When Learning Fails To Deliver
We all know the chronic learner. The cousin who is rounding forty and working on that fourth master’s degree. The compulsive trainee coworker, who jumps at every opportunity for taking a corporate development program. The podcast affectionado, who consumes massive quantities of information about leadership on their commute every single day. This intense commitment to learning is often admired and lauded as dedication, but an overuse can actually be a derailer.
Learning is not valuable until it is integrated and applied. From a functional sense, learning is only as good as its application. Below is some advice to consider as you follow your own journey towards effectively driving results through learning:
Focus your learning
When you think of the vast amount of information out there, it can be overwhelming. The sheer number of org development training programs and approaches could bury a person so deeply that they would never be able to do their job. Think of a topic like managing conflict at work. There are a thousand approaches. A person might become certified in Crucial Conversations, and then move immediately into a local business school course on diffusing conflict with personality styles. I’ve met folks who have taken a dozen or more classes on conflict but are no better than many leaders in this competency.
Their problem? Not testing out what they’ve learned. They become unfocused in their pursuit of mastery, and never put what they learn into practice. Before moving onto the next course, they should try out the new approach. Master a single component of the competency and test it out consistently. Maybe it will not be effective, but they would learn from the failure and get closer to having an impact on the people around them. Learning is only one step toward mastery.
Integration
The chronic trainee often takes courses in a vacuum. They learn for the sake of learning rather than looking for connections to their own job. Course trainers often do not help in this regard; they lack the context of each person in the room and they often lack the time to personalize. The most effective learners take that extra step on their own. When taking a leadership course, they consider the context and the technical nature of their role. They engage deeply in reflection of how to integrate what they learn, nested in specific examples in their work. They begin leveraging their new skillset immediately, and some even go as far as to teach it to those around them so that the application.
To effectively integrate, while working through a training course, consider the following questions:
Where is this material most relevant to my job?
How could experimenting with some of these approaches help my team?
What do I believe to be true about this material, and what do I believe to be false? Why?
Degrees and certifications do not equal impact
I have letters next to my name. Some people have many, many more letters in their signatures, most of which I cannot decipher. Some of the most effective people I know have these titles, and the same goes for the most ineffective. Simple acquiring a degree and attending classes does not an impactful person make. It is about putting these letters into action. It is about applying your knowledge through driving results. If you are considering further education, like an MBA, consider whether you are doing it for the letters, for your reputation, for the sake of learning, or truly because it will help you advance in your job or career.
Think of the following: A grandson—a successful early career accountant—was explaining the CPA exam to his grandfather, who was financially successful but lacked formal education. The grandfather said “I don’t understand any of this; I went to the school of hard knocks.” Consider that there are always different paths to success and mastery, and both formal learning and learning through doing can help you get there.