It’s no secret that high-performance organizations pay attention to employee training. Training opportunities do more than help employees do their jobs better. Employees who are learning feel valued and are less likely to leave the company. They’re valued for what they can become and what they can learn, not just because they’re another cog in the machine.
However, employees have widely differing needs. In 2014, O’Reilly Media commissioned a study that distinguished between three different types of learners: beginners who are interested in fundamentals, practitioners who have already achieved a degree of proficiency, and high performers. Their needs depend on where they are in their learning path. Our research found that each type had specific preferences and needs for how to learn. Someone who is just starting out has needs that are fundamentally different from an expert’s. We call this the Performance Stack. This paper discusses the Performance Stack and gives advice on how to tailor a learning program to suit the needs of your employees.