Always Be Learning

In my first LinkedIn Newsletter I spelled out what Modern Analysis looks like, and discussed the Dos, Don'ts, and context of the follow Modern Analysis musts:

• Customer Focus
• Facilitating Decision Making & Problem Solving
• Experiment
• Collaborate Differently
• Your Actions Matter
• Own Your Craft
• Always Be Learning
• Keeper of Responsible Decisions

In the last issue, I focused on how important it is to “own your craft”.?In this issue, I want to share why continuous learning is so important to our success and well being.?Notice I am not saying your career growth, though learning can help that as well.?I want to focus on how continuous learning is pivotal to your continued happiness in your career, mental health and well being as an analysis professional.

“Always Be Learning” is a phrase and hashtag LinkedIn Learning uses often and I equate it to continuous learning.?It is something that I have cherished in my career and realized how important it has been not only to my career growth, but also my happiness and well being.??

When we make time for continuous learning, we are in an act of self-care, taking care of ourselves helps us take care of others.?When we have self-care in our lives, we are better team members, bosses, spouses, parents, and friends.?Self-care through learning helps us reflect, and challenges us to think outside our current paradigms of how we relate to others and process information.?This can have a huge impact on our outlook, mindset, and approach to various problems we are working on solving.?Most importantly to me is how much learning can reduce stress by providing additional insights, inspiring more ideas and paths to consider in everyday life at work and at home.

You Can Teach An Old Dog New Tricks!

No matter your age or experience level, learning and a “growth mindset” can set you up for less stress and better well being.

DO: Keep learning and exploring new techniques and skills related to analysis work.

DON'T: Assume the same old techniques will work today as they always have. Don't assume your manager knows all the techniques you should be using to get the results they want.

CONTEXT: As much as Business Analysis is the same, it is also changing very fast. There are new things to learn at every turn and adapt to keep up in this ever-changing world.?Continuous learning and continuous improvement are all that are constant!

Modern Analysis Values To “Always Be Learning”

• Always More To Learn: There is always more to learn and new ways to use old techniques.
• Changing Context: The context we work in is changing rapidly, which means we need to continue to push ourselves to learn new ways to approach our work
• Growth: Learning helps me grow and helps me grow others, contributing to everyone’s growth. Growth is about the whole person and well being overall. Growth can apply to our personal and work lives and integrates into both where self-care and stress merge into a dynamic stronger than we realize in the moment.
• Perspectives:?Learning helps our minds continuously see new ways to look at the problems we are trying to solve for our customers.?This helps us innovate!?Having a growth and learning mindset keeps our perspectives fresh and open to new ways of looking at things.
• Time:?Make time for learning each week, even a small 30 min chink of time can make a huge difference!?I have embodied this with my work in 2 ways:?1) LinkedIn Learning - My 10 courses on LinkedIn Learning, and my own learning on the same platform.?And 2) The creation of BA-Cube.com, a learning platform for analysis progressions that combines OnDemand and Live Interactive Events in small chunks to learn

What are some steps you can take to cultivate continuous learning in your life?

Commit to your own self-care and learning, see the difference!

• Schedule it in!?Put that 30 min of learning on your calendar, schedule it in like it IS a priority.
• Build your?learning backlog! Invest in some journaling of what types of things you would like to learn, and then build a backlog and prioritize it!?Much like you help your customers and stakeholders reach their goals, build your value driven backlog of learning and skills.
• Form a learning team - Find a few others that want to learn as part of their own self-care and build a “learning club or team”.?Keep each other accountable and share what you are learning with one another.

__________________________________________________________________________

Want to learn more skills to align modern analysis and help elevate your career?

Continuously learn modern analysis skills with me in two ways:

My Linkedin Learning Courses?- Ten courses all about business analysis, and agile analysis.

BA-Cube.com?BA-Cube is a unique membership site with business analysis learning content, Live Events, and Mentoring! Our live events and mentoring make the learning real and go deep, making your real work come to life with the new learning. 7-Day Free Trial and a special offer for 15% off membership (use code?LI-Newsletter15).?Join us in our community of hundreds of analysis professionals to elevate skills and performance.

This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you click my links and make a purchase.

Angela is passionate about helping organizations and professionals modernize analysis practices. Angela has been working to modernize analysis practices for over 20 years with a focus on innovation, collaboration, and lean analysis techniques to keep teams moving forward!