Four Lessons I’ve Learned in My Career of Learning and Development

Host: Shannon Tipton 

 

In this solo podcast, I wanted to share with you the lessons I’ve learned in my 30 years in Learning and Development. 

 

When I started, I knew less than nothing about adult and workplace learning from an educational perspective. My educational background was in Business, not people. And this was WAY before the advent of the Google machine.

 

What I did have in my possession was an old ATD handbook from the 1970s. Which, surprisingly, is still relevant today.

 

I read,

I took classes,

I researched,

I went to conferences.

 

I listened and learned from industry experts such as Pike, Rossett, Allen, Biech, Kirkpatrick, and Stolovitch. I got on mailing lists for ATD (then ASTD), ISPI, AMA -  just to name a few. As the years passed, there were things that I learned that held up and other things that didn’t - that’s life. Things change. Research is updated, and old processes reflect improvements.

 

Therefore, based on this - here are 4 things that I discovered were important on my path to building Learning Rebels.

 

Curiosity

 

There’s nothing that underpins my work more than having a curious mindset. It’s critical that curiosity not simply be the byproduct of serendipitous events. It should be time spent listening, watching and intentionally questioning what surrounds us.

 

Here are some resources to support your curious mindset

• Learning Rebels Blog Post: Curiosity as a Business Practice
• HBR Report: The Business Case for Curiosity
• Podcast: The Curious Advantage

 

 

 

Experimenting

 

Alongside curiosity sits the importance of experimentation. If nothing else, my road with experiments taught me that experimenting isn’t about skill or tools, it’s about mindset.

Experiments can be a game changer for Learning and Development and an area where the greatest improvement is needed.

 

• HBR Report: Building a Culture of Experimentation
• Read this! The Power of Experiments, Decision Making in a Data-Driven World by Micheal Luca

Join the conversation 

You can have an opportunity to be part of the live chat! Sign up here.  

 

Support the Learning Rebels Community 

To contribute and be part of the community, join our Patreon Page here 

 

Hire Learning Rebels 

Visit the Learning Rebels website to learn more about how Learning Rebels can help you reimagine workplace learning.  

 

Host: Shannon Tipton