“I Love Learning” 

If you ask any L&D leader about their passion for their work, they are very likely to tell you that they love learning. And, although that response is in many ways too easy, they mean what they say. Many learning leaders do, at least in my experience, have an exceptional interest in and appetite for learning. They love being learners. They often have the extra degrees, certificates, and badges to show it. In addition to their vocation, they often have several avocations. 

This observation is not particularly noteworthy, but it does raise what I think is an interesting question. How does love of being a learner correlate with love of helping others to learn? There are probably as many answers to this question as there are learning leaders, but, if you’re looking to refresh or rekindle your professional motivation, here are a few reasons why I think love of being a learner often leads to love of a love of learning science, systems, functions, solutions, and even other learning professionals: 

Philosophia 

Many of us will recall that the love of learning has a very long history. In classical thought, philosophia was seen as both a human need and a virtue. But we don’t need to look back to the Greeks to see this for ourselves. And we certainly don’t need to look to academia or higher ed. In corporate L&D, we often find ourselves in the fortunate role of working with subject-matter experts (SMEs) whose proficiency and mastery clearly manifests a compelling personal need. I have seen this in nursing leaders who are driven to support the transition of nurses into nurse managers. I have seen it in manufacturing experts whose drive for excellence and quality eventually lead them to embrace their guru role. In my work as a learning services provider, I have met philosophers of direct sales, high tech, and retirement planning.  So, one reason that being a learner leads to a love of all things learning is simply our human drive for excellence.  

Self-Efficacy 

Recently, given all of the digital disruption in our work lives, the ability of an individual to learn and adapt has been cited as the most important skill of our times. But this ability is as much belief as it is behavior. When I’m looking for inspiration at work, I’m not usually going to the classics but I am looking back—to the 1970s. I find the work of Albert Bandura about self-efficacy to be particularly relevant to the challenge of helping professionals continue to learn and develop. Our belief in our own ability to learn turns out to be one of the most important factors in our learning. Bandura writes, “The stronger the perceived self-efficacy, the higher the goal challenges people set for themselves and the firmer their commitment to them.” So, how does this transfer to helping others learn? As we practice and put our self-efficacy to work, we growth and strengthen our capability. Experiencing this growth ourselves (as a direct, first-hand experience) helps us to believe that others like us can develop a similar ability. See also Angela Duckworth and Carol Dweck.  

Generalists 

Another reason why I think L&D leaders can readily connect their personal love of learning to their profession is that, over the past couple of decades, the digital transformation of corporate learning has relentlessly challenged us to continue learning. Our skillset and toolset has changed significantly every few years. Additionally, in order to design and produce our learning programs, we often have to get up to speed on the latest engineering methodologies, cloud technologies, or government regulations. It’s an ideal profession for generalists. David Epstein, in Range, argues that those with more diverse experience across multiple fields can better perform in complex environments. Learning leaders, by virtue of their work across the organization and across disciplines, develop as generalists and bring a unique and valuable perspective to the organization (one that SMEs and specialized experts may not). So, letting your curiosity run free on your onboarding or compliance content may help you to develop better technical sims for the product team.   

Purpose 

In Grit, Angela Duckworth talks about the relative power of certain motivations. It turns out that, in many situations, our motivation to help others is often more powerful and lasting than our motivation to help ourselves. Finding purpose in our work as learning leaders gives us resiliency and determination. We may struggle to keep up with our own professional development goals, but we find our grit when troubleshooting every challenge to rolling out a learning opportunity for others.  

I love learning. It’s easy to say. It can also speak volumes about how we approach our work and ourselves. We all have inevitable setbacks on our learning journeys—the journeys we design for ourselves and those we design for others. Bringing a sense of purpose, of curiosity, and of belief in ourselves and others can shore up our passion and equip us for those setbacks.