Your Employees Need to Cross the Line

by Mark Arnold

My lovely wife is a first grade teacher. It’s a challenging job to say the least. Every day she has to encourage her students to learn. To help reinforce the concept that Mrs. Arnold’s Room 138 is a place of love and learning she put a label on the bottom her classroom doorframe. It reads “The Learning Line.” Every day when little first graders enter her classroom that line serves as a visual reminder that they are there to learn.

It’s no different when we go from first graders to adults. There are also a few “lines” your employees need to cross as well.

Here are three:

(1) The Learning Line. Learning doesn’t stop in grade school, middle school, high school or college. Your employees should be lifelong learners. And don’t just encourage employees to learn—make it a part of their job. For example, I’ve always required those working for me to read business books (hopefully four per year or one per quarter). But it’s not just reading: allow them to attend training sessions, webinars, local learning events, etc. Is it an expense? No—it’s an investment. The reality is the more your employees learn, the more your company earns. Don’t let your staff stay where they are with knowledge: make sure they cross the learning line.

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