Self development goals and expectations

So now that you have become familiar with the content for the course, it’s time to think about how you want to apply it to your environment. Therefore your task will be to start identifying what challenges or opportunities exist in your context, and where you can start applying the learnings from this course.

Often when we set self development goals, we make them too large. We learn fastest when our goals are small and achievable. Like a ladder with rungs too far apart, it’s very hard to climb the ladder. But if the rungs are closer together, then we can steadily climb the ladder one rung at a time.

Furthermore, if our goals involve some kind of action and reflection, then we begin to integrate what we have learned. This is called an action learning loop.

Learning how to do action learning loops means that you are learning how to learn. In other words, by learning this process, you can learn how to learn anything.

When we are learning a new skill, we start by breaking it down into small chunks. For example, I may want to work on my conflict resolution skills. Then I break that down into active listening, perspective seeking, problem solving negotiating (and whatever other skills I think might form a part of that). Then I might take the active listening part and break that down further into emotional awareness, listening, reflecting back what I have heard etc.

Once I have broken the skill down sufficiently to a level where I have something concrete to work on, I set up an action learning loop. For example, I might want to notice what emotions come up when I’m listening to someone I’m having a conflict with.

So here is a generic action learning loop to put into practice:

Aim: Think about what personal learning goal you have. Try to make it small, achievable and not confused with a task. Instead it should be something related to your self that has some reflective learning element. For example, to find out what emotions come up when you are in listening and in conflict with someone.

Do: This is the “action” part of the action learning loop where you perform a concrete activity or a task that relates to the aim. It could be observing, practicing a skill, researching etc. For example to observe your emotions when in conflict with someone, whilst trying to listen to them.

Reflect: Set yourself a reflective question and/or to take some time to think about what you observed and what implications that has for your development. Do you want to keep practicing? Or try something new now? Next steps?

Multiple leaning loops

When engaging in multiple learning loops, the following sequence might help you learn a new skill.

1st loop – observe yourself doing it

2nd loop – observe someone who does it well

3rd loop – try to copy/emulate someone who does it well

For example if my goal is to get better at reflecting back during active listening…

• Loop 1 – whilst engaged in active listening, I might observe myself reflecting back to the person I’m listening to
• Loop 2 – I observe someone else reflecting back (whom I think is really skilled)
• Loop 3 – I try to emulate (copy) what that person does when they reflect what they have heard

Use the quest and reflective journal to start fleshing out your self-development goals