The rise of self-directed learning and how to increase our value

“Generally speaking, investing in yourself is the best thing you can do. Anything that improves your own talents; nobody can tax it or take it away from you. They can run up huge deficits and the dollar can become worth far less. You can have all kinds of things happen. But if … you’ve maximized your talent, you’ve got a tremendous asset that can return ten-fold. ‘Invest in yourself’ might mean taking a continuing education class or simply spending your time improving your skills. Become a lifelong learner and your life will be wealthier, perhaps in more ways than one.” Warren Buffet

The 2014 State of the Industry* report by the Association for Talent Development's (ATD) revealed that organizations spent, on average, $1,208 per employee on training in 2013. In terms of time invested in learning, the report indicates that the total number of learning hours used per employee in 2013 was 31.5 hours, equivalent to 4 working days.

If you think about it, $1,208 is not bad. However, even if organizations hire the best people ever, I highly doubt that they will remain engaged, motivated and updated solely based on the learning and training driven and/or provided by the company.

The fact of the matter is that learning and improving your abilities, skills and behaviors is not an option but a must. Furthermore, such learning should not rely exclusively on the limited budget that organizations have available. Warren Buffet argued that the most powerful and motivating reason to learn is to see it as an investment in increasing your value.

Increasing your value by learning is not always a priority of the organization for which you work. Organizations are, however, interested in you having the best skills to fulfill your responsibilities for the specific job for which they hired you. However, your own investment in yourself increases your value, not only for that specific company, but in the broader marketplace. How to do it? The answer is self-directed learning.

Increasing your value by the means of self-directed learning implies making two essential decisions: what to learn, and how to learn it. Usually, organization-driven learning focuses on what they are interested from you and, therefore, they tailored that training for their needs. It is true that that will increase your value if you take advantage of it. However, it is you who ultimately knows your purpose, passions and potential and therefore can better design a self-directed learning plan that truly maximizes your value and potential.

These are 10 Ideas for Self-Directed Learning and Increasing One’s Value (read below the explanation of each of the ideas):

1. Have a vision of your professional career

“People learn significantly only those things that they perceive as being involved in the maintenance or enhancement of the structure of self” Carl Rogers

When you have a clear vision of your professional career, it is easier for you to identify/pinpoint the type of information that you want to learn. 

2. Dedicate at least 20% of your time to learn things that are seemingly not related to your job

Our conscious power to connect seemingly disconnected ideas is the source of innovation and creativity. Google realizes this and allows its people to dedicate at least 20% of their time to projects that are not directly related to their actual job and role. Sweet surprise: many of the Google’s greatest innovations have come from that 20% of time.

3. Be systematic with the information you read

To be frank, this means: don’t read crap. Yes, I said before that it is important for you to increase your wisdom by learning from different areas and not only by building skills for the particular field in which you work. However, I have seen so many people wasting valuable time reading or watching things that, not only do not contribute to the improvement of their selves, but could potentially be a roadblock in their careers

4. Have a selection of information in your yearly list

What have you read or watched this year that you know contributes to your development and increase your knowledge, wisdom and value?

Make a list of those books, shows or documentaries that you want to watch. In doing so, think and decide how each of them may contribute to improving your inner-self and increase your value.

5. Make your brain bigger (sounds crazy, right?)

Self-directed learning is in itself a way to make your brain bigger and increase the complexity of your thinking process. By complexity I mean the possibility of connecting thoughts, experiences, ideas, questions, and being able to create more beautiful things from there.

6. Focus

Focus is the most important resource you have in the process of your self-directed learning. Focus can be achieved in many different ways. However, the underlying principle is that you should find enjoyment in the activities associated with your self-directed learning.

7. Have a selection of questions to drive your enthusiasm

The very foundation for self-directed learning is questioning. When you start questioning your own assumptions and your knowledge you arrive at the fortunate and exciting conclusion that there is plenty to learn. When you accept your own existing limitations and the possibility and potentiality of stepping up in the way you face the complex challenges of your reality, you are assuming an active role in your learning process.

8. Write constantly

One of the things that has truly helped me in my learning process is writing. English is my second language, which makes it even more interesting. Writing posts, articles and papers about various topics in which you are interested not only allows you to share your ideas and questions with a broader audience, it also creates stimuli for you to read more and do more research to support your opinions and theories with facts.

9. Not all training requires money

You don’t need to have a lot of money to learn and increase your value. It is true that a certification, a master’s degree, etc. cost a lot of money and sometimes they are helpful in pushing you up the career ladder. Nevertheless, it is even truer that real life experiences and your capacity to solve complex problems is what matters. Beyond books, you also have millions of documentaries, Ted Talks, courses in Coursera and YouTube. These days, money is not an excuse to not learn what you want to learn.

10. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer

Ok, ok, maybe not your enemies (I hope you don’t have any!), but the people who can see in you the areas in which you have room for improvement (AKA a “weakness”). I've noticed one major flaw in the feedback processes of many organizations: individuals tend to seek feedback from those who will be praise them, rather than those who will want to provide constructive feedback. In doing so, 90% of the most important value of feedback would be lost, which includes areas for improvement.

For Leaders: Create the environment for people to learn!

Leaders: Let your people expand their circle of influence to allow their process of self-directed learning. Don’t do it for them! Leadership is much more about supporting and challenging your team, creating the environment for them to create and innovate (which actually means getting out of the way to let them work, because most of the time people know how to do it and, if not, they will find out how).  You must also give them credit for their work. Don’t breath down their neck, but rather let them find fulfillment and enjoyment in what they are doing. Add challenges to their lives to promote learning and help them question their assumptions. But then give them the space to learn new things and share their experience and knowledge.

Not-so-mind-boggling questions to test how you are learning and investing in yourself:

• How many books have you read the past three months? What is the list of books that you plan to read the rest of the year? What value will they add to your life?
• What do people around you think about you?
• Do you have a solid plan you could start today to become more valuable? How are you ensuring that you are acting upon your plan? Are you keeping track?
• What are you doing different today to increase your value and your learning?

Click here to read the entire article: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/p021aklx20mcakc/AACTAe0we1jlgcFOajDuEoy1a?dl=0 

About the Author: Enrique Rubio is an HR Professional at the Inter-American Development Bank. He is an Electronic Engineer and a Fulbright scholar with an Executive Master’s Degree in Public Administration from Syracuse University. Enrique researches and writes about leadership and HR and seeks to explore the overlaps of productivity and leadership in the business and non-profit world. Enrique is also a competitive ultrarunner.

Twitter: @erubio_p

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