6 of 10: Learn by Doing

6. Most adults learn most from doing rather than from sitting in a classroom

I won't bore you with the "Teach a Man to Fish" analogies. I am presuming that you have heard or read those things many times.

This is a very simple concept and I find its implementation sorely lacking across business. Think about this...your company has a training budget and as management thinks about how they are going to spend that money, what do they think of? Classroom training, computer based training, conferences, the old standbys that are quickly forgotten or not put into practice when the instructor leaves. These ideas have their place but there are better, cheaper solutions that will have lasting impact on your development. Why do we defer to what we have used in the past but hasn't worked to advance our development?

If you were to really put this "Learning by Doing" into practice every year, what would this mean? What would your Career Development Plan look like?

It means that I am going to spend my training funds on projects where I can work alongside people that will teach me how to do things, not do it for me. It also means that I am going to need to spend more time reflecting on what I learned or need to learn on a project. Can you think of projects or job assignments that would teach you as well as get things done?

One of the reasons that I think this is the most difficult to implement is that it takes some real thought work and some pre-planning to determine what I need to learn and then to come up with actual work that will help. Supervisors have the greatest challenge in this area because it forces them to look out rather than only focused on getting the wash out.

Here are some questions to help you come up with ways to learn by doing...

• If you could work on any project, which one would it be? Why do you want to be placed as a resource on that project or in that job? What would you hope to learn?
• If you could work alongside one person in your organization or company, who would it be? What do you think you could learn from them?
• What one thing could you learn that would make you more effective or efficient? Where are they doing that in the company? Could you join them for a period of time?
• If you want to do something on a large scale, is there a smaller group of people that you could practice on before doing it on a large scale?
• Is there something you could do that if you tried but failed would not be a big hit to the bottom line?

What are the realities of doing this? I will learn more than I thought. I will probably learn about how to get things done. I should learn about myself, my character in difficulties and how I work with others. I will be given many opportunities to take risks and put myself out there as I learn. Learning by doing will necessitate that I ask lots of questions and pay very close attention to the experts. Learning by doing, if it is creative, is mentally exhausting and exhilarating at the same time.

What did I miss? What are the benefits or costs?

Until next time.