Episode 78 - The Four Best Ways to Learn at Work

<h2 data-pm-slice="0 0 []"><strong>Summary</strong></h2> <p class="">When have you learned the most at work? I bet it wasn’t sitting in a training course. In this week’s podcast we look at the four best ways to learn at work.</p> <p class="" data-rte-preserve-empty="true"> </p> <h2><strong>Transcript</strong></h2> <p class="">Hello and welcome to episode 78 of the Leadership Today podcast where each week we tackle one of today’s biggest leadership challenges. This week we look at the four best ways to learn at work.</p> <p class="">When have you learned the most at work? Was it sitting in a training course? Probably not. We usually learn best through stretching assignments where we are placed outside our comfort zone, with a supportive leader and team around us. We often try to add learning to work. However it is far better to learn through our work.</p> <p class="">Charles Jennings has long championed this approach to learning. He believes we should focus on extracting learning from the work we do, rather than adding learning on top of our work. We should therefore focus more on performance metrics rather than learning metrics. Our performance is the key measure of our learning. We have learned something new when we can demonstrate it, not when we can restate it. And that learning should flow through to our performance on the job. </p> <p class="">Charles outlines four drivers of learning. Let’s step through each of those in turn, along with some practical examples.</p> <p class="">The first driver of learning is exposure to rich and challenging experiences. As leaders we need to delegate important and challenging work to our people. From a development perspective, we can’t wait until we’re 100% confident that someone can deliver before we delegate. People learn through opportunities to be stretched. Delegation is not about short-term efficiency. Whenever you delegate, there is always going to be a short-term drop in performance. The key is to provide support and encouragement to help people push through the dis