Life long Learning

Learning is a process which starts the time when you are born till you die, every time we keep learning and we have no choice, but to do that. Imagine when you are a child you started learning to crawl, then to stand and then to walk and run. All this did not happen automatically, you did this because you wanted to learn and your family members encouraged you to learn. Learning is a continuous process of life, pinnacle of the attitude and vision of the universe. The day we stop learning new things professionally / personally, literally, it would be the end of life. The fact is that it is only when you die the learning stops. Typically the learning in life is like a bell curve, we start learning small things when we are child and the learning peeks when you are an adult and slowly it gets tapered down when you get old.

What makes human being different from the animals is the ability of us to keep learning and ability of thinking. In fact there is only one difference between human being and animals, human being as the ability to keep learning and animals do not. Being a human, we have a great privilege to think. Thinking is a great thing we all can do. To quote the ex-President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, he said “Learning gives creativity, creativity leads to thinking, thinking provides knowledge, and knowledge makes you great”. This is all a process, if we stop learning and thinking, then there is no creativity and knowledge in our life. Therefore, every human being should struggle beyond anything in order to learn new things. It is not necessary that we should visit Universities and B Schools to learn and it is not that we should only master in few academics / technical courses. Your life is the best teacher. Nobody can replace such a great teacher. Every life is a great example; we can surely learn many things. However, it is our attitude which makes us different from rest of the people.

In fact I like the quote of William Golding (British novelist who wrote the critically acclaimed classic Lord of the Flies, and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1983) “The journey of life is like a man riding a bicycle. We know he got on the bicycle and started to move. We know that at some point he will stop and get off. We know that if he stops moving and does not get off he will fall off”. Learning in life is also like that if you don’t keep learning and updating yourself, you will fail in your life.

The person who uses calculator for simple calculations tends to loose the ability to calculate the number and may need the calculator always. It is the same way when we tend to depend upon technology too much, will lose the ability to learn. Knowing very well that the technology will always complement / helpful in doing our work, our learning, sometimes, I do feel they are killing the thinking / learning ability of the individuals. All most all of us depend too much on “google” for small things. Essence of discussing this is that the knowledge will not come up with money or the above mentioned items; it should only come up within us. All your inner abilities and intuitions would drive you towards learning spree. We should always remember that continuous learning not just attaining a Certification or completing an academic course. It is a continuous process comes with us till the end of our life. Certifications / Degrees / Admissions are part of the process; they should only motivate us in our further learning.

Continuous learning is a process which is surrounded by your attitude to learn and share the knowledge, academic curiosity, reading & practicing, creativity, thinking ability and extending your knowledge levels. All these are very important in making you perfect personality. Many people once they passed any certification or attained a degree, they would feel they have learned the subject, however, in reality, it is not. It is only a small part in the lifelong learning process. Learning need not necessarily be limited to technical knowledge, but, it could be anything like car driving, showing humility towards the environment / others, learning a new skill or even it could be correlated to the relations in life. From every failure, we should be able to learn a new thing. Even from tennis ball we can learn the best things of life, it clearly shows, how to bounce back in life, candle tells us how to give light to the people even its life is diminishing. Therefore, please let us not limit learning just to a subject, if we are able to see it with a wide range of thinking, then the whole world looks very small.

There are many ways to keep learning and moving forward. Let me try to list down some ways of continuous learning techniques:

1.      On the Job Experience

The best learning is on the job experience. This is the most effective way of learning and the knowledge will be carried with you for a very long term. For example, recently we had a technical assessment project for specific type of aircraft mechanics, as a team we learned many things and the project gave enormous amount of experience and the exposure. The advantage of this kind of learning is that it is the most effective learning process and what you have learned is retained for a longer period of time. No other experience / training would be able to supersede this effectiveness. So whenever you get an opportunity to work on such project based assignments just grab the opportunity and try to do your best and seek knowledge, keep notes and contribute. The more you involve in the project the more it will help you gain invaluable knowledge. But what we forget while doing any project is that we don’t take notes and keep the record of the learning from the project, including getting feedback from the project leader and the other team members. These notes would help you to retain the knowledge foe a longer period of time.

2.     Formal Training

Formal training is training that follows some designed form. Formal training tends to include preferred results, learning activities intended to achieve the results and some form of evaluation. Formal training teaches practical skills that are necessary for understanding preliminary ideas, concepts and tools associated with a job. It generates a framework upon which real world experiences are given deeper meaning and specialized context. Formal training is usually imparted in a group. The problem with the formal training is the recipient of the training, gets the information or knowledge only if he is open to the information and intends to upgrade self and no formal training can be beneficial only by attending the training.

Through the formal training a person can get practical skills that are necessary for understanding preliminary ideas, concepts and tools associated with a job. It generates a framework upon which real world experiences are given deeper meaning and specialized context. Usually such training are offered in a group setting or through digital portals, making them appealing to the participants.

3. Reading

There is an old saying, "The pen is mightier than the sword." Ideas written down have changed the destiny of men and nations for better or worse. Reading ensures that the flow of ideas and it is these ideas that build and destroy us. Reading is fundamental to self-development. For being successful, it is essential that an induvial does have a good reading and writing skills. Reading is important because it develops the mind. The mind is a muscle. It needs exercise. Understanding the written word is one way the mind grows in its ability. Reading does not mean only reading books, it includes different sources of reading like magazines and even the Internet are great learning tools which require the ability to read and understand what is read.

There will not be any doubt in our mind that reading develops the imagination. Imagination brings in creativity and it is creativity that brings change to self and to the society. There is no doubt that reading brings in the confidence in a person, which is essential for a persona’s success. Speaking and writing are the building blocks of life. What a person becomes in the future will depend on the ideas you develop and for developing ideas it is essential to increase your knowledge.

4. Sharing knowledge and mentoring People

Andrew Carnegie the American industrialist who led the expansion of the steel industry in the late 19th century in the US, once said that “You take away all my Factories, You take away all my Money, You take away all that I possess, But leave me my Men and in next 5 years they can get me everything I had or even more.” That is the importance of the human talent and capability, but this talent and capability is not inborn, but developed. Sharing knowledge is one of the best ways of learning, the more we share our knowledge, and it would come back to us with double knowledge. Therefore, we should never hesitate yourself to share our knowledge. The people who are reluctant to share the knowledge are those people who are insecure. The best way to retain the learning for a longer period of time is by sharing the knowledge with others. If you read something you could tend to forget in 10 days, if you see something, you could tend to forget in 10 months, but, if you explain something, surely, you would remember it for a decade.

 “A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle” - Father James Keller (was a Roman Catholic priest, he founded The Christophers, a Christian inspirational group which broadcast a weekly inspirational television show.

Mentoring is another offshoot of sharing of knowledge. According to *Eric Parsloe "Mentoring is to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximize their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be."

Mentoring is a powerful personal development and self-learning tool. It is an effective way of sharing your knowledge and helping younger generation to progress in their careers and professional life. A mentor is a guide who can help the mentee to find the right direction and who can share with them his knowledge. Mentoring is a great opportunity to share your knowledge. The mentoring will not only develops the younger generation, but also give you a chance to refresh your own knowledge and skills. When people start believing your abilities, then it gives you an additional boost to your inner abilities, this is the great starting point for a new journey of learning.

* Eric Parsloe is the author of several books and distance-learning packages. He was Director of The Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring.

5. Attending Seminars, Conferences and Exhibitions

Attending an industry conference or seminar is one of the best things you can do to develop your knowledge and for learning, but many people ignore this valuable learning opportunity. These conferences are designed to give you a plethora of usable content on a variety of relevant subjects, and will be sure to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes that are occurring within the industry—which we all know happens on almost a daily basis now-a-days. Conferences offer the opportunity for you to be introduced to several industry experts in a short amount of time—typically over a 2-3 day period—and most importantly allow you to network with others who work in your field. An industry expert who’s a good seminar speaker—which most tends to be—will provide you with a magnitude of usable content that will be beneficial to your work and industry insight almost immediately.

Many of you probably avoid these conferences and seminars, because you don’t want to be “sold” something with an overly extended sales pitch that leaves you yearning for the exit door. It is inevitable that certain speakers—but certainly not all—will try to promote their latest and greatest products and services, but these products and services might just be what your business needs to thrive and to stay compliant with the ever changing regulations. Point is, these sales pitches will be relevant to the industry topics at hand, and the last thing you need is to miss out on a great opportunity that could help you stay ahead of the curve.

You should strongly consider attending at least 2-4 conferences or seminars each year, and be sure to research what the conferences are about and who will be there so you know if it will be of relevance to your company. And these forums are deficiently adds to your learning.

Both you and your company are benefited by attending the Seminar, Conferences and Exhibitions: For you it is a great learning opportunity. You can learn so much by reading on the thoughts of the industry experts’ their blogs, whitepapers, books etc. You can also learn a whole lot more by watching and interacting with those experts face to face. Attending a conference where experts are speaking will allow you to ask them all the burning questions you have. You can also ask for advice and possibly make a connection you can take advantage of in the future. And you never know, attending a conference might help you on your way to becoming an expert yourself.

There is a greater chance for you to get inspired by watching someone you admire in their element and doing what they love can inspire to take action yourself. Hearing what conference speakers have done to make their business so successful can motivate you to take their lead and follow their footsteps. It could be that they inspire you to add something new to your business or change the way you do things. Whatever it is, meeting others who have been/are successful in the industry should inspire and motivate you to reach the same level of success.

From your Organization perspective, it is a great opportunity for marketing your company for the potential candidates and for potential clients. Speaking to people face to face who may need your products or services can be more effective than sending them an email or speaking over the phone. It allows you to show your passion for your business and directly answers any questions they may have. The most valuable input from these interactions is that it helps your company to keep up to date with trends in the industry. Conferences usually introduce a new trend that has recently come on the scene, placing you ahead of everyone who couldn’t be bothered to attend.

Attending a conference is an investment. You pay money for a ticket, get something in return, which, given time, will provide a great ROI for your business. The skills and knowledge you learn at a conference can be invaluable to your business and can make you invaluable to your business. Also it is an opportunity to Network. Conferences present the ideal opportunity to meet lots of likeminded people who share similar interests. The people you make connections with could also prove resourceful in the future. You could meet a new supplier, someone to interview for your business podcast, or a new friend who can offer you advice. Usually in a conference, you will have an opportunity to meet up with industry experts and it is an opportunity to meet those people that you have admired for years and may be you will have an opportunity to interact with them and seek firsthand knowledge from them.

Personally I feel that it is great opportunity to meet up with new people, it is probable that the other delegates at a conference are not that dissimilar from you. Conferences provide an environment that allows you to easily chat with new people, as they offer numerous opportunities to speak to other delegates. You already have something in common, deciding to attend the same conference, as well as an interest in the conference agenda.

6. Discussion with peers or “peer learning”

Every organization should have some sort of platform where in all employees can share their learning and interact. Knowledge is like an ocean and more deep you go, you will find that there are so much to learn and more information to look for. f you practice 10 times more than me, then you would get better skills than me, if somebody practice 10 times more than you, then that person would be a master. Therefore, we should not hesitate to discuss with peers and colleagues. There is no rule that we should know everything. Sometimes, even senior consultants would learn few things from the junior consultants. It is always a good practice to keep your discussions open with peers / colleagues; it would really help you in your learning.

Peer learning is not a single, undifferentiated learning strategy. It encompasses a broad sweep of activities. For example, researchers from the University of Ulster identified 10 different models of peer learning (Griffiths, Housten and Lazenbatt, 1995). These ranged from the traditional proctor model, in which senior employee share their knowledge to junior employees, to the more innovative at work place and form partnerships to assist each other. Other models involved discussion seminars, activity groups, or counseling, collaborative project.

The term 'peer learning', however, remains abstract. The sense in which we use it here suggests a two-way, reciprocal learning activity. Peer learning should be mutually beneficial and involve the sharing of knowledge, ideas and experience between the participants. It can be described as a way of moving beyond independent to interdependent or mutual learning. As an individual you learn a great deal by explaining your ideas to others and by participating in activities in which you can learn from your peers. It is an opportunity to develop skills in organizing and planning learning activities, working collaboratively with each other’s, giving and receiving feedback and evaluating your own learning. Peer learning is becoming an increasingly important part a learning process, and it is being used in a variety of contexts and disciplines in many organizations in one form or the other.

Formalized peer learning process in an organization can help employees to learn effectively. At a time when your organization’s resources are stretched and demands upon employees are increasing, peer learning offers employees the opportunity to learn from each other. It gives them considerably more practice than traditional teaching and learning methods in taking responsibility for their own learning and, more generally, learning how to learn. It is not a substitute for formal training, but is an important addition to the repertoire of teaching and learning activities that can enhance the knowledge of an individual / organization.

“The day you stop learning is the day you stop living. We should all pick up new skills, ideas, viewpoints, and ways of working every day.” – *Richard Branson

If you embrace Richard Branson’s philosophy about learning both form induvial and organization perspective, you can be rest assured that you as an individual and your organization are the path to development. When you value learning, employees bring fresh new ideas to the table, they’re on top of changing technologies, and they enable your organization to be agile.

Indeed, learning new skills and gaining a deeper understanding of your field is essential to professional success. Continuous learning is now just part of the job, whatever the job may be. As part of the online generation, you want to interact with instructors, colleagues, and other experts, as well as with the learning materials.

It would be a good idea for you to have a look at the Blackboard’s eBook, “How to Turn Organizational Learning into a Strategic Advantage”, (https://bbbb.blackboard.com/ebook), go through the steps mentioned.

*Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, investor and philanthropist. He founded the Virgin Group, which controls more than 400 companies