We can run the risk of complacency when we achieve a certain role or career. It’s more important than ever to understand how you can be indispensable in your particular role, but also when there are people who do not progress for whatever reason, they work at being a better version of themselves.
Those who have ambitions to progress up the career ladder but are stuck in a particular position confine themselves to becoming complacent, which can be detrimental in the long run. This is why it’s important to be proactive and identify the potential to learn inside and outside of the role. But how can you improve your learning capacity in your workplace?
Raise the Subject Internally
Many organizations can view workplace learning as a box-ticking exercise. There are many companies that set out e-learning courses on an LMS (Learning Management System), but they fail to engage, or they become something that gets in the way of employee development. Now might be the opportunity to raise these concerns with your line manager or go higher up if you’re not getting the right responses.
Workplace learning is not just about ticking a multiple-choice question, but about actively engaging people within the organization in methods that suit their learning style. We’re all different when it comes to absorbing information, whether it’s through kinesthetic (touch), auditory, or visual, and we should work towards improving our learning capacity through methods that suit us, but we have to phrase it in such a way to benefit the business rather than just ourselves.
Adopting a Growth Mindset
Continuous improvement should be the goal, and if you feel you’re being passed up for opportunities, is it because you’re not showing the powers that be that you have a growth mindset?
Abilities can and will be developed over time, but if we slowly incorporate our desire to better ourselves into a business framework by adopting and embracing a growth mindset, this will, over time, be noticed by the right people. It’s important to note that if you are struggling to progress or you are growing impatient, it could be either down to the attitudes you are displaying, but it might also be due to ineffective line management, which is a critical thing to address.
Learn From Somebody With More Experience
If you want to accelerate your skill development in the workplace, there are many ways to do this through active and passive learning. Active Learning is all about hands-on experiences and discussions to promote a deeper understanding of the subject, but you could also push for skills swap sessions or even ask for a mentor if there is minimal impact on your abilities to work.
When you want to make changes in your career, learning from somebody else doesn’t just show you the ropes in terms of the potential roles, but it gives you a better feel for what it takes to get to their position.
We are all works in progress, and it’s important to not grow impatient. But if you are looking to progress within your company, it might be time to improve your learning capacity.
What do you think?