MODERN LEARNING
occasional documentaries on new
things.
Learning is a zest for life, the route
to stimulation and engagement with
the world and the knowledge that
you are not standing still, you are
ever improving your understanding
of yourself, your place in the world
and the contribution you can make.
Your relationships will improve,
along with your confidence and selfworth, all key ingredients of health
and happiness.
learning, perhaps through attending
group meetings/classes or with
learning materials. Consider finding
a mentor who may be prepared to
impart their specific knowledge and
skills on a chosen topic.
Finally there are courses and
structured learning programs if
this is appropriate for the topic.
Utilise professional development
opportunities at work, if you and
your manager are aligned on your
professional development needs,
will your workplace fund a course
and give you some time off to
attend or complete coursework.
In order to complete your learning
plan, consider how you are going
to learn about each topic, aiming
for a mixture of styles that can
be accommodated into your life.
Few of us have the time to attend
courses on all four focus areas,
beside which there may be little
point in having a certificate in
stamp collecting if this is not your
profession! On the other hand, if
you are interested in pottery, then
10 ModernBusiness
January 2016
you will likely have to attend a class
to be able to access the required
facilities of a wheel and kiln.
Document your learning plan, a
simple one pager should do, of your
chosen focus topics and learning
approach for each. Be prepared to
be flexible as the year goes on, you
may find the hobby you chose is not
as interesting or rewarding as you
thought, in which case you must
be prepared to change. Review and
update your plan quarterly.
Finally, whilst my learning plan
helps me to focus on a few topics
at a time, which I find much more
efficient that trying to learn about
too much at once, the learning
plan must not close your mind to
other learning that will stimulate
your mind. I like to ‘learn things I
didn’t know I wanted to know’ in
small bites, by reading the airline
magazine articles on places and
topics I’ve never considered, by
listening to magazine style radio
programs, by subscribing to
relevant web feeds and by watching
Caroline is a consultant and coach for
developing professionals, executives
and small businesses, using her years
of corpor