As we know, Google (Alphabet) is one of the top five global tech companies on the planet. Amazon, Facebook (Meta), Apple, and Microsoft are the other four. As we race to partner people with technology, many companies create cultures of learning within their teams in the information age. In fact, learning new skills is a vital part of the jobs of the people who work at those companies. And although most companies aren’t giant multinationals, the reality is that many still must encourage their teams to learn.
There was a time when companies invested in professional development. Eventually, a lot of the learning shifted to employees to do it on their own time and at their own expense. However, because increasingly jobs are integrating with ever more complex technology to grow and scale, workers have to learn continuously. Therefore, we’re shifting to an era when company leaders can’t expect their teams to learn at their own time and expense. Increasingly learning new skills is getting baked into the jobs of workers. For instance, that’s true for learning about document management systems or productivity tools.
The 20% Rule for Learning New Skills
One of the things many business leaders wonder about for their teams to learn new skills is how. Of course, most businesses want to keep their overhead costs low. However, those times are changing. But the reality is that many entrepreneurs have become accustomed to not carrying the costs in time or money for professional development. Therefore, leaders have to consider ensuring their teams have the skills they need.
One of the ways that managers and leaders can encourage teams to learn new skills is to make it part of the job. Google sets the magic formula for learning at 20% of the job. In other words, Google expects its employees to spend 20% of their time at work learning new skills. Before you wonder why you would want to do that, let’s explore Google’s reasons why. Since they started, they’ve been doing it, and it’s been one of their well-known secrets to success.
Empowering Employees to be Creative and Innovative
In their 2004 IPO letter, the founders of Google, Sergey Brin and Larry Page wrote about the 20% rule. “This empowers them [workers] to be more creative and innovative.” Moreover, they explained that the time their teams took learning new skills led to the creation of AdSense and Google News. The reality is that companies need to nurture a culture of learning within their companies.
As we know, technology’s moving work and how we do, well, everything, into digital and a new reality that the world’s never experienced. For instance, let’s take the developing metaverse. Experts predict that we’ll see substantial improvements toward the union of our offline and online digital lives within the next five years. As an example, it’s envisioned that workers will join together from wherever they operate (remote) to meet not in video conferences but 3-dimensional virtual conference rooms.
Creating an Environment for Learning
Ultimately, every business leader has to decide if creating a culture of learning makes sense for them. More importantly, they also have to determine if the 20% rule makes sense. It’s also a matter of degrees depending on your teams’ type of work and functions. That said, if you have people who have to use technology to operate, or for sales, or marketing, the idea of building in the 20% rule may be of interest.
First and foremost, speak with your management team to understand their interests and ideas. As we know, the evolution of technology, including smart contracts and AI sales platforms, is transforming how teams accomplish their work. So, if you decide to integrate some level for learning new skills into jobs, it’s essential to understand how much of the time you want your teams to spend on it. Google suggests 20%, but it may not be practical for you. Perhaps 10% of the time makes more sense until you expand.
Once you make that decision, it’s essential to commit to it. In other words, your management team has to get on board. You then have to have your managers plan how their teams will implement the learning rule into jobs. Finally, all managers need to support the effort. When team members learn, they need to have the opportunity and space to learn. Moreover, leaders could create opportunities for discussions for new ideas and initiatives. As we know, the more minds explore and learn, the more elastic they become. As a result, you’ll get a more creative and innovative team of workers.
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