Professional training is a powerful tool for building an adaptable, productive, and engaged workforce. Learning and development programs help employees solve problems and come up with innovative ideas, while companies that invest in education are in a stronger position to maintain a healthy culture and prevent turnover.

Companies around the world face an employee engagement crisis, and high-quality workplace training is one of the best ways to address it. By providing robust professional development and educational opportunities, companies will narrow persistent skills gaps and reduce the need to find and onboard new talent. When it comes to cybersecurity – an area where many employees are in dire need of education – engaging and effective employee training programs will keep companies safe from increasingly common and destructive cyberattacks.

Professional training should never be a check-the-box exercise – it should be fully integrated with your employees’ workflow, designed to keep busy adults engaged, and focused on securing concrete outcomes. The ultimate goal is to create a culture of learning, in which employees are constantly developing their skills and putting those skills to use to further both their personal goals and the larger goals of the organization.

Why a focus on engagement is crucial
According to Gallup, just one-fifth of employees around the world report that they’re engaged at work. Gallup also found that one critical element of engagement is the availability of “opportunities at work to learn and grow.” But companies have to focus on what sort of educational opportunities they’re providing – training programs should be capable of capturing and holding employees’ attention, providing practical and actionable information, and reinforcing what employees learn.

There are many ways to keep employees engaged with your training content. First, you should always connect what they’re learning to concrete, real-world examples and scenarios. Companies can use Adult Learning Theory to ensure that employees are acquiring the information they need, which means getting employees involved in how their training is developed, helping them draw upon their own experiences, giving them opportunities to solve problems (rather than forcing them to memorize a static list of concepts), and demonstrating how your training content is directly applicable to their work.

In cybersecurity, this means citing cyberattacks and data breaches that have actually taken place, and which demonstrate how devastating a lack of cybersecurity awareness can be. Second, it’s vital to reinforce what employees have learned through consistent messaging and frequent assessments. And third, employees shouldn’t be overwhelmed with information – ensure that your training content is digestible, brief, and entertaining.

Always remember that your employees have to balance the demands of their careers, families, and other priorities alongside their learning goals. If you respect your employees’ time and provide educational content they actually want to consume, you’ll keep them engaged and establish a culture of learning at your company.

Understanding the difference between training and learning
Companies are investing in learning and development (L&D) programs like never before. The 2022 LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report found that demand for L&D specialists spiked in 2021, while the proportion of these specialists who expect to have more spending power reached a six-year high in 2022. Meanwhile, 72 percent say workplace education has become a more strategic function at their organizations and 87 percent say they’re involved in “helping their organization adapt to change.”

While it’s encouraging that companies are investing in education, it’s essential to make sure these investments are being put to good use. This means going beyond the mere establishment of training programs and focusing on what employees are actually learning. To determine whether educational initiatives are working, companies need to regularly assess the state of their employees’ knowledge and determine whether this knowledge is leading to sustainable behavioral change. With cybersecurity training platforms, this can be done through interactive tools like phishing tests, which reveal whether employees are capable of identifying malicious content and taking action to avoid it. Techniques such as gamification can help employees learn and track their progress as well.

Cybersecurity training should be consistent and proactive to drive behavior change. A 2021 report on ransomware attacks found that 90 percent of companies provided employees with more cybersecurity training after a successful attack, but those companies likely had to suffer severe financial and reputational costs before prioritizing training and the changes in security behavior it must deliver. This is a reminder that education is an ongoing process, and companies constantly need to evaluate how employees are using what they are learning.

Building a culture of learning
Earlier in my career as a part of my doctoral dissertation at Penn, I explored how college athletes could maintain their academic performance while competing at the Division I level. I found that one of the keys to success for student athletes was the establishment of habits that guide healthy and effective behaviors across their academic, social, and athletic pursuits – a lesson that applies to employees learning about cybersecurity (or any other subject) as well. When there are so many distractions competing for employees’ attention (from deadlines at work to responsibilities at home), it’s necessary to weave education into your operations at every level.

In cybersecurity, effective behaviors – such as immediately reporting suspicious messages – lead to a healthy culture. To build a culture of learning, companies have to establish organizational alignment around education, with buy-in across departments, teams, and managers. All employees must have access to engaging educational resources, and they should be rewarded for what they learn (rather than threatened with punishment for making mistakes).

As the global economy becomes increasingly skills-based and competitive (and as the labor market remains extremely tight), professional education is a top priority for companies and employees alike. But training isn’t just important for retaining employees and increasing productivity – it’s also essential for critical priorities like cybersecurity. This is why the companies that develop engaging educational platforms will be more productive – and more secure – than their competitors.