How to Learn from Every Work Experience
Knowing how to learn is a skill in itself.
It can feel like it takes forever to get integrated into a workplace, especially if it's an internship or a rotation that only lasts a few months. Sometimes, people are actually too busy to delegate because teaching someone else to do it would take twice as long. And then by the time you get comfortable with the systems and the people, it's already time to say goodbye.
While it's always a gift to have a kind mentor or proactive supervisor at work, even without one, there's no benefit to you unless you learn as much as possible from your work experience.
1. Ask to Shadow Someone Just Doing Their Job
The best way to learn is by doing, but if that's not possible, then second best way is to watch someone else.
Shadowing is the perfect method to learn something step by step, especially if you're worried about imposing on busy colleagues. In fact, there's mutual benefit in being able to teach something and get to learn it again from someone else's perspective, so people are often happy to teach and appreciative of your curiosity about their work.
You can reach out in person or by email and ask a colleague if you could shadow them for a few hours. If there's something in particular you want to learn or some meeting you wouldn't normally get to participate in, it could help to suggest it for shadowing, but it's also fine to leave it open-ended. You never know what might turn out to be interesting or exciting on any given day.
2. Find Other People Who Love Learning
Knowing how to learn is a skill in itself that not everyone is able to master. The best teachers are those who love to learn themselves. Thus, networking with the purpose of finding other like-minded people is a great way to surround yourself with positive influences and a "growth mentality."
Networking effectively and reaching out to people you don't know are also key skills that you can practice alongside your everyday work tasks. This may result in just finding cool people to hang out with for the duration of your internship or job, or it might result in a lifelong relationship that leads to learning, growth, and friendship beyond what you ever expected. In any case, you can never go wrong with trying to surround yourself with the right people.
If you find yourself yearning for growth and knowledge, it probably means that the right people are somewhere out there and you just haven't found them yet.
3. Keep a Running List of Your Questions to Ask All At Once
A common offhand comment you might hear is, "Feel free to ask any questions!" This might seem like a helpful offer at first, but it can create a bit of a circular problem where you want to gain knowledge by asking questions, but you can't ask good questions without a certain amount of foundational knowledge in the first place!
One way to actually take up those offers to answer questions is to keep a running list so you can ask them all at once. That way, you don't feel self-conscious about asking basic questions and you've prepared enough material to make it a meaningful conversation.
About 5-10 questions to ask at once is probably enough, especially if you vary between open-ended and discrete types of questions. If possible, set up a 30 minute to one hour time slot with the person who is helping you out. If that's not feasible, then try to squeeze in a few questions at the end of each meeting if there's extra time. Worst case scenario, even if you don't get your questions answered, you are still showing a passion for learning that will help you catch the attention of the right people!
4. Offer to Do an Advanced Assignment Under Supervision
Another way to learn by doing - while also being helpful - is to offer to take on someone else's work (preferably under their supervision so there's no unnecessary stress on either side).
A perfect opportunity for this is when you're given a simple version of a task that is usually handed off to someone else later on. Your colleagues might actually be grateful if you offered to follow through on an assignment and see it to the end. This would free up everyone else to do other things and also give you a learning opportunity that makes a real impact.
It's also important to remember that if you ever get a negative response to this, don't take it to heart. There are any number of reasons why someone might not let you take on a bigger responsibility (including the fact that they might not be great at empowering people). Even just making the offer is a credit to you, which shows others that you are worthy of being considered for greater opportunities.
5. Learn From the Right Answers, Not Just the Wrong Answers
A common learning experience that we overlook is that we think mistakes are the only things we can learn from. For example, when we get exam results, we rush to check the answers we got wrong. We often wait for critical feedback to know what we can do differently.
But a big source of learning are the things that are being done right. Observing colleagues who are doing their jobs right is an incredibly potent source of self-improvement and the best part is that it's free!
If you find that you are not getting a sufficient amount of feedback, try pivoting towards learning from the right answers, rather than waiting for the wrong answers to be pointed out. Watch the colleagues who are especially organized, confident, and leadership-oriented. Ask yourself what they are doing right and then try to implement it in your own practices even if you aren't getting the feedback you need.
A Final Note
These strategies are not perfect solutions, but they are accessible, costless, and free to everyone. No matter what your position or title is, you are entitled to get that educational value out of your work experience, especially earlier on when learning is the most important objective.
There’s a common refrain to do what you feel is right "and the money will follow." It's hard advice to accept at first because it means that you might spend a long time building yourself up without recognition of your efforts and value. However, positions, titles, and even recognition for hard work can be fickle and taken away at someone else’s whim. Knowledge and learning cannot be taken away from you. Learn something new every day, and hopefully - with luck - the rest will follow!