Self-Directed Learning in the Workplace

“Self-directed learning” may sound complex; however, it’s simply a label for learners who lead their own learning journey. That learning journey may include everything from formal curriculum and courses to informally learning from one’s setbacks. Today, we will focus on self-directed learning in the workplace and why it is an approach that is beneficial to both individuals and organizations.

Developing Self-Directed Learners

In the workplace, we often use the term “learning and development.” However, they are not two separate concepts – learning leads to development. And as we stated above, learning comes in many different varieties. For learning and development professionals, this presents many opportunities to develop an individual’s capabilities to become more self-directed in their learning as an aspirational goal for their development.

Not everyone learns from their setbacks on the job, but self-directed learners do.

Self-directed learning is the difference between having 15 years of experience growing and developing your capabilities on the job, versus having 1 year of experience times 15. With so much change and complexity, the ability to learn and develop independently is a potential boon to organizations.

For example, because self-directed learners become comfortable guiding their development path, they are used to sifting through and processing information and making independent decisions on their ideal course of action. This means self-directed learners are less likely to freeze when faced with ambiguous tasks or make decisions when their manager is out of the office. Instead, they pull from their experience and available resources to learn what they need to navigate the situation.

3 Tips for Cultivating Self-Directed Learners

1. Provide effective feedback with coaching. A large amount of on-the-job learning comes from reflecting on one’s own experiences. Leaders can support this type of learning and help employees better bounce back from setbacks on the job by delivering clear, constructive feedback followed by a coaching question that invites them to reflect on how they could mitigate a similar challenge more effectively the next time around. This helps build confidence and develops their ability to tackle new similar challenges in the future effectively and independently.
2. Avoid hand-holding. As a manager aspiring to foster self-directed learners, you must walk the tightrope between coaching and handholding. While it feels great to jump in and give advice when a direct report comes to you with a problem, resist requests for hand-holding as much as possible. Next time your employee comes to you about a challenge they’re facing, withhold from giving advice right away. Instead, employ coaching questions to get at the context of the situation and further develop their ability to think through the problem and possible solutions. It might turn into a sounding board conversation where they’re giving ideas and you’re giving them feedback. Then they can walk away with a next step that you approve of and that they can hold themselves accountable to because they came up with it themselves.
3. Encourage continuous self-study. Effective leaders never stop learning and glean knowledge from a variety of sources. That means in addition to learning from experience, reading is critical to developing self-directed learners. As a manager, recommend books and articles to your employees based on their learning interests and engage them in groups with their peers to share what they’ve learned. This encourages self-directed learning for your employees and also magnifies the impact by supporting them in developing relationships with their peers in a fun and engaging way.

If you are interested in learning more about encouraging the development of self-directed learners or how a revamped learning and development program can help your organization thrive in increasingly complex environments, let’s chat. I would love to discuss your challenges and opportunities and set your team up for sustainable success.