How to Remember not to Forget

Learning new things is easy. A controversial statement at first, but it’s true. In project management, ‘quality’ refers to the fitness for purpose or degree of conformance of project outputs, and the processes by which they’re created. There you go, you learned something. Easy, wasn’t it?

(Ok, some of you will have already known that, specially if you’ve been on a project management apprenticeship I’ve delivered, or have studied towards a project management Qualification yourself. If you've ever read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, you're going to be scoffing at how easy project managers think 'Quality' is to define).

What the hell is Quality? What is it?

(Pirsig, R., 2004. Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance. p.171.)

But if learning new things is as easy as that, why aren’t we all at the very peak of our careers? (Ok, maybe some of you are, but I’m certainly not). Well that’s because whilst learning new things is easy, maintaining and retaining what you’ve learned isn’t. This is actually one of the key challenges that I’ve faced in recent apprenticeship roles; supporting people to maintain and retain the knowledge and skills they build through apprenticeship programmes, rather than just evidence it in a portfolio and move on.

I often wish there was a quick fix for that – a one-size fits all solution to make sure that the endless reams of knowledge and wisdom I impart on my learners on a routine basis (as depicted in the adjacent image, which definitely represents my typical workshop delivery, not Pericles's funeral oration at the end of the first year of the Peloponnesian war) gets retained, and can be drawn upon as learners faced their End Point Assessment process, to ensure they get the distinction they deserve. But there’s really not. Or not as far as I’m aware, anyway (please drop me a message if you find this magic solution!)

There are, however, a few ways that you can improve your chances of building, maintaining and retaining knowledge and skills, and that’s what I’m going to outline now. The first thing to highlight before doing so, is that not all of these tactics will work for everyone. In apprenticeship programmes I’ve often talked about different learning styles, and these will obviously shape how you develop and retain your skills, as well as what you’re trying to learn and your own personality. But one, or a combination of the below, should help you, at least a little.

The most important of all of the points I’m going to make is this one – if you want to build and retain something, you need to make sure you’re in the right place before learning it. Whilst a degree of learning by osmosis can occur (hence I can drive to my partner’s parents without guidance now, despite never consciously learning the route), the knowledge and skills learnt through osmosis are never as well refined or retained as those you’ve consciously tried to learn. And don’t forget, in this context, I am actually doing it, rather than listening to the directions whilst I sleep and hoping I’ll magically learn the way. So if you want to build your knowledge and skills, put a little effort into doing so; minimise distractions (sign out of Teams and put your out-of-office on), find a quiet moment (music might help, but probably not anything too heavy or complex), and be well rested (easier said than done at times, as the parent of a 10 month old, I have certainly learned that this year).

I mentioned learning styles briefly already, and whilst there’s plenty of conflicting theories and counter-arguments against common models, it’s pretty hard to argue with the concept that some people learn most effectively in different ways to others. Spend some time researching your VARK preference and Honey & Mumford learning preferences. Take what you read with a pinch of salt, but reflect on the methodologies and consider what tends to work best for you. Some people will retain knowledge better by hearing someone talk about it, but retain skills better by giving it a go. So recognise how you learn best, and find coping mechanisms for your weaker areas. I’m not as good at retaining knowledge I hear, or instructions spoken to me, but I know this, so I’m a fervent note-taker as a result of this.

One of the best ways to really learn, and retain that knowledge long term, is to throw the crutches aside and try it, rather than rely on reading and re-reading the instructions. You might make mistakes, but that’s how you learn. To go back to my driving example above – I never made a concerted effort to learn the directions to her parents myself, but one day I forgot to put sat-nav on, and figured I’d give it a go anyway. We made one or two slight detours, but we got there in a reasonably timely manner in the end. Those two junctions are now the ones I’m most confident of in the journey. Making mistakes and paying attention to where you went wrong helps to cement that understanding in your mind (hence, where possible I like to use recap quizzes in my own delivery to cover previous learning).

I don’t know why I’ve left this so long in the post to mention, because after being ready to learn, this is probably the second most important step to maintaining and retaining skills. You may have learned the project management definition at the start of the post, but if you don’t use it in the next couple of weeks, when someone messages you at 4:30 on a Friday afternoon to ask you what it means, you won’t have a clue. (Don’t worry, I probably won’t be doing that). Putting your learning into action helps reinforce the new skills or understanding, but also builds your confidence, so that you can use it more and more in the future.

During last year’s National Apprenticeship Week at One Housing I shared a snippet of my apprenticeship delivery through a Reflective Practice presentation, and one of the key benefits of reflective practice is it helps reinforce your learning and development, as well as identify new opportunities for future activities. In apprenticeship programmes, learners have to reflect on all of the Off-the-Job learning they undertake through the course of the programme, and the management standards are even assessed on their ability to reflect on what they’ve learned, how they’ve applied it and the impact of their development. So after you’ve taken part in a learning activity, reflect about it – this can be through writing, revisiting your notes, or even talking about it with a colleague. Sharing is a great way to reflect, retain and reuse your skills to support the wider team.

So there you have it – a (not so) quick overview of key considerations to make when planning to build, maintain and retain your skills.