A learning plan is a document that outlines your goals, strategies, resources, and timeline for acquiring new skills or knowledge. It can help you stay focused, motivated, and accountable for your own development. But how can you create a learning plan that works for you and your mentor? Here are some tips to guide you.
Before you start drafting your learning plan, you need to assess your current level of competence and identify the gaps or areas that you want to improve. You can use various tools, such as self-assessments, feedback surveys, performance reviews, or competency frameworks, to evaluate your strengths and weaknesses. You can also consult with your mentor, who can offer you valuable insights and suggestions based on their experience and expertise.
I would suggest to first look at the context to identify relevant learning needs, so that a transparent and goal-based identification of learning needs becomes possible. For example, learning needs could be derived by requiring reaching 100k+ followers in marketing, which translates in a need of learning how to do growth hacking. Only after having the transparency of "why?", the next logical step is to identify gaps.
Once you have identified your learning needs, you need to define your learning objectives. These are the specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) outcomes that you want to achieve by the end of your learning plan. Your learning objectives should be aligned with your career goals, your project requirements, and your mentor's expectations. You can use the SMART criteria to write clear and concise statements that describe what you will do, how you will do it, and when you will do it.
Next, you need to choose the learning methods that suit your learning style, preferences, and availability. There are many options to choose from, such as online courses, books, podcasts, webinars, workshops, or shadowing. You can also leverage your mentor's knowledge and skills by asking them to share their best practices, tips, tricks, or feedback. You can also engage in collaborative learning activities, such as discussions, role-plays, simulations, or peer reviews, with your mentor or other learners.
After you have chosen your learning methods, you need to plan your learning activities. These are the specific tasks or actions that you will take to achieve your learning objectives. You can use a template or a tool, such as a spreadsheet, a calendar, or a project management software, to organize your learning activities. You should include the following information for each activity: the title, the description, the duration, the frequency, the resources, and the deliverables. You should also set milestones and deadlines to track your progress and monitor your results.
It’s often challenging to brainstorm ideas for learning activities. However, with advances in AI technology, you can use generative AI to help develop a variety of engaging learning activities.
Finally, you need to review your learning plan with your mentor. This is an important step to ensure that your learning plan is realistic, feasible, and effective. You should ask your mentor for their feedback and approval on your learning plan. You should also discuss how you will communicate, collaborate, and report on your learning plan. You should agree on the roles and responsibilities, the expectations and boundaries, and the frequency and format of your meetings and check-ins.
Your learning plan is not a static document. It is a dynamic and flexible guide that you can adjust and modify as you go along. You should update your learning plan regularly to reflect your achievements, challenges, and changes. You should also seek feedback from your mentor and other sources, such as your peers, managers, or clients, to evaluate your learning outcomes and impact. You should celebrate your successes and learn from your failures. You should also identify new learning needs and opportunities to continue your development.
Here, "agile" techniquies like retrospectives could become useful too, e.g. the "5W" methods, to help identifing root causes of the outcomes. With these root causes in mind, an update of a learning plan is even more realistic and more suited for self optimization.