by Race Bannon on July 13, 2010
Once upon a time, many American companies dedicated a significant amount of their time and resources to training their employees. One standout example, IBM, as far back as the 1930’s, was famous for their employee education programs that were in large part responsible for IBM’s success. Times have changed.
Companies today are spending increasingly less on their internal training programs. In these times of managing to quarterly revenue numbers for those all-important quarterly earnings statements, few companies are willing to set aside the necessary time or money to engage in the types of workplace education that would not only contribute to their bottom line, but also increase productivity, decrease turnover, and lead to much happier and dedicated employees. This is very short sighted.
As I talk with people across the employment spectrum in a wide cross section of industries, many report the same phenomenon. New employees are expected to jump into their new job roles already possessing a full set of pertinent skills and knowledge. Longtime employees report little ongoing education or training. It seems that rarely does a company take the time to invest in its employees anymore.
Observing corporate behavior over the last few years, I contend that few companies are going to be willing to institute more classroom-based training programs because they’re costly and require extensive resources to develop and deploy. Perhaps informal learning programs can come to the rescue, at least somewhat.
I believe a new high-level job category needs to be created – Informal Learning Officer (ILO). Perhaps some of today’s CLO’s (Chief Learning Officers) focus on informal learning, but I believe that informal learning is important enough to warrant its own separate job and title. So what would an ILO do?
ILO’s would be 100% focused on fostering effective and inexpensive informal learning initiatives throughout a company. These folks might oversee mentor programs, peer knowledge sharing strategies, learning resource repositories, lunchtime brown bag seminars, discussion forums and groups, project-based learning, training managers in how to encourage and assist with their team’s learning objectives, and so on. Just as importantly, ILO’s would evangelize informal learning and empower employees with the self education skills and mindset that are quickly becoming the most vital elements that determine a person’s success or failure within a company.
Any CEO’s or other high-placed business executives reading this? Please consider creating an ILO within your company. I think you’ll see both a happier workforce and a healthier company.
For another perspective on this topic, read Vivek Wadhwa’s strong argument for more American workforce education in this TechCrunch post. Wadhwa makes a compelling case for a complete rethink on the priority of educating the American workforce better and the American corporate landscape would be wise to listen.
by Race Bannon on June 25, 2010
As readers of this blog know, TED is my favorite website. I’ve sent my readers to that site to view many of the short talks given by some of the world’s most brilliant and inspiring people.
Well, now I’m sending you to one of their blog postings. It’s the first in TED’s series of community-driven question and answer sessions with notable people. The first notable person to whom they pose questions is creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson.
Sir Ken Robinson is the author of one of my favorite books, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. I find Mr. Robinson quite inspiring and I hope you do too.
by Race Bannon on May 25, 2010
In Daniel H. Pink’s book, Drive, one of the main points he emphasizes is that true motivation comes from an individual feeling they have three elements present during their efforts:
- Autonomy – the ability to control their destiny to the greatest extent possible.
- Mastery – the opportunity to truly master one or more domains of knowledge or skill.
- Purpose – a meaningful reason behind their efforts.
I agree with Pink’s assertions and realized while I was reading his book that self education fits nicely into his motivation paradigm.
No form of learning gives you more autonomy than self education. Whether you call it informal learning, self-directed learning, project-based learning, or some other flavor of self education, the level of autonomy these approaches offer is significant. Formal education often takes autonomy out of the educational equation.
Self education fosters mastery. Without the constraints of a predetermined curriculum agenda, we can learn as much about a topic as we wish. Going deeply into a particular area of study is one of the luxuries self education offers. Formal education curriculum tends to want to move you along at a certain pace and in a certain order. If you want to go off on a tangent and study something in more depth, you’ll be left behind and you’ll be judged as not keeping up.
Education efforts we undertake on our own typically have an identified purpose in our lives, even if that purpose is simple curiosity. Self educators tend not to waste time on subjects that have little relevance to their lives. So a sense of purpose tends to encourage our learning in ways that a rigid set of curriculum guidelines or degree requirements often do not.
True motivation is energizing. Getting a good grade or getting an annual bonus at work might appear to be good motivational tools, but research doesn’t support this contention. Real motivation requires that the elements of autonomy, mastery and purpose be present and self education provides these three things in abundance.
by Race Bannon on May 14, 2010
Yesterday I overheard someone at my local coffee shop talking about his education. He began to rattle off the schools he attended and the degree and certifications he holds. Never did he actually mention what he knew, what skills he possessed or what experience he had with any particular domain of knowledge. No, he made the mistake so many people make. He equated education with diplomas, degrees and certifications. They are not the same.
Education is whatever knowledge, experience and skill you possess regardless of how they were attained. Hopefully an education ultimately brings about some semblance of wisdom as well. It has no inherent connection to how you learned what you know. Your education might result from formal schooling, reading, your profession, volunteer work, personal projects, casual interactions, media or discussions with others. Gaining an education happens constantly throughout our lives if we open up to the educational possibilities. There are as many approaches to learning as there are people.
It’s risky to equate education with schooling. Education is the goal. Formal schooling is but one of many methods by which that goal might be attained. Obviously I’m a proponent of carving out your own path to an education that’s meaningful to you. Education is what’s important, not how we get it. If we focus on the process and not the desired outcome, we become easy prey to schools and training organizations that care more about churning out graduates than they do in facilitating a quality education. That’s not a recipe for an educated society.
by Race Bannon on May 7, 2010
Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar: How Self-Education and the Pursuit of Passion Can Lead to a Lifetime of Success
By James Marcus Bach
Published by Scribner
I just finished reading this book and it was a joy. Bach employs the “buccaneer” analogy to describe his personal quest for a self-directed and personally meaningful education.
Bach never finished high school, yet rose to prominence in the software quality testing field at Apple and other technology companies. He now has a thriving consulting business in the same field. Bach considers his personal education journey and approach to be similar to the pirate-like 17th century buccaneers who preyed on Spanish ships. No, Bach isn’t condoning pirate activity, but he admired the independent nature of the buccaneers and believes everyone should adopt a similar attitude regarding their own education.
While the book is primarily a personal account of how the author approached his own self education, it is also a wealth of inspiration and insight into how anyone can create their own unique and effective approach to educating themselves.
Traditional educationalists are probably not going to like this book. Bach is no fan of today’s school system and he does not hold back in his condemnation of a system he feels lacks contemporary relevance. When so much of the current information and skills one needs to function optimally must be learned “just in time,” Bach contends a more independent and self-directed approach to learning can be far more effective than schooling. I tend to concur with Bach on this and am grateful to see another voice added to the call for a shift in our thinking about education.
by Race Bannon on April 29, 2010
As I’ve previously mentioned in my Run, Do Not Walk, to TED post, TED is my favorite website. You’ll never feel you’ve wasted a moment of your time by viewing any of the short speeches the site hosts by a wide range of fascinating and interesting people. Incredibly educational.
The nice folks running TED have been kind enough to group together their many presentations by theme, and one of their themes is How We Learn. This theme fits nicely with the focus of this blog and I encourage you to visit the TED How We Learn theme page and view anything that strikes you as interesting. I’ve only watched a few of the videos and I’m already blown away by the brilliance of these people. Enjoy and learn.
by Race Bannon on April 26, 2010
Informal learning is a concept that is quickly taking hold in companies and organizations everywhere. No surprise. Such learning often produces as good or better results than more formal training programs and at a fraction of the cost. But as with all trends adopted within large organizations, there can be a tendency to over-complicate matters.
Wikipedia defines informal learning as “semi-structured learning that occurs in a variety of places such as learning at home, work, and through daily interactions and shared relationships…” and that’s a pretty good general definition. In corporate settings, informal learning is typically considered any learning that takes place independently from formalized or instructor-led training using various forms of self-study such as books, performance support materials, coaching, communities of practice, and expert directories.
My concern is that some companies and organizations will create such a complex process around informal learning, or build in such tight management oversight, that it will squeeze the “informal” out of the learning experience. I’ve seen it happen before.
As Daniel Gilbert points out in his book, Drive, people are motivated by having as much autonomy as possible. True motivation, including the motivation to learn, comes not typically from dangling carrots of bonuses or promotions in front of employees or other similar external incentives, but instead from creating an atmosphere of self-direction and autonomy that allows the employee to discover, play, explore and otherwise pursue their work, including their self education, in ways that work best for them.
Yes, companies can and should set appropriate learning objectives for employees when discussing informal learning projects. The learning project undertaken on company time should result in knowledge and skill that benefits the company (as well as the employee). However, micromanaging the learning project should be avoided.
For most informal learning projects agreed upon between manager and employee, I recommend a simple and direct process. First, a meeting should take place to discuss the learning project. Once the meeting is held, a simple (not long or complex) document can be created, perhaps using the company’s informal learning project template, that clearly states the objectives, potential learning resources and how the employee will use the learning in their job. After some time has elapsed, a check-in meeting can be held at which time the manager can offer any additional resources or otherwise keep the employee’s learning focused. Finally, a last meeting could be held, or perhaps a simple summation of the learning in document form could be created, to close the loop on the learning. If the company uses some type of learning tracking software, such as a learning management system, the learning should be entered into that system.
The maxim of “keep it simple” applies here. Don’t complicate the process. The simpler it is, the more likely people will participate and, even more importantly, enjoy the process.
by Race Bannon on April 18, 2010
This post thread started with my book review of Proving Your Qualified.
In previous posts I discussed some of the elements of an education portfolio – résumés, letters of recommendation, testimonials, and work samples. Although what elements go into the making of a good education portfolio varies by individual and job target, a good one might consist of a résumé, letters of recommendation, testimonials, work samples and documentation of learning. I’ll discuss documentation of learning in this post.
Documentation of Learning
Your résumé, letters of recommendation, testimonials and work samples will demonstrate your education well. But there are some educational accomplishments that these may not adequately highlight. That’s when you turn to the documentation of your learning.
So how do you document your learning? There’s no one single way, but it’s generally a simple document that contains information, often categorized by competencies, subject or topic area, where you list everything you’ve done to learn what you’ve learned.
A good way to start the document is to list headings for pertinent competencies. Competencies are general descriptions of the abilities needed to perform a role in a company or organization. For example, a valued competency in most job functions is Communication. Another might be Leadership.
Then list headings for knowledge areas. For example, you might list knowledge areas such as Software, Advertising, Business Analysis, Customer Service, Sales, Writing and Editing, just to name a few.
If you’re having a hard time coming up with competency or knowledge area headings, type “competencies” or “knowledge areas” into your favorite search engine and poke around for lots of good ideas. Select and tailor them to fit your specific industry or target job market.
Below each heading write a short, concise paragraph explaining what abilities, knowledge, skills and experience you have in that competency or knowledge area. Below that, perhaps in bullet point format, list everything you’ve learned or done that might support pertinent education or accomplishments. These might include:
- Names, dates, locations and brief summaries of workshops, speeches or trainings you’ve attended.
- Any certifications you hold.
- Titles, authors and brief summaries of books you’ve read.
- Mentor situations where you’ve worked alongside or shadowed a mentor along with a summary of what you learned or accomplished.
- Online classes or tutorials you’ve completed.
- Classroom courses you’ve completed.
- Anything you’ve independently researched, written or published.
- Names, dates, locations and brief summaries of conferences you’ve attended.
- Awards or acknowledgments you’ve received.
- Successful projects you’ve completed.
When possible use real-life examples of something you’ve accomplished that utilized the relevant competency, knowledge or skill.
Get creative. While I’m a believer in brevity, sometimes quantity is impressive and in this case it might be. Dazzle them with how much you know and can do.
by Race Bannon on April 1, 2010
I’m not sure why I haven’t stumbled upon this post before, but take a look Emily Thomas’ great blog post titled 100 Best Self-Education Sites for Switching Careers. What a tremendous self education resource. And she kindly added this blog to her list (thank you, Emily).
I’m adding it my Resources page right now!
by Race Bannon on March 30, 2010
One of the challenges self educators, indeed all learners, have is capturing their learning in some manner so that they can easily reference it later. Let’s face it, we can’t possibly remember everything we learn, at least not in detail. You might want to remember key ideas you’ve learned, refer to a quote you recall but can’t quite remember exactly, or find the title of a book you read years ago. There might be many reasons why you’d like to capture such information, and more, about what you learn.
The trick is to keep things simple. Yes, there are various notes and database applications that some people use to capture such information, but I find them overkill for what’s really needed most of the time. And I try to keep the necessity of learning new software applications to a minimum. So here’s my advice.
Create a simple word processing document for each subject area you’re learning about. I call these documents Learning Notes. Feel free to break down your learning notes documents into specific topics of a larger subject area. For example, let’s say the subject area is Software, but the specific software you’re currently learning about is the open source office productivity suite, Open Office (the office suite I use). In this case, it would probably make sense to create a separate learning notes document for Open Office rather than what would eventually end up being a very large document for all of the software you might learn over time. You’re better off with many smaller documents than a few large ones. It will make finding the information in the future much easier.
Once you create the learning notes document, don’t be too concerned with how you format the contents. Do whatever works for you. Keep it simple. The simpler you keep it, the more likely you’ll use it. My learning notes documents are comprised of plain text with a few bolded headings to organize things. That’s it. Name your documents clearly for easy finding later. For example, I named my Open Office learning notes document Open Office Learning Notes. That’s pretty clear and easy to find later.
So what might such a learning notes document contain? Here are some ideas. Remember, these are just examples. Feel free to create your own learning notes document sections.
- Key Ideas and Concepts. Encapsulate the major ideas and concepts you’ve learned into a few bullet points. We tend to hang our learning on the big ideas that form the foundation of most subject areas. Identify them and capture them.
- Notes. Write down any notes you want to capture. Don’t worry about organizing them too carefully. The important thing is to note anything you find of interest, new insights, interesting information, or whatever strikes you as important.
- Reading. List books, articles, blogs, websites and other material you’ve read. You might want to reference these again in the future. So also include where you can find them again (your personal bookshelf library, your digital library, your local library, and so on).
- References. Include the URLs of websites you might want to reference in the future or other reference material you have (and where it’s stored or located).
- Images. If you want to capture images you see online, get yourself a free, open source screen capture utility (or use your operating system’s capture capabilities if it has them) and paste the image into your learning notes document along with a brief annotation about the image. Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words!
Store your learning notes documents in a logical folder structure on your computer. I have a high-level folder called Library in which I store all of my digital ebooks, articles and other digital documents. Under the Library folder I have a Learning Notes folder and within that folder I have sub-folders by subject area. Use your own structure. Just make sure it’s easy to understand and access when you see it.
There is great power in these learning notes documents. You’ll be surprised at how often, over time, you’ll refer back to them, or add to or revise them, as you continue down your path of self education.
Wisdom, Your Name is Sir Ken Robinson
by Race Bannon on June 25, 2010
As readers of this blog know, TED is my favorite website. I’ve sent my readers to that site to view many of the short talks given by some of the world’s most brilliant and inspiring people.
Well, now I’m sending you to one of their blog postings. It’s the first in TED’s series of community-driven question and answer sessions with notable people. The first notable person to whom they pose questions is creativity expert Sir Ken Robinson.
Sir Ken Robinson is the author of one of my favorite books, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. I find Mr. Robinson quite inspiring and I hope you do too.
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