Lifelong Learning is Crucial to Personal Engagement and Career Development

SALT LAKE CITY, Nov. 19, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- Ahead of holiday crunch time and New Year's resolutions, many employees across the country are reflecting on 2018 and looking ahead to the future. To commemorate National Career Development Month, Bridge, an employee development suite from the makers of Canvas, encourages employees to assess their current skills and expand their horizons by offering workplace tips and resources to help improve career development.

"In addition to wanting more career training, the modern workforce also requires ongoing feedback. Fortunately, training and feedback go hand-in-hand," said Jeff Weber, SVP of people and places at Instructure. "When we combine skill assessments with competency development, we can help employees identify personal skills gaps and relevant training.  That's why we recommend learning and development tech tools and other resources to help people improve their skills and work performance."

Leadership, cooperation, communication, and management are all skills that are in high demand in the current workforce, and there is no better time to hit reset on daily duties to learn a few new skills and hone current ones. "Whether you are 20, 40, or 60 years old, the challenge is to continue developing the skills you already have in addition to learning how to apply and relate these to new technology," Weber says.

For Career Development Month, Bridge shares tips that encourage ongoing training and development.

Employees should take inventory of their own skills gaps:
Nearly 70 percent of employees aren't engaged in their current jobs. Continuous employee development is contingent upon the drive to become a better version of yourself. Take a step back and take a look at what you do on a daily basis. Take inventory of the tasks, ideas, or teams that motivate you and find what constitutes the gap between your current position and where you want to be. Is it a lack of managerial experience? Maybe you don't have the writing skills necessary to work as effectively as you want with a new team. Deciding where you can expand your horizons will get the gears turning.

Managers and employees can collaborate to set a plan in motion:
Communicate your goals to your manager and create a development plan. Discuss skills gaps and create individual plans to address those gaps. Championing yourself and being proactive about asking for feedback loops, constructive criticism, and areas to improve will show your employer that you are invested in the work you do and want to grow. Then, your management team can help you achieve your goals by offering you access to training, certain team meetings, or activities you hope to add to your skills portfolio.

Employees should utilize resources at their disposal:
Currently, only 10 percent of employees use development tools. Online training resources provide workers with anytime access to a library of career development content. When employees have the freedom and flexibility to learn on their terms, results dramatically improve. Bridge offers learning and development opportunities involving the option for employees to self-enroll in learning paths that interest them. They can engage in development beyond the workplace, too. Whether it's attending a night class, signing up for a webinar or hearing a speaker at a local library, employees need to make use of any opportunity to engage in lifelong learning. Career Development Month is a great time to start. 

ABOUT BRIDGE

Bridge, from the makers of Canvas, is employee development software that creates a positive employee experience and increases engagement through purposeful learning, continuous feedback, collaboration, skill building, and career development. We empower businesses to develop, retain, and promote their most valuable asset?their people. Learn more at www.getbridge.com.

ABOUT INSTRUCTURE

Instructure, Inc. (NYSE: INST) is a leading software-as-a-service (SaaS) technology company that makes software that makes people smarter. With a vision to help maximize the potential of people through technology, Instructure created Canvas and Bridge to enable organizations everywhere to easily develop, deliver and manage engaging face-to-face and online learning experiences. To date, Instructure has connected millions of instructors and learners at more than 4,000 educational institutions and corporations throughout the world. Learn more about Canvas for higher ed and K?12, and Bridge for the corporate market, at www.Instructure.com.

CONTACT:

Becky Frost
Senior Director, Corporate Communications
Instructure
801-869-5017
[email protected]

SOURCE Bridge