Contributed by
Ganesh Chella is the founder & CEO of totus consulting (www.totusconsulting.com), a strategic HR Consulting firm that partners with organisations by designing HR solutions that meet their business needs.
We live in a D.I.Y. (do it yourself) world. Modern technology, increasing labour costs and shorter shelf-life have all contributed to consumers having to help themselves. Self-service restaurants, ATMs, snap-fit furniture, shrink-wrap computers bought on-line, IVR (Interactive Voice Response), ready to serve meals... The list goes on...
What does that have to do with learning? Are we not supposed to be taught? Are organisations not supposed to help employees' with their training and development? Well, not exactly.
If you want to succeed in the modern world of work, you must be comfortable learning the D.I.Y. way!!!
Ask any Manager or HR Head and he will tell you that the responsibility for learning now rests squarely and surely with the employee. He will also tell you that the organisation will provide you with the tools, infrastructure and support to facilitate this learning. The organisation will also give you feedback about where you stand so that you can chalk out your own road map to learning. The rest is completely up to you.
This is the reality of today and tomorrow. If tenure is fast reducing and employee costs are fast increasing, it is only natural for organisations to become far more realistic about what they can and cannot do for your learning.
You might be a fresh entrant to the world of work or you might be a CEO. Here is a quick guide to surviving in the D.I.Y. world of learning!
Before we get firing on ideas, let us get familiar with a few basic concepts.
Learning & Teaching
Learning is what you do to yourself all the time - 24/7.
Teaching is what others do to you, once in a while. So the first rule is to focus on learning and not teaching.
Learning is a life-long process and is not restricted to what happens in a seminar or classroom. In fact, in today's world, intelligence is defined as the ability to learn. Adapting to the constant changes around is directly a function of our ability to learn.
Levels of Learning
Learning takes place typically at four levels: -
Learning at the level of self: This is the first and most important level of learning. Awareness of self, impact of ones behaviour on others and so on is most important.
Learning skills: Skills help us do things and cover a very wide array. This is also called know-how.
Learning techniques: Techniques are methods or approaches that are time-tested and help us solve life problems. From managing stress to learning math to driving a car to making a presentation, the world is full of techniques to be mastered.
Learning theories: This is the foundation of all learning. Finally, everything in the world is explained through a theoretical construct. Theories explain why and how things work.
The 17 ways in which you can do it
Against this backdrop, we will now look at 17 simple and interesting ways in which you can learn. What is interesting about these 17 ways is that it puts you in charge. Many of them do not cost money and are very rich in results!
1. Welcome 360-degree feedback: Your organisation might have a 360-degree feedback process or it may not. Develop your own 360-degree process by asking your customers, your colleagues and team members for honest feedback. Obviously, they need to trust you when you tell them that you are serious about receiving feedback without becoming defensive!
2. Welcome performance reviews: Remembers that your boss, like most others hates doing performance reviews for fear of how you will take feedback and how it will adversely affect your performance after the review session!
You can make it easy for him by welcoming these sessions. You can assure him that you are keen on knowing about yourself. You may not accept what he says, but let him say it honestly.
3. Seek a coach: All of us can learn by partnering with another person who is inspirational, who challenges us and asks us the right questions. A coach can help bring about significant personal change in your life.
4. Work with your Manager: If you do not know how to do something, ask your Manager to show you how. Even better, ask to observe your Manager as he does a task that you are not able to do. It could be making a sales call or preparing for a presentation or chairing a meeting. Contract with your manager and you can learn a lot.
5. Work on a project: Many tasks today are time bound. Managing projects is a very critical skill. Ask to be assigned a project that you can work on. It could be a small improvement project. Use all your skills of conceptualising, planning, scheduling, monitoring and reviewing in this project.
6. Work on a cross-functional assignment: Participate in an assignment that calls for cross-functional interactions. You will learn to empathise, understand how other functions work and also improve your team working skills.
7. Seek peer reviews: One sure way of learning is to submit your work for review by your peers. Peers have a good understanding of your work and are on the same wavelength, and therefore, in a good position to give you honest feedback. Once you develop the comfort, you can use peer reviews even before submitting your work to your manager.
8. Build relationships: Building relationships is a very critical capability. Try and develop relationships with at least three people from professions completely different from yours. Try and understand what they do and what they like and dislike. Grappling with diversity is an excellent teacher. It will help you in building business relationships quickly.
9. Field Visits: One of the most forgotten ways of learning dates back to what we did in school. Go on field trips! Visiting other facilities, factories or places is a very rich source of learning in addition to being most refreshing.
10. Write a concept paper: One of the most crucial and often missing ability is the ability to conceptualize. While many are able to jump in and solve a problem, few are able to present their actions in the form of a framework of a generalized occurrence. Far fewer are able to build a theory around what they do. Writing concept papers on seemingly abstract subjects helps in this process.
11. Undertake a research project: Is there a question that keeps begging you for answer? Undertake a quick research project - qualitative or quantitative. It need not be something grand and complex but can teach you the skill and the spirit of inquiry.
12. Teach in a local college or in in-house programs: Teaching is often the best form of learning. Teaching forces you to conceptualise, develop a teachable point of view and also helps you question and reexamine your ideas.
13. Enroll for an on-line course or doing web research: Learning things on-line is going to be a skill we all will need in the days to come. More and more content based learning will be available on-line. More and more universities are planning to place their content in public domain. Are you ready to make use of it?
14. Write a journal or dairy: When was the last time you wrote a personal journal or diary? Many did it as children and the habit faded away. A journal is one of the few occasions when you can be honest and candid. In the private world of your journal, you can honestly review what you did, what you said and what you did not. This is an extremely powerful form of learning.
15. Participate in interviewing prospective candidates: Most Manager dread the chore of having to participate in selection interviewing. Yet, interviewing can be a rich source of learning. You get to meet different people, get to understand what their motives and needs are and also get to check how good your judgment is.
16. Volunteer for at least one social cause: Extending ourselves to work for a cause outside our work lives can be truly educative and fulfilling. More importantly, it is a great opportunity to discover that part of ourselves that we most often neglect - our compassion, sensitivity, empathy, sharing and so on.
17. What else: by the time you have come to item 16, I am sure you are ready to add a few more to the list. Please keep doing that. That is learning!
Once you have begun to learn how to learn, the feeling of empowerment is terrific and you will enjoy being in that state.
So, get set to wear the learner's cap. Take charge of your learning and also your life and destiny!
