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Adult Learners Week

Submitted by Adrian Gaskell MCMI on Wed, 18/05/2011 - 08:24

This week is Adult Learners Week.

"From learning Pilates to gaining a PhD, Adult Learners' Week celebrates learning and learners in all their diversity, inspiring thousands of people each May to try something new. The initiative promotes the benefits of all kinds of learning, whether it is for fun or leading to a qualification."

Is your organisation doing anything to promote learning this week?

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Submitted by Matt Chapman on Wed, 18/05/2011 - 09:18

Nothing that I know of.  I'm not doing any kind of formal training at the moment, just the usual informal reading etc.

Submitted by Paul Finnegan CMgr FCMI on Wed, 18/05/2011 - 17:56 Profile image

How about organisations committing to a number of development days a year for their people.     This does not have to be classroom based,  learning can be much wider than that and often take place in the workplace.     What innovative ways of learning are out there ?

Submitted by Laura Long on Thu, 19/05/2011 - 10:57

Paul Finnegan wrote:

How about organisations committing to a number of development days a year for their people.     This does not have to be classroom based,  learning can be much wider than that and often take place in the workplace.     What innovative ways of learning are out there ?

I think every day should be a development day, at least in a small way.  Companies should have a learning culture that encourages this.

Submitted by Paul Finnegan CMgr FCMI on Thu, 19/05/2011 - 11:14 Profile image

Yup I totally agree -   its how we develop such a culture and encourage people at all levels to support this that is the really challenging bit.       I am hoping that people will share some innovative ideas to help make this happen 

Submitted by Laura Long on Thu, 19/05/2011 - 11:25

One of the first steps would be a degree of tolerance for failure.  If you can't allow failure then learning becomes tough because taking risks is not easy.

You also need to get rid of silos that are often formed by the objective system companies use so that employees think in terms of the whole company rather than individuals or even departments.  If you get that company wide thinking in place it encourages the sharing of knowledge rather than hoarding it within.