善於學習新技巧職員的四個特質

 

Having worked in HR at a large banking corporation and in strategic HR consulting, I’ve seen the effects of learning and development on career mobility — and what leads people to let it fall by the wayside. Over time, working with users as well as learning experts, I’ve found that four crucial habits can make a tremendous difference.

我曾在一家大型銀行公司和戰略人力資源諮詢公司工作過，看到了學習和發展對職業流動性的影響——以及是什麼導致了這方面的失敗。隨着時間的推移，與用戶以及學習專家一起工作，我發現四個重要的習慣可以產生巨大的影響。

 

Focus on emerging skills. With so many learning options available these days, people are often tempted to simply go to Google, type in some general search terms, and start one of the first courses that pops up. That’s a waste of time.

關注新興技能。現在有這麼多的學習機會，人們常常想簡單地去谷歌一下，輸入一些一般的搜索詞，然後開始一門突然出現的課程。這是浪費時間的做法。

 

Job requirements are quickly evolving. To ensure relevance, you need to focus on learning the latest emerging skills. You can do this in a couple of ways.

工作要求正在迅速發展。爲了確保跟上時代發展的步伐，你需要專注於學習最新興的技能。下面是幾個建議。

   First, track what skills the leaders in your industry are hiring for.

Look at recent job postings from the top companies, and see which qualifications keep popping up. Second, reach out to people in your network or on LinkedIn who have the job you want. If you want to know what sales skills and technologies are becoming most important, talk to some high-level salespeople. Ask them what they’re having to learn to keep succeeding at their work and what skills they think someone needs to acquire in order to become a viable candidate.

首先，看看你所在行業的領導者需要擁有哪些技能的員工。看看最近幾家頂級公司的招聘信息，看看哪些要求的出現頻率比較高。第二，發揮你的人際網絡作用，或者看看LinkedIn上哪些人可以提供你感興趣的職位。如果你想知道什麼銷售技巧是最重要的，那就和一些高級銷售人員談談。問他們在工作中需要學習什麼，以及他們認爲需要什麼樣的技能才能成爲有機會獲得工作。

 

You may feel intimidated about reaching out. But I’ve found that most of the time, people are happy to share this information. They want to see more and more capable candidates filling jobs and staying on top of trends.

這時候你可能會感到害怕。但我發現大多數時候，人們樂於分享這些信息。他們希望看到越來越多有能力的候選人填補就業崗位，走在時代前列。

 

As you get a sense of the most important skills to learn, ask these experts whether they can recommend specific online courses with practical value. Also take a close look at course descriptions to find content that will be useful on the job rather than provide mostly academic insight. For instance, you might seek out instructors who are leading experts in your industry or content created in conjunction with companies that you admire.

當你瞭解到哪些是最重要的技能後，問問這些專家，他們是否可以推薦具有實用價值的在線課程。也要仔細閱讀課程描述，以找到對工作有用的內容，而不是一味專注於學術見解。例如，你可以找那些在你的行業中領先的專家或與你感興趣的公司相關的內容。

   Get synchronous.

In this era, micro-learning — engaging with online learning tools when and where it’s convenient — is becoming a much larger part of the training and development scene. This has its benefits, including freedom, convenience, and digestible content.

同步學習。在這個時代，微型學習——與在線學習工具打交道是很方便的——這正逐步成爲培訓和發展領域的重要組成部分。在線學習的優勢在於自由、方便和可消化的內容。

 

But there’s also a downside. These asynchronous experiences are often solitary. And without at least some real-time interaction, whether in person or online, many students lose motivation. Researchers have found that “the sense of isolation” for some online learners “may make the difference between a successful and an unsuccessful online learning environment.” They call for more synchronous experiences. Others have also identified interaction and collaboration as critical factors in fruitful learning.

但也有不利的一面。這些不同步的體驗常常是與外界隔離的。無論是線上學習還是線下學習，如果缺少實時互動，很多學生都會失去動力。研究人員發現，對於一些在線學習者來說，“孤立感”可能會導致在線學習環境的失敗。在線學習需要更多的同步體驗。還有一些人認爲，互動和協作是卓有成效的學習的關鍵因素。

 

In my work, I’ve consistently seen that when online students sign up for a live course, in which they interact with a professor and one another at a set time at least once a week, they stick with it longer and learn more. Often, these kinds of programs offer materials you can work on individually. But the camaraderie can serve as a huge motivator, as can the desire not to fall behind the group.

在我的工作中，我一直看到，當在線學生報名參加一個活動課程時，如果他們每週至少一次與教授互動，他們會堅持更長時間，學習更多。通常，學習這些課程可以讓你日後獨立工作。但是同學也是一個巨大的激勵因素，激勵大家不要落於人後。

 

When a live course isn’t available, I encourage learners to find a “synchronous cohort” — a friend or acquaintance with similar learning goals. Make a pact to do online learning together weekly. You can learn a lot from hearing each other’s questions and explaining things to each other as you come to understand them, since the act of teaching can improve content understanding, recall, and application.

大家沒辦法上現場課程時，我鼓勵大家去找一個“同步隊列”——一個有相似學習目標的朋友或熟人。制定一個每週在線學習的計劃。你們可以從彼此的問題中學習到很多東西，並在理解的過程中互相解釋，因爲教學行爲可以增進對內容的理解、回憶和應用。

   Implement learning immediately.

Research shows that performing the tasks you’ve learned is crucial, because “enactment enhances memory by serving as an elaborative encoding strategy.”

立即將學習內容運用到實踐中。研究表明，將所學內容運用到實踐中是至關重要的，因爲“通過作爲一種詳盡的編碼策略可以增強記憶”。

 

This is part of the problem many engineers face when looking for jobs straight out of college: They’ve been stuck in “theory land,” with little experience putting what they’ve learned into practice. You can run into the same issue with online learning. For example, I could spend weeks watching videos on how to set up a distributed computing system. But if I don’t go to Amazon Web Services and deploy it — soon — I’ll forget much of what I learned.

這是許多工程師在大學畢業時面臨的一個問題:他們被困在“理論領域”，沒有什麼機會把他們所學到的東西付諸實踐。在網上學習中你會遇到同樣的問題。例如，我可以花上幾個星期的時間觀看關於如何建立一個分佈式計算系統的視頻。但是如果我不去Amazon Web Services儘快實踐，我將會忘記我所學到的大部分知識。

 

So whatever field you’re studying, find opportunities to use your new skills. Depending on the skill, you might participate in a collaborative project at work, for instance, or set up your own project on a small scale at home.

所以無論你在研究什麼領域，都要找機會使用你的新技能。根據技能的不同，你可能會參與一個協作項目，或者在家裏小規模地建立你自己的項目。

   Set a golden benchmark.

Just like runners in a marathon, online learners need to have a clear goal in order to stay focused. A return on investment (in terms of time and money spent) is hard to gauge in the near term. But those who persevere generally have their eye on a larger prize — a new job, a promotion, or the chance to lead a project. I encourage people to determine a specific career objective and keep it front of mind as they learn.

設置一個金色標準。就像馬拉松選手一樣，在線學習者需要有一個明確的目標來保持專注。在短期內，投資回報率(在時間和金錢方面)很難衡量。但那些堅持不懈的人通常會着眼於更大的獎勵——一份新工作、一份晉升，或者是領導一個項目的機會。我鼓勵人們去確定一個具體的職業目標，並在他們學習的過程中把它放在心裏。

 

Of course, that benchmark will change as you develop. Learning is a career-long process. After you achieve one big goal, set your sights on the next one. That’s how you make learning a part of your normal routine.

當然，這個基準會隨着你的發展而改變。學習是伴隨職業生涯發展的漫長過程。在你實現一個大目標後，把你的目標放在下一個目標上。這樣就可以讓學習成爲你日常生活的一部分。