Creating a Culture of Continuous Growth

Organizations have spent years treating learning and work as separate activities. Employees attend training, complete courses, and then return to their jobs hoping to apply what they learned.

The workforce of today can no longer rely solely on formal training events to build capabilities.  They thrive when learning is part of their everyday work.  Organizations must embrace how technology is transforming the ways we access information and reshaping how works gets done.  Employees now have immediate access to virtually unlimited resources; such as, digital learning libraries, AI-powered learning tools, knowledge sharing communities, and career development platforms.  The future of learning is not about consuming more content; it is about creating more capability. Capability is built through experience, reflection, coaching, feedback, collaboration and purposeful real-world application coupled with interactive engaging training.  As a learning and change management leader, the challenge is the necessity to rapidly evolve from designing learning events to designing learning and change ecosystems to build organizational agility, change readiness, and foster a culture of continuous growth.

The Shift from Learning as an Activity to Learning as a Capability

Many organizations still measure learning success through traditional metrics; such as training completions, hours of learning, attendance and course evaluations.  While these metrics provide useful data, they rarely answer the question that business leaders care most about: “Did learning improve performance?”

The most valuable learning happens when employees apply what they have learned to solve real business problems, navigate ambiguity, lead change, collaborate across functions, or take on stretch assignments that expand their capabilities.

Research has consistently shown that professional growth is heavily influenced by experiences, relationships, and exposure not simply formal training. Yet many organizations still invest most of their energy in content creation rather than capability creation.

The question we should be asking is not: "How do we get employees into learning sessions?" Instead, we should ask: "How do we bring learning into the flow of work?"

When we make that shift, learning becomes continuous rather than a one-time event.

Career Growth Is No Longer Linear

Today's careers are less about climbing a ladder and more about building a portfolio of skills and experiences. Organizations that help employees see multiple pathways for growth create a more agile workforce and a healthier talent pipeline. It gives the employee ownership of their own careers.  However, organizations play a critical role in employee career development by providing visibility, opportunities and support through:

• Cross-functional projects
• Lateral moves
• Expanded responsibilities
• Skill-building opportunities
• Global experiences
• Exposure to new technologies

This approach reflects Fortrea’s belief in fostering a holistic continuous learning environment to give employees the opportunity to apply new capabilities to contribute more effectively to Fortrea’s strategic priorities.

Learning and Change Are Now Inseparable

Every transformation initiative ultimately requires people to learn new ways of working. Learning teaches people how to do something. Change Management helps people understand why it matters, prepares them for what is coming, and supports them as they adopt new ways of working.

The most successful organizations recognize that capability building and change readiness must work together.  When learning and change are integrated, employees are more likely to:

• Understand the purpose behind change
• Build confidence in new skills
• Adopt desired behaviors faster
• Sustain new ways of working over time
• Remain engaged during periods of uncertainty

Whether implementing new technology, redesigning processes, or evolving organizational strategy, success depends on helping people build the skills and confidence needed to adopt change.

This is why learning has become a strategic business capability. Organizations that develop learning agility and change readiness are better positioned to adapt, innovate, and grow.

Managers Are the Most Important Learning and Change Leaders

No learning platform, communication campaign, or training program has as much influence on employee growth as their manager. Employee growth, development and ability to successfully navigate change should happen continuously through meaningful dialogue about strengths, growth opportunities and future goals. Prosci's research has consistently shown that employees trust their immediate supervisor to translate organizational change into local relevance, helping them understand what the change means to them personally and how they will gain the needed knowledge and skills to successfully navigate the change. At Fortrea, we equip our managers as coaches, mentors and change leaders to create stronger engagement, faster adoption, and a more confident workforce.

What This Means at Fortrea

At Fortrea, we believe learning, career development, and change readiness are interconnected.

We support employees through a connected ecosystem that includes career development resources, learning opportunities, leadership development, mentoring, coaching, and technology-enabled learning experiences. Programs such as the Fortrean Development Roadmap help employees and managers navigate career planning, development pathways, learning opportunities and growth experiences across the organization.

Our leadership development approach reflects this philosophy. Programs such as IMPACT focus on practical leadership skills including coaching, accountability, emotional intelligence, and leading through change, helping managers create environments where learning becomes part of everyday work.

We also embed change management into our enterprise initiatives. Whether supporting digital transformation, AI enablement, capability academies, or new ways of working, we focus not only on building skills but also on helping employees understand, adopt, and sustain change. Our goal is not simply knowledge transfer; it is successful behavior change that drives business outcomes.

As organizations navigate constant transformation, Learning and Change Management can no longer be viewed solely as service functions. Their role is evolving from providing support to actively accelerating execution of strategic priorities. At Fortrea, this mindset has led us to rethink how we partner with the business.

From Trusted Advisors to Strategic Energizers

At Fortrea, we aspire to be more than trusted advisors. We strive to be strategic energizers—collaborators who help accelerate the execution of Fortrea's strategy through capability building, change adoption, and workforce readiness. Learning and change initiatives create the greatest value when they are directly connected to organizational priorities. That means our role extends beyond designing programs or supporting project implementations. We work alongside leaders to understand the capabilities, behaviors, and mindset shifts required to achieve business goals, and then build integrated learning and change solutions that help make those outcomes possible.

Whether supporting digital and AI adoption, leadership development, operational transformation, compliance readiness, or enterprise capability building, we begin with the business outcome in mind. We ask critical questions:

• What must employees know, do, or believe differently to achieve this objective?
• What behaviors will drive successful execution?
• What barriers could slow adoption or performance?
• How do we create sustainable change rather than short-term compliance?

By combining learning strategies, change management, communications, leadership engagement, and performance support, we help translate strategy into action and action into results.

As Fortrea continues to evolve, our mission is to ensure that every major learning and change initiative not only develops people but also strengthens organizational capability, accelerates performance, and advances the company's strategic objectives. In that sense, we are not simply supporting employee development; we are helping energize the future of Fortrea.

The Future Belongs to Learning Cultures

Organizations frequently ask how they can prepare for the future of work. My answer is simple: Create a culture where learning is part of the work.Organizations cannot predict every skill that will be needed in the future. They can, however, build employees who are curious, adaptable, resilient, and committed to continuous growth.

When employees learn continuously:

• Innovation increases
• Change adoption improves
• Leadership pipelines strengthen
• Employee engagement grows
• Organizational resilience expands

Most importantly, people become better equipped to navigate an increasingly complex world. Learning has always been important. Today, it is becoming a defining competitive advantage.

Ultimately, learning is no longer something the employee steps away from work to do. Learning is the work.  The organizations that embed learning into everyday work will not only adapt more effectively to the ever-changing future of our industry, but they will also help shape what comes next. And that may be the most important capability of all.