Universal Needs

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A Step A Day, Learning Goals, Michael Stallard

Michael Lee Stallard, the President of E Pluribus Partners, a firm specializing in employee engagement and productivity, has a thought provoking article in the Economic Times . Here he speaks of six universal needs. I feel events in the recent past- not only in the United States but indeed all over the world- have brought to the fore one more important need. The need to be learning all the time. To un-learn and re-learn as situations and circumstances change. To be flexible and adapt to new challenges, which we may never have imagined. If you had asked someone a few months ago whether Lehman Bros. would file for bankruptcy – you know the answer you would have got.

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What Are Your Learning Goals?

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A Step A Day, Learning Goals

We managers are so busy doing the hundreds of things that we need to do to keep on top of our jobs. In the pursuit of results are we ignoring our own need to learn? Some managers become complacent with their success and do not recognize the need to constantly improve by learning more and more. Yet others are so busy setting learning goals for those they supervise that they end up having no learning goals for themselves.

Obsolescence is around the corner. To stay ahead of the curve, we need to constantly improve and that comes through setting and achieving learning goals.

These could be in your field of expertise, your domain, your technology, your function or by building your managerial and leadership skills.

If you do not invest time in your own development, no one else will. So go ahead and ask yourself:

• Have I learnt anything new today?
• Have I learnt anything new this week?
• Have I learnt anything new this month?
• Have I learnt anything new this quarter?

If the answer is that you have not learnt anything substantial, you are as good as dead. Not literally of course, but you face the danger of being swamped in a knowledge-skill intensive world where you could easily be left behind.

Set aside some time for an investment in your own development. Understand what you need to learn and work on acquiring that knowledge or those skills.

Remember, no one and I say that again, no one will be as interested in your development as you.

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Learning Goals

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Learning Goals, self-development

“What you do every day should contribute to giving your life meaning. If it doesn’t, why are you doing it?” – Don Hutcheson

When did you last set for yourself-learning goals? Many of us have become complacent with success that we forget that we need to constantly learn to remain current and competitive.

Ask yourself: What did I learn new today? What did I learn new last week? What did I learn new last month? What did I learn new last quarter?

If the answer is nothing, you are as good as dead. Not literally, of course, but swamped in a fiercely competitive environment which has no time or place for mediocrity.

Learnings need not be restricted to your field of specialization or expertise. Indeed it is a good idea to have learning goals in related areas. For example, it makes eminent sense for a Project/Program Manager to learn more about business and profitability apart from the essentials of Project/Program Management.

As the American author, Napoleon Hill tells us” Procrastination is the bad habit of putting of until the day after tomorrow what should have been done the day before yesterday”.

Don’t procrastinate on this one!