Being a learner in this lab reminded me of the importance of championing my self-directed learning, reflecting on my learning journey, and connecting the dots between my knowledge and how I am designing professional learning opportunities for our staff.
A pressure for leaders to develop people and their collective teams has emerged to the forefront, and it is crucial for L&D professionals to serve as close partners to support leaders in how they develop others.
Catherine Lombardozzi is a lifelong learning and development practitioner and founder of Learning 4 Learning Professionals. Her work focuses on supporting the professional development of designers, facilitators, faculty, learning and performance consultants, and learning leaders. As an active workplace learning professional with nearly 35 years’ experience in both corporate and academic contexts, Catherine often contributes to professional conferences and journals, and she teaches graduate-level courses in adult learning, instructional design, emerging technologies and consulting. She is author of Learning Environments by Design (2015) and Creativity Boost (2017). She maintains deep interest in modern workplace learning strategies, social learning, self-directed learning, online course design, enhancing creativity, and scholarly practice. Catherine holds a doctoral degree in Human and Organizational Learning from George Washington University. You can learn more abou
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Much has been written recently about the importance of self-directed learning (SDL), especially as it relates to the need for continuous lifelong learning due to the changes in the nature of work and the need to stay current in your respective professional area. ATD’s Talent Development Capability Model has lifelong learning as one of the capabilities within the Personal domain. There are excellent resources available to support this such as Catherine Lombardozzi’s Charting Your Course guide and the Forum’s downloadable e-book
While there are guides and suggested plans for enhancing your ability as an independent learner, at the end of the day, success with SDL depends on you. One of the areas needed for the disciple to engage in deliberate learning and to learn from any experience is what Lombardozzi calls “wherewithal.”