Over many, many years of working with technology, I’ve learned so many important truths. I’ve learned that you never know everything. I’ve learned that technology is increasing at a break-neck speed and changes faster than we have ever seen. The top truth I’ve learned is that you are never done learning.
In the educational and training fields, we know that we are all life-long learners. However, that does not always get translated into the corporate sector when we are on the job. Some people are perfectly content to “rest on their laurels”, as the saying goes. Those are the same people who are surprised when they are not chosen for advancement or leadership positions.
When I do training sessions, especially one-on-one sessions, I am surprised when we have a little bit of time left and the person I’m training does not want to use that time to their full advantage. They say that they are happy with what they have learned and have no more questions. At that point, I usually bring up some other topics related to their current position that we might be able to cover in the time we have left. Some people realize the opportunity to learn something new, while some say they are happy with what they have learned.
If you are not taking every opportunity to learn what you can, even if it does not directly relate to your job, then you are missing out! I cannot even begin to list all of the different technology skills that I picked up along the way that I had no idea when I’d use them. I was grateful that I learned those skills/concepts and filed the information away for future use. Now, I look back and think of the jobs and leadership opportunities that I would have missed out on, had I not learned those different skills that seemed extra or unuseful at the time.
I hope that you are taking full advantage of every training opportunity your corporation provides. If they do not provide training, give us a call and set up a one-on-one session. Or, grab a friend/co-worker or two and set up a customized session for all of you to attend. Gather your list of questions and pick a trainer’s brain for 3 hours. You’ll be amazed at what you learn!
I was reading an article recently by Jeanne Meister discussing trends in corporate learning. She tracks trends in learning at different private and public corporations and institutions. I am always trying to find out more information about learning and trends in the corporate sector, which is how I ran across her article.