Engage in Conversations to Gain Support for Your Success Tip #1: Create the situation that your supervisor is committed to your success. Align your learning goals with the goals of your organization. Seek your supervisor or manager’s support. How will the organization be better when you have accomplished your SMART goal? What help can your supervisor offer? Invite your supervisor to review your progress with you on a scheduled basis. Tip #2: Create situations for in-the-moment feedback on your performance. Share your SMART goal with your teammates. People will support your learning when they know what you are up to. Invite them to share in your progress. Seek their feedback. How are you making progress? What needs more attention? Tip #3: Use a coach or mentor to support your learning. You will learn faster when you are practicing appropriately. Engage in coaching conversations with people already competent in the behavior you are learning. Invite them to observe you while you practice and when you perform. Encourage them to be direct and specific with their comments. Thank them for their praise and their redirection. Staying on Your Plan Be an observer of your mood while learning. Some useful moods are wonder, determination, appreciation, playfulness, and ambition. Unsupportive moods include fear, distrust, panic, confusion, and resignation. Catch yourself in both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ moods. Notice your unspoken self-talk while you are learning. Is it supportive and encouraging or destructive and resigned? Shift your mood, as you need to. Don’t hesitate to get help from a friend if you get stuck. People are more effective in their learning when they are praised for their accomplishments. Even more important is acknowledging ‘near accomplishment’. Catch yourself doing it right and praise yourself in the moment. Don’t be shy asking for others to do the same. While it may seem self-centered or silly, a round of applause and pat on the back go a long way. When you find yourself unsuccessful put your attention on the behavior you want and get on with it. Dwelling on what you haven’t been able to do will only burn your emotional energy. Levels of Learning Where you start with your learning matters in the plan you set for yourself. Are you already an accomplished performer who is learning a new technique? Or, are you a novice who is being introduced to the most basic of actions? The accomplished performer may be able to learn on his or her own where the novice would benefit from instruction. Create a learning plan that is appropriate to your going-in competence. Set an attainable goal and establish practices consistent with your level. 1. Beginner – is aware of the basic actions of the behavior, may recognize the behavior when performed by others, performs the behavior less than 50% of the time effectively, and must rely on the help of others. Action: Develop your learning plan with someone competent in the domain. Get a coach or an instructor. 2. Minimally competent – can demonstrate knowledge of the behavior, recognizes performance in himself and others, performs the behavior less that 80% of the time effectively, gets help as necessary. Action: Build proficiency in one subset of behaviors at a time. Get coaching. Page 2 of 4 |
| Preparing a Personal Learning Plan A Guide for Ongoing Career Growth By Hal Macomber |
© 2001 Good2Great™ Associates (2) Fernando Flores introduced “levels of learning” to students and clients of Business Design Associates. |
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