Companies with strong learning cultures consistently produce strong business results, outperforming in revenue growth, profitability, market share, and customer satisfaction, according to a 2016 study by the Association for Talent Development and the Institute for Corporate Productivity.

The study defined a culture of learning as one where “employees continuously seek, share, and apply new knowledge and skills” and where learning “permeates all aspects of organizational life.” While the research found that top-performing organizations are five times more likely to have a culture of continuous learning, only 31% of the 832 companies surveyed met the definition. The challenge for companies is to embed such continuous learning in their cultures.

“Everything must lend itself to creating a learning culture where more and more individuals are given the opportunity to upskill and reskill,” says Cat Lang, senior vice president for global education at ServiceNow. “But what’s really interesting is what we call ‘and-skilling.’ It’s not ‘you used to do this and now you do that.’ Instead, you’re learning new skills, growing your career, and immediately becoming much more valuable.”

Lang cites a ServiceNow customer that sought to staff a new center of excellence to support deployment of the Now Platform across their organization. Rather than hiring new workers, the company focused on “and-skilling” to bring in existing employees who already understood the company and had proved themselves in their current roles. Learning the Now Platform augmented their existing skills and benefited their careers while helping the company deploy the technology faster.

Enterprise software provider Deltek encourages an environment that embraces continuous learning, says Jodi Atkinson, the company’s senior director of global learning. “We live and breathe a culture of learning,” she says, “[whether we’re] walking down the hall with a colleague or in a team meeting or intentionally during a learning circle focused on a particular area of expertise.”

Since 2018, when Deltek made learning and development a core value, its more than 3,400 employees have been asked to dedicate at least 40 hours of work time annually to learning in its myriad forms. The company has deployed a digital learning management system where employees can work with their managers to pursue personal development plans that advance both organizational objectives and personal aspirations. If an employee wants to learn a programming language, for example, they can study it independently and report their efforts. Or if they want to perfect their presentation skills, they can participate in Toastmasters as part of their annual 40-hour minimum.

Anyone at Deltek can lead a learning circle session on a subject they want to share with colleagues. Some divisions mandate weekly or monthly learning sessions facilitated by experts who teach and invite conversation on a broad range of topics.

Other companies don’t mandate a set number of learning hours, but rather encourage and support learning in whatever way their employees find most useful. Leaders at LexisNexis Risk Solutions, for example, are encouraged to set aside specific days or times for learning throughout the 10,000-person company. One division has declared a monthly “no-meetings” day to free up employees to pursue professional development either independently or in groups at work.

“You don’t have to seek permission or wait to be told to learn something,” says Shibani Gopal, vice president of talent development at LexisNexis Risk Solutions. “We are a culture that is based on inquisitiveness and curiosity. We try to develop offerings that will enhance that.”

If an employee wants to learn how to create Excel pivot tables, for example, they can seek out in-house experts or take a course on the company’s digital learning platform. Additionally, the company hosts conferences that surface customer insights, create networking opportunities, and encourage teams to share information.

A new digital mentoring platform has not only contributed to the company’s culture of learning, but also created previously unimagined connections. Using automated recommendations, mentees can set up formal six-month relationships with mentors from a different division or the opposite side of the globe—or both.