Learning new skills is THE key! To our personal growth, professional success, and a state of holistic happiness. More than ever fueled by the arrival of the omni-present digital age and the resulting technological revolution which will continue to storm around us.
As a result, we should take control and ownership of our learning and personal growth at work, since too many companies are mostly obsessed over (short-term) results and ever-increasing performance rather than creating a culture of continuous learning which would encourage and reward experimentation and failure. In addition, our education systems are out-dated, expensive, and too inflexible for today´s learning requirements and your personal and professional growth.
As organizations and traditional “academic“ institutions often represent barriers to creativity, curiosity, and personal development, I´d like to propose the following seven suggestions for you to own your learning and growth journey:
- Make Learning a Priority: With a laptop and Internet access everyone can retrieve a lot of information. Knowledge has morphed into a commodity. The differentiator, however, is the ability to correctly read data and transform them into unique and relevant insights. Own your learning and set aside time to learn!
- Learn for Skills and not for Degrees: The future of your career are attitude and skills. Don’t worry so much about degrees. Traditional education focuses on (expensive) degrees; whereas modern education and learning are centered around acquiring skills and building capabilities needed in a world of constant change.
- Strategize and Project Manage (PM) your Learning: Consider and manage learning as your most important project. Set goals, action items, ETAs (milestones), and get yourself into the driver seat. In other words: You´re the CEO of your learning and your future. Don´t delegate it to someone else. Instead, implement and execute a strong learning plan!
- Select a learning-obsessed Organization: In your next job interview, ask not only about career, but also about learning opportunities. Do your homework and find out if the organization in question creates a stimulating learning environment and if it possesses a culture dedicated to develop the potential of its employees.
- Become a vulnerable Learner: To pull yourself out of your comfort zone, you should focus on acquiring new skills which require new expertise. Such a conscious shift away from your strengths will make you a novice who has to ask questions, feel potentially embarrassed at times, and has to learn and absorb new things.
- Seek out different Learning Tracks: Traditionally we´ve learned and studied at schools, colleges, or universities. Often within the borders of formal curriculums. In today´s world, we should rather experiment with online classes, modular trainings, blended learning, on-the-job shadowing, mentoring, peer-based learning sessions, etc.
- Teach to Others: Clearly one of the fastest ways to learn and practice something new is to teach others how to do it. For example, by offering office hours, or 1o1 coaching sessions, you can share what you´ve learned with your colleagues, peers, or manager.
To summarize, we must never stop with learning. Our past achievements and successes do not represent a guarantee for ongoing success. Often, they even pose an obstacle, since they are based on out-dated concepts and formulae. Our future depends rather on our ability to and passion for constant learning.
Let´s take control of our learning and growth at work and in life!
Kind regards,
Andreas von der Heydt