How to Learn and Remain Productive at Work at the Same Time

Sometimes a week-long conference or a comprehensive training program is exactly what we need. It takes us out of our office environment, away from our mind-boggling to-do lists, and invites us to focus entirely on learning the skills necessary to make us more effective at our jobs (and more prepared to advance in our careers). The problem is that it simply isn’t enough to rely on these structured events as our sole source of development.

Removing you from your job for any period of time is disruptive to your organization. Your workload likely becomes untenable before and after your absence, your colleagues must struggle to cover your workload while you’re gone, and sometimes crucial projects wither on the vine until you’re back at your desk for a period of time and caught up again. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. It simply means that such occurrences are inevitably rare, relegating your development opportunities to experiences that transpire once or twice a year. And, if there are budget cuts, and an expensive conference or travel-intensive program can’t be funded, you’re out of luck indefinitely.

Choose Your Skill

The first step in developing your own educational program is to identify a skill that you’d like to improve. This should be something that can be fulfilled on the job. Something that you can practice as you’re completing your daily tasks. It should also be a broad umbrella target that you can segment and address incrementally throughout the year.

It’s always a good idea to choose a skill that not only interests you, but is also valued within your organization. In order to do so, you might consider soliciting input from other sources like HR, your manager, or your colleagues.

Research It

Once you settle on a skill that can be refined over the course of an average workday, you can begin the research process. Spend time aggregating all of the free information sources you can find — Youtube videos, blog posts by well-regarded subject matter experts, articles in business publications, even white papers by specialty firms or competitors. It might also help to identify someone within your organization that performs your chosen skill exceptionally well and to ask that person for advice. Perhaps they can provide you with other resources, or even invite you to shadow them to see how it’s done. As you compile your research, it will become apparent how to break the larger skill down into more granular components. Keep a folder containing this segmented information and set aside time to read through it, one subcomponent at a time.

Set Your Goals

Implement Your Plan

Taking your professional development seriously, even when no one else does, is the best way to honor your own talent. If you spend over 40 hours per week at work, and will for most of the rest of your life, that adds up to an astoundingly large chunk time. You could spend it waiting for your manager to notice your potential and shepherd you along your way. Or you could use the time wisely, taking pleasure in the growth of your own skills and contributions. What better way to make those hours count, now and into the future?

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