How to Develop a Learning Mindset

I think you’ll agree that there’s never been a time when learning and development has been so important for managers and employees. Let’s be honest, the qualifications and skills that might have got you to where you are today will most likely not be good enough to get you where you need to be in five years.?

If you intend to retire from the workforce within the next few years, it is quite possible you may be able to cruise under the radar to your retirement. However, if you're reading this, there is also a high likelihood that you will need to be employed for the next 10, 20 or even 30 years. Considering the massive rate of change taking place all across the world right now, do you think most workplaces will be very different in 10 years compared to today? If you’re not quite sure, then just think about how the Covid-19 has forced most Australian employees to work from home. And, even though there will be a return to work at some point, the hybrid workplace is here to stay.?

The point I’m making is that the world is changing. In fact, it’s changing much faster than most of us can keep up with. So, what are you doing to keep up with that rate of change? How are you learning and developing new skills and increasing your knowledge to stay relevant? One way to do that is to develop a learning mindset and realise that there has never been a time right now when learning and developing yourself has been so important.?

The good news is that today you can learn pretty much anything, both formally and informally and almost anywhere. Unlike your parents and grandparents, you have access to the Internet and unlimited knowledge. However, you first have to realise that learning and development is something you need to do to stay relevant now and into the future.?

Here are five ways to develop a learning mindset and prepare yourself to always be learning, developing and growing – thus, making your skills and you relevant now and in the future.

1. Accept that learning and development are no longer discretionary.

In years gone by, most managers and employees didn’t really think too much about developing their skills. They turned up for work, did what they had to do and went home. If the company supplied them with training and development, they would attend. If not, life would go on as normal.

Today’s managers and employees must realise that in order to stay relevant, they have to keep developing their skills. It’s no longer just the company’s responsibility to train and develop you. You must take the initiative yourself - especially if you want to stay relevant and have a secure job both now and into the future.

2. Take an assessment of your professional strengths and weaknesses.

Let’s get to the chase; what are you good at? What do you do well at work? What comes naturally and easy and always has? For example, are you a master of time management? Do you come to work every day, create a to-do list, and blast through the tasks on your list without wavering?

What about emotional intelligence? Do people tell you that you are emotionally intelligent? Are you the sort of person whom everyone gets on with and likes? Do you understand what motivates and demotivates your colleagues at work? Are you well-balanced and rarely get upset, angry, or moody?

Are you a team player? Would your manager agree that one of your major strengths is that you understand how to work cohesively and cooperatively with your colleagues at work? We all have strengths, so it’s a good idea to take some time to stock-take what you do well and where you excel as a manager or employee.

Now, think about all of your deficits. Where do you struggle? What do you find hard to do? What do you put off hoping it will go away? For example, are you argumentative because you think you are always right? Do you find it hard to say sorry because you really admit you have done anything wrong? What about when it comes to business writing? Do you struggle to find the right words to say when sending an email to an important customer? Are you a pushover when you negotiate and find yourself giving in or giving up too quickly and not asking for what you really believe you should be receiving?

The point I’m making here that is we all have strengths and just as many weaknesses. To develop a culture of learning, you need to start by identifying what skills you need to work on and develop over the coming weeks, months and years - especially if these are the skills you need to use at work regularly. For example, if part of your job is to negotiate outcomes with customers on the telephone, and you know that negotiating is not one of your strengths, then that’s probably a skill you should start working on and develop further.

3. Set yourself a goal.

Most people fail to set and achieve goals not because they can’t but because they aren’t specific enough. For example, don’t just say to yourself, “I’m going to learn to be a better negotiator.” That statement is way too broad. Think about what you need to learn when it comes to negotiating. For example, you might set a goal of “understanding the negotiating framework and the different stages during the negotiation.”

Setting a specific learning goal like that, you have a much better chance of discovering the answers to what you are looking for.

4. Where can you learn the skills?

Fortunately, there is no shortage of locations and ways to learn. For example, if you want to learn to be a better negotiator, you can find out if your organisation has access to online learning courses that you can take. Or speak to your resources department and find out if they intend to run a negotiating training course in the future. Next, you could seek out your local library. I guarantee there will be at least several physical and digital books available. What about YouTube? I guarantee you will find thousands upon thousands of hours of learning and development on the topic of negotiating - and more specifically, understanding negotiation frameworks. The point is there really are no limitations to where you can learn almost anything these days.

5. Make the time to learn something new every day.

We all live in a time-starved world. Yes, I get the fact that we never have enough time. However, if you are going to stay relevant at work, then you need to take the time to develop your skills. Once at a goal of learning a specific skill for 15 minutes a day. In reality, that isn’t a lot of time, but over the course of a week and then a month, it all adds up to a substantial amount of time.

When you think about it, you already have a smartphone in your hand. What use that to download or listen to training content. We’ve already mentioned YouTube, but there are dozens of other locations you find information.

Just imagine if you were to learn how to become a better negotiator by accessing a wide range of different training resources and e-books and invested just 15 minutes a day for the next month reading, listening and learning about that topic? How much more do you think you would know compared to your colleagues at work? How much more confident do you think you would be when you need to step up and negotiate at some point in the future?

In conclusion

There’s never been a time when learning and development has been so important. The great news is that there’s never been a time when access to learning and development material has been so easy and affordable. In many cases, so much of this content is free or next to free.

If you intend to be in the workforce over the coming decades, you owe it to yourself to identify what skills you need to develop and invest a small amount of time every day to improve those skills.