Many organizations struggle with self-education of employees. A very effective way to make learning enjoyable is for people to organize exploration days. Sometimes called hackathons or ShipIt days, they’re meant to invite employees to learn and develop themselves by running experiments and exploring new ideas.
Continuous learning and development and its key to the success of any individual or team is the subject of this Management 3.0 practice. While orientation training is essential to onboard and welcome new team members, continued self-education must be encouraged. Scheduling time for this sort of activity is essential to your organization’s success.
Some call it Education Days or Exploration Days, others hackathons or ShipIt Days. Google called it 20 percent of each workweek. Some schedule one day a month for the whole team, while others give freedom to each employee to choose. It’s all about encouraging your employees to experiment, play and imagine.
The job of management is not to select the best ideas, but to create a great system that allows for the best ideas to emerge.
Jurgen Appelo, Managing for Happiness
