change management, not least on sociological aspects, to ensure the most appropriate approach to any given step of progress and situation.

Conveying the message of evolving new knowledge, skills and working methods to the community can be done primarily through educational, “lifelong-training”, schemes and consultancy, matching the needs of both organizations and individuals. Formal education is bound in a rather rigid structure and is not changing fast but on the other hand we could expect most of the changes coming from the informal educational sector that is more flexible but financially much weaker. Research should to a large degree be focused on recognizing the change agents, on being individuals or organizations as drivers and in providing best practice.

Continuous learning is not about constantly taking courses, it is about developing skills in reflection and inquiry. Continuous learning examines the requirement for workers in an occupational group to participate in an ongoing process of acquiring skills and knowledge. It’s a lifelong process comprised of the sum of training, development, and learning. Once individuals work in an environment where these three activities are present, and actively participate in each, lifelong learning becomes a reality.