Becoming a More Versatile Learner. An Ideas into Action Guidebook.

Learning from job experiences is essential for every manager's development. Managers learn best from challenging experiences, when employing a variety of learning experiences, and when employing strategies that coordinate what they want to learn with challenges likely to teach these lessons. Becoming a more versatile learner is essential. There are four sets of learning tactics: (1) feeling tactics (learning by acknowledging their feelings and trusting their gut reactions); (2) action tactics (learning by doing); (3) thinking tactics (figuring things out by recalling the past, imagining the future, and/or gathering facts from books and reports); and (4) accessing-others tactics (seeking advice, watching others, and/or taking courses). Readers are advised to consider their preferred and nonpreferred learning tactics, understand the benefits and problems with these tactics, and venture out of their comfort zones by expanding their learning tactics. To become truly versatile, managers should identify what they want to learn, choose appropriately challenging experiences, and map the sequence of learning tactics to meet each challenge. (Contains 11 references.) (MLH)