Learning

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Learning Development
The aim of this tutorial is to provide a quick
and easy route to understanding the rationale and
the process of agreeing the PM Learning and
Development planner. It will be particularly
useful for new managers, but is designed also to
be used by all staff.
See also tutorial shows for the individual work
plan and performance reviews.
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Introduction
Effective managers develop their staff
Not only because they care about them, but also
because their performance will improve, which is
good for them and good for Save the Children.
Managers will also sometimes need to help staff
recognise learning, training and development as
an exciting opportunity, not as a waste of time
or a form of judgement.
The learning and development part of the
Performance Management process

• identifies any learning, training or development
  requirements a member of staff has to support her
  or him in achieving work plan objectives
• assists managers and HRD staff in co-ordinating
  resources to fulfil those needs
• assists managers and HRD staff to monitor
  progress and evaluate the effectiveness of
  learning activities.

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Introduction
The process is important, managers should allow
adequate time for

• Planning - for effectively learning and
  development meetings with their member of staff.
• Activity - conducting the meeting agreeing and
  completing outcomes on the learning and
  development plan.
• Follow-up
• ensuring the arrangements for learning and
  development activities are in place
• monitoring progress against plans
• evaluating the effectiveness of activities
• giving feed-back to HRD staff where appropriate.

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Key Principles for LD
Key principles for learning and development
Save the Children's managers and staff recognise
that

• We all need to learn and develop. We need to
  overcome resistance to development - both
  organisationally and individually.
• The purpose of learning and development is to
  improve our individual and collective
  performance. Learning and development is an
  investment ,not simply a cost we all need to
  make sure we get a good return on that
  investment.
• We all have a responsibility to develop
  ourselves.
• We all have a responsibility to help others
  develop. On-the-job learning and
  coaching/feedback from others are some of the
  most effective and low cost ways to learn, and we
  can use them every day.
• Development involves acquiring new knowledge,
  skills, approaches and/or attitudes.
• We all learn in different ways and thats OK.

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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Identify learning needs
To plan for, carry out and follow-up any
learning, training or development event or
activity, the following process is
followed. This applies equally to a long term
training programme or an individual
self-development plan. The Performance
Management system learning and development plan
follows this process.
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Identify learning needs
Learning needs are the gaps an individual may
have in knowledge, skills, approach or attitude
that would hinder the effective achievement of
work objectives - sometimes referred to as the
competency gap.
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
Some of the following examples are aimed at
improving particular aspects of performance which
are not up to standard for some reason. Others
are about acquiring new skills or knowledge. Just
as valid are those which are about creativity -
for example, developing better ways of dealing
with problems or discovering ways of dealing with
existing tasks.
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Examples Knowledge - a project officer might
need quickly to understand the structure,
organisation and value of a partner organisation
he/ she may be working with. - a new manager may
need to understand how teams develop and
work. Skill - an experienced driver may be
required to carry out a new maintenance
procedure. - an administrator may need to use
spreadsheets more effectively. Approach - a
manager may acquire a larger task, and need to
delegate more to team members. Attitude - an
experienced and efficient administrator may need
to learn to deal more diplomatically with local
government staff.
Identify learning needs
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Learning objectives state what the individual
will know, be able to do, how the approach or
attitude will change after an appropriate
learning or development activity. As with work
objectives, they should be SMART
Identify learning needs
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
Specific
Measurable
Agreed
Realistic
Time-scaled
Clear, concise and singular. For example,
'general development of communication skills' is
too broad. What type of communication skill is
involved? Verbal or written? If written what
particular aspect of performance needs to change
e.g. reports, memos or letters?
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
The learning objective should be scrutinised to
ensure that it will be clear when the objective
is met. Often this will be the achievement of the
related work plan objective, e.g. submission of
an acceptably structured report.
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Identify learning needs
Agreed
Success will be assured by agreement by the
manager to provide development resources and
support, and the member of staff fully to commit
to the learning activity.
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
.
Realistic
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
Time-scaled
The manager should ensure that the relevant
resources will be available in an appropriate
time scale and that the member of staff has
relevant aptitudes and necessary background
knowledge to commence a chosen development
activity.
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Identify learning needs
The process of identifying and agreeing
appropriate and cost/time effective activities is
an important one. There are many methods to
choose from and as stated in the LD principles,
often on the job learning can make a more
significant contribution to success than off the
job training. Another important consideration
at this stage of the process is how people learn
best. Many people have preferred 'learning
styles' which come from our personality and
experience. It is worth being familiar with
these styles and the learning and development
methods that suit them. More details are in
following pages
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Identify learning needs
Manager and staff member will scrutinise the
objectives and proposed development activities,
together with the time scales to agree the
complete plan.
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
It is essential for managers and staff to monitor
and evaluate any learning and development
activities on the plan, both to check that
learning objectives are being met and that Save
the Children's investment in terms of money and
staff time is not wasted.
Identify learning needs
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
Monitoring As with work objectives and the
individual work plan, managers should monitor
progress on learning and development plans in
supervision and not leave this stage to the six
monthly performance reviews.
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Evaluation Learning and development activities
can be evaluated in a number of ways. Assessment
of the process of a learning event, for example,
training course, is usually evaluated by training
specialists at the immediate completion of the
event. This enables adjustments and improvements
to be made in the future. A check is also made
at this time on whether the participants
considered their objectives to be met.
Identify learning needs
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
Decide on learning and development strategies
Monitor and evaluate progress on learning
development activities
However, for members of staff, their managers and
the organisation, the vital evaluation is whether
the learning has been transferred to the work and
whether the task objectives have been met. These
aspects cannot realistically be assessed until
some time after the learning event.
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Identify learning needs
The column - 'outcomes and review' on the
learning development plan is used to record the
outcomes of the plan for the LD activity. A date
or dates should be agreed and recorded for
reviews. Any necessary revisions should also be
agreed, recorded and resubmitted to HRD.
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
Agree learning and development plan
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The LD Process
The Learning and Development Process
Identify learning needs
Agree learning objectives
Review outcomes
It is sensible, therefore, to plan for
monitoring evaluating and reviewing learning and
development at the time the objectives and plans
are agreed. .
Decide on learning and development strategies
Evaluate and monitor progress on learning
development activities
Agree learning and development plan
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The Learning Cycle
The Learning Cycle
Learning from experience is a process and, like
all processes, it is possible to break it down
into its constituent parts. Imagine a circle
with four stages at the four points of a compass.
Concrete experience
Testing implications of concepts in new
situations
Observations and reflections
Formation of abstract concepts and generalisations
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The Learning Cycle
The Learning Cycle
There are two ways to have an experience. One is
to let the experience come to you (reactive) the
other is to seek it deliberately (proactive).
The opportunities to learn are increased if the
normal everyday things that happen to us are
supplemented by extra experiences we create. For
example - you attend a weekly meeting that tends
to be very dull. You could decide to view it as a
learning opportunity and start to experiment with
different ways of changing the meeting.
Concrete experience
Testing implications of concepts in new
situations
Observations and reflections
Formation of abstract concepts and generalisations
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The Learning Cycle
The Learning Cycle
To learn from an experience, it is vital to
review what happened during it. In the very dull
meeting, for example, you might try having a
different person take the chair for different
agenda items. Your review might focus on the
differences you observed between the way each
chairperson undertook the task.
Concrete experience
Testing implications of concepts in new
situations
Observations and reflections
Formation of abstract concepts and generalisations
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The Learning Cycle
The Learning Cycle

• Concluding involves viewing the raw material from
  the review for conclusions, answers or lessons
  learned. It helps if the conclusions are specific
  rather than general. After the meeting, you might
  conclude that the best chairperson
• clarified the objectives of the discussions
• asked for peoples ideas
• summarised at frequent intervals
• kept to time.

Concrete experience
Testing implications of concepts in new
situations
Observations and reflections
Formation of abstract concepts and generalisations
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The Learning Cycle
The Learning Cycle
Planning involves translating some of the
conclusions into actions, things to do better or
differently. An example might be to write a few
notes for the discussion at the next meeting on
your conclusions about the best chairperson, and
working out how to develop others in the
practices described above.
Concrete experience
Testing implications of concepts in new
situations
Observations and reflections
Formation of abstract concepts and generalisations
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Learning Style Descriptions
Further research on the Learning Cycle identified
four main learning styles.
Often, people have a preference for one or two
learning styles. None is better than another.
However, it is useful to understand a persons
preferred style when considering options for
learning activities.
The four learning styles are

• Activist
• Reflector
• Theorist
• Pragmatist

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Learning Style Descriptions
Activists
Activists like to take direct action. They are
enthusiastic and welcome new challenges and
experiences. They are less interested in what has
happened in the past or the broader context. They
are primarily interested in the here and now.
They like to have a go, try things out and
participate. They like to be the centre of
attention.
Activists like

• to think on their feet
• to have short sessions
• plenty of variety
• the opportunity to initiate
• to participate fully

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Learning Style Descriptions
Reflectors
Reflectors like to think about things in detail
before taking any action. They take a thoughtful
approach. They are good listeners and prefer to
adopt a low profile. They are prepared to read
and re-read and will welcome the opportunity to
repeat a piece of learning.
Reflectors like

• to think before acting
• thorough preparation
• to research and evaluate
• to make decisions in their own time
• to listen and observe

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Learning Style Descriptions
Theorists
Theorists like to see how things fit into an
overall pattern. They are logical, objective
people who prefer a sequential approach to
problems. They are analytical, pay attention to
detail and tend to be perfectionists.
Theorists like

• concepts and models
• to see the overall picture
• to feel intellectually stretched
• structure and clear objectives
• logical presentation of ideas

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Learning Style Descriptions
Pragmatists
Pragmatists like to see how things work in
practice. They enjoy trying out new ideas. They
are practical, down to earth and like to solve
problems. They like to have the opportunity to
try out what they have learned/are learning.
Pragmatists like

• to see the relevance of their work
• to gain practical advantage from learning
• credible role models
• proven techniques
• activities to be real