Be a self-directed learner and keep your career on track
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New research by City & Guilds Group (2019) reveals that British workers are being denied critical opportunities to up-skill for the future. The research – carried out amongst 2,000 full and part-time workers in Great Britain in partnership with YouGov – highlights that
76 per cent of the workforce agree it is important to continuously update their workplace skills regardless of age or career stage.
This may not be happening to you. Your employer may be highly committed to employee development both in terms of skills and experience. However, whatever your situation, consider the advantages to you of being a self-directed learner, actively seeking out new experiences and opportunities to develop your capabilities and drive your career.
You can structure your learning in a way that suits you – in terms of how you learn and when. You may be an active learner liking to learn in a hands-on way in which case what ‘safe’ opportunities can you find to acquire and try out new skills? Or perhaps you prefer to observe others known to be highly skilled in an area of interest to you. If Chairing meetings are of interest, who does this well? Who might you approach to ask if you can sit in on a meeting they chair and discuss with them afterwards how they achieved their goals?
You can give your learning immediacy – in other words learn what you need now or in the near future knowing you will apply it soon because of some work commitment you have to meet. Perhaps your report writing skills are not as good as you’d like and yet you have to produce a report for a senior manager within the next 2 months. What better incentivisation to start looking at how others structure their reports, to find great report writers to talk to about their approach and top tips.
Informal learning helps you to take the initiative rather than wait passively for training to be allocated or allowed. By being more aware of your learning gaps or skills requirements you can grasp opportunities as they arise or even engineer them. Perhaps you’ve wanted to develop your commercial awareness for some while. Why not utilise your internal networks to find out who, within a commercial division or project, you might approach to interview as a ‘champion’, someone known for their commercial skills and knowledge? If that goes well, you may find they are willing to let you support a new initiative or attend meetings as a note taker to see first-hand how negotiations are structured and conducted so you can continue to learn and develop.
If you can cope with being thrown in at the deep end, you can further your development by volunteering for new projects or initiatives. You might carve out time, through being efficient, to ask your manager if there is work that they might delegate to you which is routine for them, but which will allow you to expand your knowledge and skillset.
Always keep your manager in the loop with what you are interested in learning and how you might achieve this. Link it both to your current role and effectiveness and how it might benefit your development and usefulness to the organisation in the long-term.
What if self-directed learning is not a strength of yours? What if you prefer the structure of courses which result in qualifications or certificates as then you know you will see things through? In this case either look for online programmes which you can pursue in your own time, or set yourself a research project, or work with your manager or mentor to structure a programme of informal activity which requires you to work towards a recognisable end point. This could be a formal presentation to others about the learning journey you’ve been on, or a journal which documents clearly what was learnt, how it has been applied and a measurable outcome of improvement. This will give a greater sense of formality and the impetus to succeed and deliver on the commitment made.
TAKE AWAY
Whilst we all hope to work for employers actively committed to the development of their staff, by being a self-directed learner we can ensure we learn what we need to succeed and progress in a way that suits us utilising the opportunities that exist in our organisations. We can take the initiative and often require little or no budget for the activities of interest. By keeping our managers in the loop, we can utilise their support and demonstrate the value we add to the organisation. Best of all, we continue to drive our careers and remain employable.
This may not be happening to you. Your employer may be highly committed to employee development both in terms of skills and experience. However, whatever your situation, consider the advantages to you of being a self-directed learner, actively seeking out new experiences and opportunities to develop your capabilities and drive your career.
You can structure your learning in a way that suits you – in terms of how you learn and when. You may be an active learner liking to learn in a hands-on way in which case what ‘safe’ opportunities can you find to acquire and try out new skills? Or perhaps you prefer to observe others known to be highly skilled in an area of interest to you. If Chairing meetings are of interest, who does this well? Who might you approach to ask if you can sit in on a meeting they chair and discuss with them afterwards how they achieved their goals?
You can give your learning immediacy – in other words learn what you need now or in the near future knowing you will apply it soon because of some work commitment you have to meet. Perhaps your report writing skills are not as good as you’d like and yet you have to produce a report for a senior manager within the next 2 months. What better incentivisation to start looking at how others structure their reports, to find great report writers to talk to about their approach and top tips.
Informal learning helps you to take the initiative rather than wait passively for training to be allocated or allowed. By being more aware of your learning gaps or skills requirements you can grasp opportunities as they arise or even engineer them. Perhaps you’ve wanted to develop your commercial awareness for some while. Why not utilise your internal networks to find out who, within a commercial division or project, you might approach to interview as a ‘champion’, someone known for their commercial skills and knowledge? If that goes well, you may find they are willing to let you support a new initiative or attend meetings as a note taker to see first-hand how negotiations are structured and conducted so you can continue to learn and develop.
If you can cope with being thrown in at the deep end, you can further your development by volunteering for new projects or initiatives. You might carve out time, through being efficient, to ask your manager if there is work that they might delegate to you which is routine for them, but which will allow you to expand your knowledge and skillset.
Always keep your manager in the loop with what you are interested in learning and how you might achieve this. Link it both to your current role and effectiveness and how it might benefit your development and usefulness to the organisation in the long-term.
What if self-directed learning is not a strength of yours? What if you prefer the structure of courses which result in qualifications or certificates as then you know you will see things through? In this case either look for online programmes which you can pursue in your own time, or set yourself a research project, or work with your manager or mentor to structure a programme of informal activity which requires you to work towards a recognisable end point. This could be a formal presentation to others about the learning journey you’ve been on, or a journal which documents clearly what was learnt, how it has been applied and a measurable outcome of improvement. This will give a greater sense of formality and the impetus to succeed and deliver on the commitment made.
TAKE AWAY
Whilst we all hope to work for employers actively committed to the development of their staff, by being a self-directed learner we can ensure we learn what we need to succeed and progress in a way that suits us utilising the opportunities that exist in our organisations. We can take the initiative and often require little or no budget for the activities of interest. By keeping our managers in the loop, we can utilise their support and demonstrate the value we add to the organisation. Best of all, we continue to drive our careers and remain employable.