Ask-Listen-Talk of On-the-Job Learning

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Learning and development was the focus is my last job.  But while many in the corporate milieu see it mainly as training courses, I worked at encouraging leaders and staff alike to broaden their horizons.  Certainly there were conferences, too, along with books and videos.  We even offered e-learning courses for everyone.  But let me talk about an under-rated, under-appreciated way of learning, that arguably is the best of all, and that's on-the-job learning.

But OTJ doesn't quite capture the concept that began to percolate in my mind in that last job.  It's about weaving the learning effort into the day-to-day of fulfilling job responsibilities. Note the following case study:

L&D was situated within Group HR, and I made it a specific point to get acquainted with my HR colleagues, build relationships, and ask them questions. For example, I learned that the terminal business (storage for crude oil and products) was fast growing in the company. Many of them accompanied me to their meetings with executives and managers, so I learned even more about their various business and leadership issues.

Because I created a process for assessing leadership potential (ALP), I had reason to meet with business unit and department heads. I asked the General Manager of our terminal business how things were going, and he graciously took the time to let me know that it was going very well, even in the midst of the recession. Because I was clearly intrigued, he explained that traders bought petroleum on the cheap. They then stored it, until the price climbed, then sold it for a profit. It made perfect sense.

On another occasion, I presented results of the ALP to the CEO and his executive team. But before I did, I had the privilege of sitting in on their discussion. It was at the end of November 2008, and the recession was on. The outlook for 2009 was grim, and he challenged his executive to review the very budgets they had just set.  Instead of just running through my slides, when my time came, I jumped right to a table of results, and said to the CEO and his team that the leaders at the top were the drivers for results. They were among the most talented in the company.

The secret sauce, if you will, of this woven learning effort and process is an abiding curiosity, an open attention, and a readiness to ask, listen and talk.  There are all kinds of methods, tools and forums for learning, but this curiosity, attention and readiness are the heart of The Core Algorithm.  It's not complicated in the least, but it has far-reaching ramifications for learning easily and freely.

Invite a new colleague for coffee or take an old workplace friend for lunch, then ask, listen and talk, and see how much you learn.