My career has centered on designing training programs to help frontline employees develop knowledge and skills to do a better job. There is a very simple process I use that’s based on a lot of (sleep-inducing) research about how people learn and perform best. You can design your own training programs to master new knowledge and skills. You know how you learn best, so no one is better prepared to create your own plan to learn more, get a better job, and make more money.
How to Develop Your Own Training Plan
Step 1: Determine What You Need to Learn
What are your objectives? Need to learn a specific software application to be eligible for that open position at work? Need to prepare for a certification test? Do you want to know how to create your own website to use as a job hunting portfolio? This should answer the “What” and “Why” of designing your own training program. Be sure to clarify the benefits of what this new skill or knowledge will do for you. There has to be incentive for any training program to be effective.
Step 2: Make a Plan
This answers the “How” of your own training program. Do you need to buy a book? Shadow someone else who already has that skill/knowledge? Or, perhaps you actually need to enroll in a class. Is there an affordable seminar or conference available? I often have to do what’s called a “task analysis” where we break down an expected outcome into smaller, more bite-sized pieces. The knowledge or skill you’re seeking may be very complex, so you need to design a plan to conquer it one step at a time. Also determine how much time each day or week you’ll devote to this learning plan. Decide in advance how you can create an environment free of distractions.
Step 3: Apply the Learning
We don’t master skills by simply reading about them. You’ve got to practice and apply what you’re learning. What activities will give you a chance to try out your new skill or knowledge? The more you practice a skill to create something or apply knowledge to solve a problem the more you “own” it. Your new ability becomes natural and instinctive. Always put your learning into practice, or you risk losing it just like an inactive muscle deteriorates.
Step 4: Take a Step Back
Is your learning plan – your do-it-yourself training program – taking you in the direction of your goal? If it’s not working well, or not working fast enough, you may need to adjust it real-time. If at first you don’t succeed, try something else. The book you bought may not be enough, by itself, to help you develop better management skills. The online college course (as expensive at it was) didn’t prepare you well for project management. Adapt. Regroup. Redesign how you’re going to master that knowledge and skill.
An Example of My Do-it-Yourself Training
A consultant that I do freelance content and web development for had transitioned his web sites to the open source Joomla platform. He asked if I could create articles and web site content in Joomla. As is my habit, I said, “Yes,” and worked quickly to learn how to do what I had committed to do:
Step 1: Why I Should Learn How to Use Joomla.
Not only did I have the chance to earn some great supplemental income doing the web content creation for this consultant, but the software itself intrigued me. I was motivated by the money and the chance to learn something I could use for my own purposes (this site being a prime example).
Step 2: My “Learn Joomla” Plan
My local library was a great starting point. I immediately put a few Joomla books on hold. Next, checking out the Joomla web site. The site contains great documentation, tutorials, community forums, and even a test Joomla administration site that you can practice in! Between reading the books, documentation, posts and practicing in the test administration site, I got confident really fast.
Step 3: How I applied my Knowledge of Joomla
I began creating and modifying the layout and content for this consultant’s web sites. I also installed Joomla on three of my own sites. I use it every day and actually share some of the knowledge I’ve gleaned in community forums to help others learn and troubleshoot.
Step 4: Assessing My Knowledge of Joomla
While my learning plan to use Joomla gave me basic working knowledge for the web content program, there’s still a lot I have left to learn about the backend administration of web sites using it. On top of that, Joomla developers come out with upgrades to the software regularly. I need to learn what those changes are and develop the skills to incorporate them in ongoing website administration. I plan to get in the Joomla test site once the new upgrade (1.6) is released and practice with the new interfaces and features.
This is just one example of one of my own learning plans. I never wrote it out as a detailed plan though. This process becomes instinctive and habitual to you the more you do it. Please share (in the comments section) your experiences of mastering new skills and knowledge. What did you learn? Why did you want to learn it? And, how did you learn it?
