Self Directed Learning - the good, the bad and the ugly.

At the start of COVID-19, L&D professionals had to redefine their learning strategy. Everything they once knew to be true about learning, needed to be re-evaluated to cater for a workforce which now was working from home, wasn't interacting in the same ways, and had to change its way of working. Those moments of watercooler learning and social sharing was diminished to quick Teams calls. Self-directed learning took a prominent centre stage in learning and development strategies, as the need to have information available in the instant, accessibility of information, and quick turnarounds of learning objectives became an even bigger need in this new set of circumstances. However, we have all had those moments were we open up tools such as Udemy, LinkedIn Learning or even an internal LMS, and do not know where to start or what we should be learning.

During the last 2 years, I have frequently asked myself ; is self-directed learning really the holy grail of learning solutions? or is it deviating from what learning is truly important? Many argue that for self directed learning to be truly successful, it depends on the person's aptitude to make the right learning choices. Such learning should be seen as a cooperative process between management and the learner. Learning which is taken up out of context and without a meaning, will not aid development. Whilst organisations want to encourage the take up of self directed learning, and want to push individuals to be responsible for their own development, this does not mean that they should be taking these decisions alone.

Self directed tools are an approach which encourage personal responsibility and therefore supported by adult learning theories like Knowles' theory of Andragogy were adults are assumed to learn best when they know why they need to learn something, view learning as a problem solving exercise and view a learning concept at something which is of immediate value.

So how can L&D use self-directed learning to their advantage? First of all, L&D teams should be acting as content curators, partnering with the business in delivering content which is useful, relevant and part of the overall context. L&D is moving away from being 'Lecturers' but closer to being 'Facilitators', and coaches who help learning outcomes which are coming naturally from social settings and then pointing towards the correct material. This means that they transform learning into a mindset and not an event in their calendars.

There are still many risks in developing a strategy which is solely based around self-directed learnings, and a poor implementation might cause organisations to invest unnecessarily in tools which yield little or no results. If managers do not support learning initiatives through time allocation of learning and supporting the overarching vision as to why and how the positive impacts of learning will support skill development, then these tools will be a waste of time, money and resources. Many times in these articles, I talk about how managerial support is key to anything that L&D develops to support their organisation. This is because they are closest to the business to act as change agents within their teams, encouraging a learning culture from within.

L&D professionals need to support managers to understand their role to encourage a positive learning culture and create context around curated content by attaching it to scope or value for the organisation. Learning which is attached to company goals is much closer to the business and will provide learners clarity as to what they are achieving. Using social learning as a way of supporting self - directed content helps to create championing from within teams and groups. These forums are tapping into knowledge that is already present within the organisation which will also help to create a feeling of ownership and sharing being a powerful message towards having a positive culture of growth.

Do you use self-directed learning tools in your organisation?