Learning Saturdays: Lemon Yellow's Leap of Learning

Hello, LY's blog audience! I am back with my second blog. Hope you haven't forgotten me, but let me still introduce myself. My name is Rasika Gaonkar aka Lemon Yellow's HR. It is said that the famous artist/sculptor Michaelangelo, at the age of 87 said, “I am still learning”. It portrays how one can never stop learning, how it is a never-ending process. But what exactly is learning? As the definition goes, “Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behavior, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences every day”. Human learning starts at birth (it might even start way before) and continues until death, as a consequence of ongoing interactions between people and their environment. Information and continued learning is food for the mind. To live a life without learning is unthinkable. In a world of rapid change and advancement, one of the most effective ways of dealing with change is lifelong learning. Our perspectives, tastes, tolerance towards world views, and understanding can never be broadened if we stop being open to learning. It forms part of your personal and professional development in an effort to avoid stagnation and reach your full potential. We at Lemon Yellow take learning very seriously and to encourage the concept of learning our Founder Mr. Sameer Bhambere and Co-Founder Mr. Amit Bhambere have introduced the concept of Learning Saturdays, where we dedicate a day to learning. Sameer sir always says sharing is caring and by dedicating two Saturdays in a month to learning, he shares his drive and passion for learning with us. Let's dive deep into how we conduct these Learning Saturdays. We have a learning Saturday coordinator, who takes care of the whole schedule. We have different sessions where our teammates get a chance to present what he/she knows best in his/her session. It is usually about his/her industry. For e.g. someone from the UI/UX team might come up with an interesting topic to talk about and share with the whole team. Someone from the administrative department might not be aware of that subject, which is explained by the UI/UX team member and that becomes learning for not only the administrative staff but also the whole team. For the presenter also it is a learning process as it enhances their presentation skills, knowledge, improves communication skills, and also acts as an ice-breaker where the teammate gets to connect and communicate with other teammates from different departments. We also have one session by the UX Man himself, Mr. Amit Bhambere, our Co-Founder & Design Head. It is a masterclass session for which the whole team is always excited and looks forward to. His sessions are related to UI/UX, design thinking, design fundamentals - basically all things design. I feel fortunate to have attended his sessions as it taught me about UI/UX and designing but also how to present, how to keep the session lively and interactive. We learn a lot from his sessions and it's always a pleasure to hear him speak and learn from him. We also have a session for guest speakers where we invite someone from outside of the organization to give their expertise to our teammates. We recently had Mr. Craig Travasso - a vocational coach, come in and talk to us all about the importance of communication techniques. It included lessons on email and verbal communication skills between departments as well as outside the organization. Why should every organization adopt a continuous learning culture and encourage continuous learning? When you create a culture of learning in your workplace, your teammates may feel more valued. They feel as though they are progressing in their career because they are actively improving their skills and knowledge in relevant areas. Furthermore, a culture of learning generally encourages teammates to share their ideas and to actively improve. By doing so, they feel more connected to the company and as though their daily efforts are making an important difference. Continuous learning also increases creativity and innovation. Because the teams are constantly developing new skills and learning new concepts, their potential increases over time, and this is a huge benefit for the company. It becomes easy to attract top talent where there is a continuous learning culture; where innovation and creativity are valued, employees are more likely to solve their own problems and work independently. Building a continuous learning culture helps organizations to engage with their workforce more effectively and empower them with skills that significantly benefit both parties. So remember, “Keep learning, keep growing.”