Christmas is about sharing – and so is Learning

At this time of year we tell each other Christmas is about sharing.
In the rest of the year we should be aware the same applies to Learning.

In many organizations we are good at updating our Learning History whenever we take some form of training, whether it’s formal or informal. One of my friends even described how she received an application for a job where the recurring mandatory ethics training was listed….

So we are good at keeping our Learning History updated, but what about all the times when we learn something by teaching others?

I’m not talking about telling your colleague that the help button is on the top right of the screen. I’m talking about those situations where we are responsible for teaching others – and often finding we learn a lot ourselves during this process.

• Have you been responsible for teaching your group how to create a new set of web pages?
• Have you been responsible for helping a new employee get up and running?
• Have you delivered an outstanding presentation and was asked to tell your group how you organized it?

…then hopefully you helped someone else, but I’m sure that YOU also learned a lot during the process.

So why not start adding this to your Learning History?

If your Learning History includes topics like “Was responsible for getting a new hire up and running in the HR department” or “Trained 12 colleagues how to create user friendly web sites”, then this says much more about your competences than a one-day course in “How to inspire your sales force” you slept through 3 years ago.

So  start telling your group – and yourself – to add relevant instances, where you were the teacher, to your personal Learning History.

This will raise the value of yourself and the people around you!

Merry Christmas
Anders Northeved