Jaka jest rola firmy w procesie kształcenia pracowników? (wersja angielska)

There are two key actors in the employee learning process. The first element triggering the employees’ development is an organization’s attitude, whereas the second one is an approach of the employee herself. For the purpose of this article, let me concentrate on companies’ impact on an individual’s growth by analysing different dimensions, such as: cultural, social, psychological and educational.

From the cultural perspective, the internal environment of a company strongly contributes to its employee’s transformation process, as it creates the essence of working conditions. If the organization promotes diversity of and openness to other cultures, it may stimulate employees' growth in the direction of international cooperation and virtual team management. It can raise empathy to understand other persons’ behaviours driven by their living conditions and geographical locations. This can broaden the employees’ horizons in encountering different motives for learning depending on the historical and cultural backgrounds.

Social and psychological aspects refer to interactions with others and self-awareness of how we behave, feel and think in our professional surroundings. It is people we work with who define our perception of the organization. We tend to admit: ‘my company does not treat me well’ or ‘the company I work in always appreciates my efforts’. At the end, it is not a company that does all of it, but people such as leaders, co-workers or our team members who create that image that makes us respond with specific feelings, behaviours and attitudes. People living in a particular community or as in this case, employees working in an organization, are responsible for building the interpersonal relationship that either stimulates or deprives the creation of psychological safety. The business environment that is considered to be safe will allow their members to take risks which is the key element in the learning process, as well as openly share ideas and ask question challenging the status quo.

From the educational point of view, if developing others and yourself is one of the core values within the organization, learning culture will be promoted. I believe that organizations in today’s world cannot afford to ignore their employees’ growth. They need to challenge the individual and help her understand how important it is to expand her skills set, competences but also to reshape her worldview beliefs (for example, in terms of ecology or social responsibility).

Broadly speaking, I believe that referring to business environment, any educational platform should include an organization’s representation: leaders, human resource managers or talent managers acting as facilitators in the learning journey. The company cannot force an individual to learn, but it can try to clarify the need to change and give the options or incentives to foster the transformation.