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 Continuous learning is good for us on many levels, not least at career level. At the same time much training and development activity is a waste of time and money. Understanding some of the thinking behind how to benefit most from learning/training should assist our uptake of new knowledge, techniques, skills or approaches while using our time and budgets wisely.
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There are those who believe that we have individual preferred learning styles. Others believe that we all go through certain stages while we learn. Most of us would agree that we're likely to forget newly-learned things unless we use them consciously for a while after first coming across them.
Unless we are committed to mastering the new skills or knowledge we're unlikely to make the necessary effort to benefit.
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There has been much debate about the validity of learning styles. Among other things the debate has been about how much of a difference they make to efficient learning and the fact that there is no overall theory, rather a number of differing ones. We believe that there is some value in having an awareness of how potentially to improve the aquisition of new learning.
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You might agree that you have a preferred method of assimilating new learning. You might prefer reading, or listening to explanations. Or by experimenting in a hands-on approach. Some like learning in a group. Some seem to learn better or more quickly by first grasping the overall concept and then filling in the detail. This compares with those who like to work their way through detailed steps until the overall concept takes shape.
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The implementation and integration of new learning into our armoury is often where the training time and money is wasted. Using newly learned approaches, skills or knowledge is uncomfortable, slow to work and tiring. Anyone who has had training on a new software pack, language or management skill will agree. Unfortunately many who have learned the basics of a foreign language before a trip find it easier to speak loudly in English when faced with real foreigners. So commitment to the development of the skills, being prepared for it being difficult and persistence are absolutely required.
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Feder & Silverman developed The index of Learning Styles in the late 1980's. They also developed a learning style questionnaire you can complete and receive a free analysis.
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Geoff Colvin writing in Talent is Overrated quotes a research paper by Anders Ericsson, a leading researcher on the subject of expertise. Ericsson says "The difference between expert performers and normal adults reflects a life-long period of deliberate effort to improve performance in a specific domain' The key words are 'deliberate effort'. Without lots of this much of what we learn is lost almost as quickly as it was picked up.
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