Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2020 - 51

MICHELLE EGGLESTON SCHWARTZ

LEARNER
MINDSET

IT'S TIME TO PRIORITIZE LEARNING

It's a new year- with proclamations
of "New year, new me" and a long list
of positive personal and professional
resolutions. However, the reality is
that most resolutions are abandoned
by February, largely because the
goals require too drastic of a change.
To ensure success, the trick is to
start small.
For example, if you vow to become a
morning person and want to start your
day earlier, the drastic solution would be
to set your alarm for the desired hour on
January 1st. This requires an immediate
change to your day-to-day routine - a
complete shock to your system. Easing
into the change is a more sustainable
solution, with incremental shifts week
by week until you are waking up at the
desired hour.
In the business world, prioritizing
learning is a challenge for many
professionals - including myself. In
fact, a LinkedIn Learning report cites
it as a top challenge for learning and
development (L&D). Each week, I
aspire to make time for learning, but
week after week I fail to carve out any
time for my personal development.
The good intentions I start the week
with quickly diminish as new tasks,
meetings, emails and phone calls
consume my time.
So, what's it going to take for employees
to make time for learning? How can
employees adapt to changing work
conditions while prioritizing their own
development? As with any goal, we
must start small.

Be protective of your time.
In a perfect world, you would choose
which projects to work on and which
meetings to attend. The reality is that
most employees do not have that degree
of control over their workload. They are
assigned work tasks as they come up -
adding new bullet points to their already
long to-do lists. To gain more control
over your schedule, employees should
block time on their calendars to devote to
professional development. By proactively
setting aside 30 minutes or an hour,
employees can ensure they have the time
- assuming it doesn't get bumped for an
"urgent" meeting or project - for learning.
Plan your development goals.
Employees should work alongside their
managers to set learning goals and
identify the competencies and skills
that need to be developed. Managers
should tie those skills to the business
to help employees see how those
skills apply to their roles and help the
organization. What success looks like
needs to be clear to both the employee
and the manager. Regular check-ins on
learning goals should be scheduled and
properly assessed.
Celebrate small learning moments.
Learning opportunities do not need
to be big undertakings like a multi-day
conference. Learning can be done on a
smaller scale by reading popular articles or
research reports and attending a one-hour

webinar or virtual roundtable discussion.
Learning occurs throughout the workday
with peer-to-peer interactions. People
can learn new things in the kitchen while
waiting for their coffee to brew. Learning
doesn't need to be formal for it to count.
At the end of every day, think about those
small interactions and take stock of the
insights you've gained.

LEARNING DOESN'T
NEED TO BE FORMAL
FOR IT TO COUNT.
Make learning count.
Enabling employees to make time for
learning is a key initiative for many
managers and organizations this
year. With limited time to devote to
learning, L&D must champion personal
development on behalf of all employees.
They must become more creative in
order to help employees find the time
and resources to solve problems in the
context of their workflow.
In today's modern workplace, it's
challenging enough to pause your focus
long enough to answer the phone let
alone focus on learning something new.
Through active involvement from L&D
and managers, employees can take
the time they need - and deserve - to
develop their skill sets and move their
careers forward.
Michelle Eggleston Schwartz is the
editorial director for Training Industry,
Inc. Email Michelle.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE -AGILE LEARNING 2020 I WWW. T RAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

| 51

https://www.trainingindustry.com/magazine

Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2020