ATD Blog
Learning From Experience and From Others
Wed Feb 23 2022
We live in a world of fast-paced disruptions. For many in the talent arena, myriad changes are happening constantly. We play a variety of roles, so the change may affect what we do, such as moving from designing content to facilitating learning experiences—or maybe it is an internal transformation and your projects change. Other times, you might switch teams to become a business learning advisor for a division. And still other times, you play a similar role, but with a different organization.
To accompany change, new skills are needed to learn something new and to learn more about a current skill. With all of the options available for learning, there are numerous ways to make this happen. You might take the traditional route, such as training courses, or the non-traditional way, such as lattice career pathing or rotational assignments.
One area that needs continual focus, regardless of the role or place we work, is leadership. In the recent Bridging the Skills Gap report, 53 percent of talent development professionals reported a gap in leadership skills.
A key to developing leadership acumen is understanding who we are, how we learn, and the impact we have on others. Creating self-awareness includes understanding the forces that have shaped and informed us. One technique to gain this understanding is reflecting, writing, and recording lessons you have learned from personal experiences and from others.
You might have heard the Joan Didion quote, “I write entirely to find out what I'm thinking.” The aim of this journaling activity is to document some of the ah-ha! moments in your life and document what you have learned from them.
The trick is not just to capture a few of these but to intentionally write down 50 unique episodes. Why so many? The amount makes you push your thinking. Plus, recalling so many requires time, and most likely, these memories will surface during unrelated activities, like when you are hiking or driving.
To get started, think about some ah-ha! moments where you learned a life lesson. This can be something you experienced, read, or heard. One of my favorite stories related to this type of activity is from Bill Treasurer in his book Leaders Open Doors. His five-year-old son was excited that he had been selected by the teacher to be the leader for the day. When Bill asked him what he did in that role, the child exclaimed, “I got to open doors for people!” That’s what leaders do.
Think about what you learned from your many experiences, parents, teachers, coaches, friends, colleagues, bosses, and thought leaders. As you remember, keep a list with as much detail as time allows. Whether you’re learning from personal experiences or from others, the method for documenting is the same—but they are two unique activities. However, you can have both activities going on simultaneously.
When you have several captured, expand your notes to document the lessons you learned from these experiences and the person you learned them from, where applicable. Write in such a way that these episodes can be easily developed and detailed in future blogs, presentations, or stories.
A sample list of learning from personal experiences:
Lesson | Role and Context |
Impact of focusing on behaviors and actions, especially when providing feedback | Working as the project manager for managers, used assessment center methodology to assess young leaders. |
Importance of results but with a deep understanding of the people and processes needed for success to happen | Serving as an examiner for the Baldrige National Award program required extensive practice in both assessing a case study and writing actionable comments related to standard criteria. |
Creativity is not easy but can be learned. | During a leadership course, we were given a tea bag and challenged to write down as many ways as possible it could be used. Surprised at what I thought of and the variety of ideas from the small group. |
Perseverance through many ups and downs | Took on major projects and saw them through to completion. Coordinated and directed a Baldrige site visit. |
A sample list of what you have learned from others: |
Lesson | Person and Context |
Supporting others is not doing their work. “I will do anything I know how to do to help you do your job.” | Quote used by a learning colleague: When helping others, our role is not to do their work for them, but to support their efforts through questions, coaching, suggestions, and feedback. |
Always pilot a new project with a group of “friendlies” that are interested in making it a success. | Suggestion from a colleague during a pilot project: “Friendlies” will be more receptive to a new idea or process. They might also be more likely to ask questions that think differently about success rather than just being critical. Basically, it will be easier. |
End meetings on a light note. | Action by former boss: Staff meetings can be contentious or demanding. One boss always ended meetings with a fun trivia question. It would make everyone laugh as they exited. |
“First things first” ensures you start with the highest priority. | Stephen Covey used the example of filling the jar to emphasize the need to start with the big rocks and continue filling with smaller rocks, pebbles, and even sand. |
Once you have your list of 50, review it to determine how you might use the lessons to develop and support those you lead. How might you flesh them out with more details? How have you used these lessons to build personal capability? |
There are many benefits to this project. First and foremost, it documents many of your accomplishments—and thus your strengths. Using personal lessons learned in stories, blogs, interviews, and facilitation is a valuable way to help others learn. Second, some of your examples will document painful experiences where things did not work out as planned. Reflecting and assessing how you learned through pain can help you empathize with others. Last, it is an interesting exercise, because it reveals how much you learn from not only your daily experiences but also from others.