Want to Stick to Your Learning Goals? Get a Learning Partner
Have you ever thought about getting a learning partner? (Read The Buddy System: Who is Watching Your Back?) Up until recently, it never occurred to me to get a learning partner. I have thought about getting accountability partners in the past, to achieve non-learning goals, but I have never been able to find the right person that fits my style. I have a colleague, Mireille Massue, who sends me excellent resources all the time. I first met Mireille in 2008 at a Mediabistro event in Toronto, and we have emailed each other over the years, but I met her again at another Mediabistro event a couple of years ago. Mireille was also gracious enough to review my book, Tales of People Who Get It and the workbook.
Earlier this year, Mireille sent me information about a free MOOCs, Storytelling for Change. The course sounded interesting so I decided to take it, and since she was also taking the course, we decided to be learning partners. We are also taking another course, Social Media for Journalists and are also learning partners in that course as well. Having a learning partner is invaluable. Mireille and I speak once a week, we talk about what we learned in the last module of the course, and how we are applying what we learned. What I am finding is that checking in with Mireille is forcing me to clarify my thoughts and ideas, and she is experiencing the same benefits, and we are both learning from each other.
The other major benefit is that because we have made a commitment to each other to be learning partners, we stick to our learning goals and we motivate each other to be our best selves. Usually, I am a focused person, but since my mother died, it has affected me in unexpected ways, and the first year after her death, it took a lot of energy for me to achieve my goals. This year my focus is improving, but having a learning partner allows me to expand my thinking, which is great for generating ideas. Mireille and I do not always agree with what the other is saying, but our relationship is one built on trust, and it is a safe environment where we can say what we think and we listen, which is critical. We are not trying to convince each other, but simply stating what we think.
In the Storytelling for Change course, we had to work on a presentation together, and being someone who works on projects alone, I saw the benefits of working with another person, and it brought home the saying that two heads are better than one. Mireille taught me the importance of a call to action in everything that I do – what do I want others to do after? I know that when I write a blog post, it is important to ask readers to comment and share, but for a presentation, when I am creating it, a call to action is never top of mind. But I am creating the presentation for a reason, more than likely to present interesting information, but what do I want the reader to do after consuming my information? I want her to take some sort of action, but I haven't stated that, I assume that it is implied. That was huge for me about being clear on what action you want the reader to take. I benefitted from Mireille's many years of experience as a corporate trainer.
Would a learning partner work for you?
Absolutely!
When choosing a learning partner, choose someone you already know, but you do not have to know her well. Her values has to align with yours, and there has to be trust and respect for the partnership to work. Your learning partner shouldn't be a carbon copy of yourself, because neither of you will benefit from the partnership. Agree on a time and frequency to meet, and commit to honoring the partnership. I also think what made the learning partnership work between Mireille and myself is that we are both well-read, curious, recognize the importance of lifelong learning, and are willing to share our knowledge. One of the things I learned from Think and Grow Rich
is that knowledge is useless unless it is organized and share. Having a learning partner forces you to organize and share your knowledge.
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Author Bio: Avil Beckford, an expert interviewer, entrepreneur and published author is passionate about books and professional development, and that's why she founded The Invisible Mentor and the Virtual Literary World Tour to give you your ideal mentors virtually in the palm of your hands by offering book reviews and book summaries, biographies of wise people and interviews of successful people.
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