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Introduction

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Never before have North American businesses been faced with so much change. Experts say that more information has been produced in the last 30 years than was produced in the previous 5,000. They estimate that the total body of knowledge now doubles every five years. New knowledge, skills and attitudes inevitably have to be learned in order to keep pace with required changes in business practices, processes and products to meet increasingly more discriminating customer demands.


Small- and medium-sized enterprise owners or managers cannot leave learning to chance for either themselves or their employees. Continuous learning is linked to better organizational performance and to a richer life and a better future for owners and their employees.


Lessons learned at one stage in our careers must be restudied within each and every business framework we encounter. Likewise, all employees must reassess and refresh their knowledge and know-how.


While many large companies can invest in comprehensive quality improvement programs, the associated costs are generally prohibitive for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). As an alternative, SMEs can make a dramatic impact by making a modest investment in creating a "continuous learning" culture within their organizations.


The goal for the SME should be to create "Knowledge-Powered Organizations", which can be defined as:

"An organization that knows how to learn with people who freely share what they know and are willing to change, based on acquisition of new knowledge".

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Definition

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Continuous Learning reflects the notion that the pace of change in this modern age is such that an individual has to continually learn new things to keep up with the times, with a profession, or to be competent in any given job.


Research indicates that the half of what one learns, in university for example, is no longer relevant today. Technology change is causing this phenomenon across almost every occupational field.


Continuous Learning applies to organizations as a whole. Survival in today's competitive "global "markets requires companies to continuously improve by:

• learning from past mistakes and successes (documenting "lessons learned")
• looking toward the future.
• creating "communities of practice" for learning rather than focusing solely on technical solutions.Many leading-edge companies have created "Chief Learning Officer (CLO)" positions to give CL greater attention at the executive table.

SMEs find implementing CL challenging, due in part to a lack of human resources department one might find in larger companies. Although the term may be introduced by a business manager, employees may still be a long way from having a common understanding about what the term really means, let alone having a concrete plan for achieving the required culture change.


Change in today's work place implies that managers or owners:

• need to re-assess their traditional ways of managing their employees (e.g. lack of performance measurement, little or no investment in training, no training needs analysis, and so on).
• need to leverage informal learning (i.e. those learning activities initiated by individuals themselves). Informal learning impacts can be measured, and organizations can take a proactive approach towards making opportunities available, influencing individual choices, and recognizing and rewarding employees who pursue self-improvement.
• Need to recognize that only 15% of all learning required to function in most jobs is acquired through traditional classroom training (American Society for Training and Development - ASTD).
• Continuous Learning (CL) is closely linked to Knowledge Management, in that the latter has great potential for enabling CL.

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Benefits for the Organization

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• Encourages knowledge creation
• Fosters knowledge sharing
• Builds innovation and best practices
• Helps to discover hidden knowledge and expertise
• Reduces "relearning"
• Promotes a sense of "team"
• Contributes to business success

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Benefits for the Employee

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From an employee perspective, there are several benefits of taking a continuous learning approach to life, including:

• Improved performance - the more you learn about something, the better you will be at it.
• Increased value to your employer - the more you know and can do, the more you can contribute to the success of your organization.
• More career flexibility - it will be easier for you to move in new directions when you want or need to - either within or outside your current organization.
• Higher self-esteem and motivation - how could learning not make you feel better about yourself?
• More creativity - with greater knowledge and experiences, you will have more internal resources to draw on for new ideas.