Ask most people where they learned the most important or useful knowledge and skills they use at work, they will say they learned them at work, not from a training course. Foundation knowledge and skills are often learned most efficiently in structured and guided learning courses. However, they are just that â a foundation. The knowledge and skills that make real impact and add most value are usually developed through experience of doing the job itself.
Making work-based learning more effective will inevitably make people within the organisation more effective in their job. Their effectiveness is demonstrated in increased productivity, and delivering more innovation. Innovation is widely recognised as the life blood of organisations. It is also particularly difficult to train âoff the jobâ. Innovation tends to result from personal, direct experience of challenges faced in the work place. Work based learning by its very nature provides a rich environment for people to innovate.
The question then is how to become more effective work-based learners. We do know a great deal about this. The principles of what is called experiential learning, learning from experience, were set out as far back as 1938 by John Dewey and since then many people have added to our knowledge of work based learning.
The team at RQV Learning have been facilitating work-based learning for over 15 years. Here are some ways we suggest you can facilitate your own and others work based learning.
- PERSONAL: To learn in the workplace choose a personal challenge that you can own. It can often be formulated as a question beginning with, âHow can IâŠâ.
- PRACTICAL: Ensure that your learning has a practical focus. When you begin WBL ensure that your goal is to add tangible value.
- SOCIAL: Work-based learning is a personal, practical challenge but it is a social activity. Make sure you engage with people, get their input, share ideas and collaborate as much as you can.
- REFLECTIVE: Everyday we have a very rich experience, most of which we simply ignore. Work-based learning at its heart is about being alive to what is happening, what is means to us and crucially what we will do as a result: this reflective process is sometimes captured in a model â WHAT? SO WHAT? NOW WHAT?
- SUPPORTED: The default work environment does not facilitate work-based learning. For WBL to be successful the organisation must put in place the policies and infrastructure necessary to encourage and support it.
Adopting work-based learning will increase your learning massively. The better you get at it, the more you learn and the better you will be at achieving your goals. If you are responsible for others then put in place the support needed to help them to learn effectively in the work place. They will get better at their jobs – and it is an incredibly cost effective way of developing people’s skills, knowledge and behaviour as by definition they are not taking time off the job.
If you need help in supporting your own work based learning or that of your team then get in touch and we’ll be glad to help.