Wherewithal Meets Peer Convo Begetting Fruitful Actions

With the bombardment of new technology and changing requirements, the need for continuous personal development is evident in every organization. While managers and the learning function assume most of the responsibility for creating opportunities for growth and development aligned with specific organizational needs, individuals play an even larger role in directing their career paths and upskilling for future roles.

Catherine Lombardozzi, an expert on self-directed learning (SDL), suggests that six capabilities, or what she refers to as “wherewithal,” can boost your engagement and enhance your learning experience, especially those related to SDL. This wherewithal includes:

• Motivation to learn – curiosity and intrinsic desire

• Resourcefulness – the ability to engage in networking, critical thinking, and technologies to drive your experiences forward

• Learning skills – the ability to think about how you think (metacognition) and to foster more effective learning practices

• Self-assessment – discerning your strengths, assessing your needs, and identifying opportunities

• Planning skills – the ability to sketch out and implement a strategy

• Self-efficacy – the ability to learn by adopting a growth mindset and owning your responsibility for the effort it takes

The following is a true story of how wherewithal can be catalyzed by something as simple as a conversation with a peer.

The protagonists in this story are senior talent leaders from different organizations who have volunteered to be part of a virtual lab on self-directed learning. They belong to a vendor-free consortium and have signed non-disclosure agreements, so information is not shared outside the collective group. They may or may not know each other depending on how long they have been in the consortium, how engaged they are with the various offerings of the consortium, and whether they attend the quarterly cohort meetings (a group of five to seven members of the consortium).

The story begins with a small group discussion designed for members to widen their perspectives as they share their projects and receive peer feedback. These individual projects are the vehicles to enable learning more about their learning by using Lombardozzi’s Charting Your Course framework.

Paul’s project involves developing a process for employees to advance their development aligned with the organization’s new strategy to promote engagement and retention. Specifically, he has been asked by his manager to investigate the options of individual development plans (IDP) or as some call them, developmental action plans (DAP). When the small group did not have extensive information, someone suggested he ask for a survey and told him how to make that request through a consortium manager.

He immediately requested an appointment with the content manager. When making the request, Paul was asked several questions about his project. As the two discussed various ideas, related information for resources was provided. Paul was directed to the consortium’s website and also provided with links for content on the ATD site. He also received a job aid to walk him through developing draft questions for the survey.

Paul reviewed the content assets and then submitted a draft survey. The two of them exchanged further refinements to ensure Paul would receive the information he needed for his unique project. Additionally, they added a few questions related to the larger project. Once finalized, the survey was sent to all members of the consortium.

The survey revealed two crucial insights: many organizations were interested in implementing individual development plans (IDPs) or development action plans (DAPs), and some were willing to share their successful samples. This information gave Paul a wealth of curated content and real-world examples to jumpstart his project.

Based on this simple sidebar conversation in a group meeting, a discussion with the consortium content manager, and a quick 10-question survey that took only a week, catalyzed Paul’s project. He designed an IDP modeled after the samples, shared the ideas with his executive team, and using some tweaks from the discussion, developed an internal pilot.

Because the survey showed a high interest in the topic a virtual web session was held for the larger group to learn from Paul’s experience and his pilot. Paul also shared more information related to the larger project. Based on the questions and the topic focus, Paul was then asked to share more about his organization’s larger project at the next in-person conference for the consortium. Part of the process for the conference included writing up a formal case study and videotaping a recording so everyone in the consortium could learn from Paul’s experience, not just those at the conference.

All of this started as part of a project on SDL learning. However, as soon as Paul shared his project, there was a pivot. Paul’s learning project was combined with acting on a work project; what many might call workflow learning. Designing, developing, and delivering a virtual presentation for a small external group of peers was another learning experience. Finally sharing the story as part of an expanded topic as a written case study and as a large in-person presentation at a conference continued the learning journal and the opportunity to gain new skills.

To add to the experience, Paul, exemplifying various components of the wherewithal needed for SDL, documented his experience. This side conversation with a peer catalyzed the experience and enabled him to learn more about his learning. Some of the elements of the lab that helped him included having a structured framework like “Charting Your Course,” using guiding questions from the framework, the various opportunities to share ideas and receive peer feedback, and continuous self-assessment. This documentation of his learning journey with fruitful work tasks resulted in Paul’s first external publication.

Paul’s adventure began with a simple conversation during a discussion with a few peers. Yet, because he took the suggestion to heart the story illustrates how a seemingly insignificant conversation can spark a chain of events leading to significant organizational success plus personal and professional growth.

While informal peer conversations might seem insignificant, in reality when small ideas meet up with personal wherewithal and create an aha moment, they have the potential for powerful consequences as demonstrated by Paul. Adding the opportunities realized with peer-to-peer learning including safe spaces for brainstorming, openly asking for feedback, and exploring the possibilities of innovative ideas is a boom to personal wherewithal.

For more insights, download ATD Forum's Making a Performance Impact: Leveraging Self-Directed Learning e-book.