To grow a business, not-for-profit, school, university, or other type of organisation, there are numerous steps you can take. This includes focusing more on sales, marketing, and customer service; ensuring you offer the most popular products or services; and looking into new customer groups to target.

However, keep in mind that no matter what kind of organisation or department you lead, your results are very dependent on the people you have in your team. As such, it’s important for everyone to continually develop themselves and learn new information and skills.

A good way to ensure your team keeps growing is to help them take advantage of learning opportunities, whether you pay for them or simply give them time off to take part in training programs. These days, the development of technology means online training is better than ever. Read on for some of the major benefits it provides.

Convenience

One of the key pluses of online learning is that it is convenient and flexible. For example, rather than employees having to change their work schedule and other commitments to fit in in-person classes, they can choose to complete their studies whenever it suits them best, from the comfort of their home or office.

People don’t have to miss important work engagements, or trek to other parts of the city to get to a class. They can even break up sessions into short study periods, if they want, while they’re commuting to work, for instance, or waiting for an appointment to start.

There are benefits for businesses running in-house programs too. The availability of online learning means sessions don’t have to work around the set availability of speakers, or that everyone in a team has to stop work at the same time (which can leave jobs unattended) to come together to listen to training.

Programs are pre-recorded instead, then rolled out to employees across different offices and even countries as is most convenient for all involved.

Time Savings

Of course, lots of people love online learning because it saves time. If you have to make your way to a university campus or other educational facility to learn, there is not only travel time to consider, but also the time it takes to park and find the right building and/or classroom.

On the other hand, because online learning programs can be started at the click of a button, businesses running in-house training save time too. There is no need to wait for speakers to arrive on site, or for these people to travel around from location to location to train workers at each different site.

Instead, recorded sessions can be rolled out to all employees at once. Knowledge can be acted upon straight away by everyone, with no time lag involved.

Financial Savings

There are usually great financial savings to be had from choosing online over in-person learning too. For example, individuals who want to get their degree in their chosen field, or who want to learn about a new area to increase their chances of promotion, don’t have to give up their jobs to study.

They can simply fit their learning in around their current role. As well, with online courses, there are none of the usual travel costs involved with having to go to a different city, or even different state or country, to get access to top lecturers and trainers.

Businesses save money too. They don’t have to pay for presenters to move from location to location to provide training, or to come from the other side of the world. This means no more charges for flights, accommodation, petrol, and the like.

More Effective Learning

Online learning programs tend to be more effective, too. Because people can learn when it suits them, they’re more likely to be awake and able to concentrate and take in the information they’re hearing. They can learn at their own pace, and repeat things they didn’t understand the first time.

Online training doesn’t come with the potential for noisy or distracting locations either; people can put in headphones or lock themselves away in a quiet office or other spot to learn.

Online training can be customised and personalised too. It can be delivered in the most beneficial form for the particular learner, and tweaked for different cultures, office locations, or other factors.

Plus, it’s possible for people to only choose the particular topics or modules they want, rather than having to complete hours or months of study on things they already know. For instance, if a negative culture has sprung up at work, managers might want to take a few select online classes for social work tips to help combat bullying or to improve team building.

Online learning makes it easy for people to quickly plug any gaps in their knowledge.