The terms learning vs training is sometimes used interchangeably. But there is a significant distinction between training and learning. You aren’t the only one who finds it difficult to describe the differences between these phrases.
However, knowing the distinctions between training and learning will assist human resource managers, and company executives figure out what their organization requires, meet various business goals, and ultimately improve employee performance.
Let’s examine training vs. learning in further detail, as well as its similarities, differences, and implications.
Learning in the workplace: An introduction
In the worksite, learning focuses on continuously improving a person by absorbing, comprehending, and sustaining knowledge, conceptual frameworks, or skills introduced to them. This can assist both employers and employees in improving their jobs and equipping them to deal with complex and unforeseen circumstances.
Verbal (via talks), written, visual (graphics and charts), or a mixture of media are all examples of various forms of learning. Learning may take place through independent study, work experience, or receiving mentorship.
The primary justification for the inclusion of learning is that, without instruction, employees cannot achieve their full potential. This includes specialized expertise relevant to a position. Educating HR personnel in organizational growth might serve as an illustration of this. It also requires interpersonal abilities like good communication with clients and coworkers, handling conflict, and bargaining skills. The continuing personal growth of the person is the primary concern here. Read more: online learning management system
How to assess the effectiveness of learning?
What’s the ideal approach for evaluating the success of your learning and development programs using statistics? Well, before that, let’s understand the major elements of corporate learning.
Here are a few learning characteristics:
- Learning comprises gaining information and developing talents
- It gauges the capacity of employees to use their abilities in a range of situations
- The student must take an active role in learning
- It is a continuous process
- Learning is future-focused and long-term oriented
- It focuses on advancing one’s career
- It is centered on the individual learner
- It’s a shared encounter with numerous individuals (i.e., we are acquiring knowledge together, or we are sharing experiences with one another)
- Learning takes place in small groups or one-on-one settings
- Gaining theoretical and general understanding is the goal
- The facilitator’s job is to encourage discourse
- It is learner-driven
- It focuses on principles, beliefs, ways of thinking, creativity, and results
- It facilitates learning for both companies and employees
- Learning is in line with the firm’s success vision
- There are official and informal options for learning
- People with varying backgrounds and viewpoints on the subject may make up the audience; this allows for both learning and teaching
- Progress happens in cycles
Learning is primarily the act of absorbing new knowledge over time and remembering it. The individual’s talents and skills can then be improved, enabling them to further their professional goals and the larger company. The person gains knowledge about how to manage a particular situation today while simultaneously learning how to be ready to creatively address a different difficulty tomorrow.
Training in the corporate setting: An introduction
On the contrary, corporate training focuses on imparting and transferring particular skills into a specific work setting. In contrast, learning focuses on gaining and developing non-specific skills and competencies.
For instance, instructing staff members on how to utilize a novel technology, the best way to organize shelves, or educating customer service representatives on a new device. Compliance training and safety training are two additional forms of training.
Training is primarily a one-time experience, but learning may be considered a process. Employees in large groups are taught how to accomplish a specific action or reproduce a behavior during training to help them complete their everyday tasks without needing aid from others.
This can be done through e-learning, internal workshops, online programs, training courses, or with professional trainers in a training facility off-site. The goal of training is to boost an organization’s production and efficiency, which will ultimately result in higher profitability.
The primary distinction between learning and training is that the former does not seek to alter, enhance, or broaden the learner’s perspective or behavior. The training instructs the trainee to carry out a given task by concentrating on it. How well-equipped a learner is to use their newly acquired information and abilities in the actual world and pursue future growth determines whether or not they will remember what they have learned, react to it, or both.
Here are a few training characteristics:
- Teaching specialized knowledge or skills is known as training.
- Information transfer is the goal of this structured learning experience.
- It requires the student to participate passively
- It is centered on the company’s immediate demands and short-term gains
- Large groups are typically used to teach training, and it is adaptable (up to 10s to 100s staff members at once)
- The purpose of training is unique to the duty of the person
- The information is coherent and reproducible.
- You can assess the trainee’s comprehension of the instruction
- It is taught from without or inside (motivated by others)
- It emphasizes competence, expertise, talents, and abilities
- It is suitable for fostering fundamental skills
- It may be unrelated to the firm’s overarching vision
- It’s a solitary event (i.e., I am getting trained, or I will be training someone)
- The audience usually comprises one specialist and several less experienced individuals who wish to study from such an expert.
Evolution is continuous (once you gain mastery over one level, you can proceed to the subsequent phase).
It’s crucial to remember that the purpose of training is to educate people on how to perform specific jobs so they can do things independently and not change their behavior.
As a result, when new hires join the organization, they usually undergo a sequence of training courses. They gain knowledge of how to carry out their everyday tasks successfully through this kind of workplace training.
The various functions of learning vs training
We’ve discussed the main distinctions of learning vs training, but why are these distinctions important? Although they are related, training and learning are distinct entities. Your workers will occasionally benefit most from training, whereas education will be more necessary at other times.
Sometimes learning—compared to one-time training—can help a business reap various rewards, such as higher employee morale and satisfaction, better retention, more customer experience, and higher sales. Additionally, it’s crucial to remember that personalized learning cannot replace conventional training, which provides staff members with the abilities they need to perform their jobs. Read more: Learning path
HR managers and executives must comprehend that these are distinct procedures with distinct goals to select the appropriate approach for the proper situation and individual. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to define objectives for your education and training programs that will improve employee performance over the long run.
How, then, do you choose what path of action to follow?
To determine what your workers need more than anything, you can ask specific inquiries and then make the appropriate decision. Create a career path for HR. Depending on your HR professional growth and skill set, decide how you want to advance.
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- Are your employees asking for additional help to do their tasks more effectively?
- Do your staff want to interact with one another more?
- Does your staff prefer passive (feedback-free) learning or active learning?
- Do you have to present a predetermined message to a large number of people in one go, or can you break it up into smaller sessions?
- Are the majority of your employees team players or independent contributors?
In summary
Although there is a distinct difference between learning vs training, both are essential to the growth and effectiveness of your personnel. You may therefore create learning goals and strategies that assist your organization in achieving its long-term aims and creating its vision for the future by comprehending the primary differences between the two processes and using them effectively.