Are You Closed or Open to Learning?

Today, I had a meeting with a co-worker which caused me to do some self-reflection.  I had to ask myself, "Am I really open to learning?" 

The co-worker was opposed to working on administrative duties although the duties are major components of any program manager's job, especially one without administrative or support staff.  The co-worker didn't consider the new assignment as a way to grow and broaden her experience.  In this particular instance, the consequence to being closed to learning was the employee missed an opportunity to create a highly, visible program and display her talents.

So many of us feel as though certain work duties are beneath us just because they don't appear to be equal to our position, title, grade level, degree, or credentials, instead of looking at new assignments as opportunities to grow and as pathways to other more rewarding work.  If we close our minds to opportunites to do different work or take on new assignements, we will never grow or expand our experience. We eventually STOP learning! 

 L&D professionals cannot afford to be closed-minded. We are in fact among the innovators and change agents who create learning environments within our organizations. We are supposed to open to continuous growth and improvement.

I ended my self-reflection with thoughts about how I once had a closed-mind to learning, until I changed my outlook.  I can only wonder how once being closed deferred my own growth.  I now look at all tasks and assignments as opportunities to learn and grow.  This encounter with my co-worker gave me an opportunity to see just how much I've grown in my learning journey!

Are you closed or open to learning?  How have your views about learning changed on your learning journey?  Feel free to share some of your experiences.

Eliminate Scrap Learning

Last week I participated on a webinar called How to Measure Formal and Informal Learning, by bizlibrary, which caused me to reflect on how many resources are spent on worthless training.  It was very insightful to say the least.  I learned a term to describe when people attend training and they never use what they learn back on the job.  The term is "scrap learning". 

One of the major causes of "scrap learning" is caused by sending people to training when the gap in performance isn't caused by knowledge and skill gaps...one of my pet peeves!  This leads to wasting time and money on a solution that is not going to be effective in helping employees perform better on the job.  Most times people don't use what they learn because the environment, back on the job, doesn't support it or it wasn't the right solution for the performance problem.  Why not look at some of the other causes of performance e.g. motivation, standards, capacity, etc.?

We as learning and development professionals need to do a better job and take more care to identify the root causes of performance problems and identify the right blended learning solutions.  Once we do a better job of identifying causes for performance problems, then our work to convince the organization of our "worth" will not be such an uphill climb.  We must be sure that we aren't just taking orders from people who want training, but ensure that we are actually addressing needs. Eventually, we may be able to begin eliminating "scrap learning."

Let's challenge ourselves to do a better job of eliminating "scrap learning."  Every learning experience should improve or enhance how we do things on the job and/or in our personal lives.

Mentoring is All About GROWTH

Last night I had dinner with one of my mentoring partners just to check in.  As I reflected on the outing, I thought about what made my partnerships so effective (I have 3 wonderful mentoring partners).  They all include GROWTH principles...

G-Genuine Interest: We are genuinely interested in continuous self-development.

R-Reciprocal Relationships:  We learn from each other.

O-Ongoing Dialog: We share our successes and failures and view them as opportunities to learn.

W-Work Together: We are committted to working together as a team.

T-Trust:  We trust each other with information that we share.

H-Heightened Potential: We inspire each other to stretch and grow personally and professionally.

Anyone who is interested and passionate about learning needs multiple mentoring partners if they want to continue to grow...that's why I have 3!!!

Here's an article about mentoring partnerships (One of my mentoring partners and I are participating in the program that's featured in the article!)...

http://associationdatabase.com/aws/NCDA/pt/sd/news_article/42191/_PARENT/layout_details_cc/false

Payoffs from Structured Practice

I saw firsthand the payoff from structured practice.  My daughter's basketball team had a game this weekend.  I didn't think that the team was prepared after only two practices until...I saw them play!  When I saw them in action and win the game, it occurred to me that they won as a result of structured practice.

It was a great reminder that the number of practices didn't matter as much as the QUALITY of their practices.  The two practices that her team had were very structured and focused on just what they needed to win the game. 

I, of course, applied this refreshed learning to my work as a L&D professional.  Don't laugh, it's what I do(smile).  When creating learning activities, we must always provide structured practice.  Our goal should always be to provide practical application that can be used to perform effectively on the job.  Improved individual and organizational performance is the payoff for "structured practice" in the L&D world.

Embracing Social Media

I thought I was doing something by joining Facebook...setting up this Blog...then editing a WIKI, but I have opened up my world by adding Twitter! I've had a Twitter account for a while but didn't use it for anything except getting the latest local news story.

I am so excited to begin exploring and embracing social media!!! I'm now able to share my learning journey in a new way. This may seem like no big deal to those "Techies" who can Tweet at the speed of light :-) However, for those of us who don't indulge in social media or even have a Facebook page, this is HUGE! This is the category that I fell into until this week. Now, I'm well on my way to expanding my learning journey. (By the way, I'm not the only one on learning journey...Norm Kamikow, Chief Learning Officer magazine, Editor in Chief, stated the following in April's edition, "I try to learn something new everyday.")

I stumbled upon a quick reference that may assist those technologocally challenged professionals like myself...

DOWNLOAD: The Social Media Tools Guide (70+ Tools)

Provided By: MarketingSavant

Learn about 70 different tools you can use to help expand your social media program. The Social Media Tools Guide is a 9-page, comprehensive list of social media marketing tools you should consider in your social media management responsibilities. Download your complimentary copy! Note: The publisher does require registration to receive the guide. Still, it's a good resource and we believe well worth

What's a WIKI?

I learned yesterday that WIKIs are cool!  I also edited my first page on the OPM Federal Training and Development WIKI.  They are a very useful tool for learning about any subject of interest.  Depending on your purpose for using the data, you need to validate information you discover...however, they can lead you to other sources of data that is considered "reliable".

If you are a L&D professional in the Federal government, joining this WIKI is a must!  It's a powerful tool to stay current and stay abreast of what's going on in your L&D community.

Striving for Excellence

Today, I was reminded that we must strive for excellence, not perfection!  One of my learning principles is continuous improvement.  I constantly look for ways to improve myself through learning and reflection.  It's important that we as learning and devlopment (L&D) professionals employ this same belief in order to be authentic in our interactions with our clients, colleagues, and/or business partners. I want to encourage my fellow L&D professionals to adopt the same principle of continuous improvement!  Nothing is ever done.  Everything we do is a "work-in-progress" including ourselves. 

What ways do you model continuous improvement as a L&D professional?

I gained more insight regarding succession planning by reading...The Learning-Sucession Connection article by Carol Morrison, 3/15/11.  Check it out, http://clomedia.com/articles/view/4154

Blogging

Today I learned how to set up a blog! I still have a lot to learn. If anyone has any tips, please feel free to share them with me. This is a huge step for me. Maybe next I can learn how to manage Twitter. Anything's possible.

I also learned that we all have what it takes to conquer our fears and other giants that stand in our way.

The Learning Journey

I've been in the learning business for over 30 years, and guess what...thankfully I'm STILL learning!  It just so happens that I get paid to help others learn as well.  I truly believe that each day we should learn something new!  I also believe that it's our job to share our learning with others in order to make their travels through life's winding road a little easier.  I will share with you what I learn each day on my learning journey.  Those that know me know that I'm passionate about learning.  Hopefully, that passion will help you on your learning journey as well...

The Passionate Learner