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'How managers learn (in their own words)'

EdinburghLearning NewsGoodPractice

'How managers learn (in their own words)' - the conclusive report to be published at Learning Technologies 2010.

Market-leading online toolkit provider GoodPractice recently commissioned ComRes to conduct a survey of leaders and managers across a range of organisations in November 2009. Over two hundred leaders and managers participated in the research. The survey findings will be published at this year's Learning Technologies Conference and Exhibition, 27-28th January, London Olympia.

Many studies produced about the learning activity in organisations are based on questions put to HR and L&D professionals rather than the learners themselves. GoodPractice has observed, on numerous occasions, that the perceptions of HR and L&D departments can differ quite significantly from the perceptions of managers. Hence they wanted to conduct a survey that went straight to the customers of HR and L&D departments.

How managers learn (in their own words) emphasises that the frequency and perceived effectiveness of informal learning activities suggests that learning and development professionals need to rethink their mental model of the learning and performance landscape, and they need to give informal learning a central role in their strategy. However, the findings also accentuate that there are significant differences in the learning habits of managers across different age groups, and there is not a definitive one-size-fits-all solution.

Commenting on the survey, Peter Casebow, CEO, states:

"For the last ten years at GoodPractice we've been fascinated by one question: how can organisations provide support to leaders and managers to improve their performance at work? To answer this, we need to understand what helps leaders and managers perform more effectively, and what they do when faced with workplace challenges. We want to know where managers look for learning when faced with a challenge in the workplace, how frequently they search, and how effective they perceive the different methods to be. Most importantly, we want to take a learner-centric approach and ask managers, not HR or learning and development professionals, whose perceptions and needs may be different. The results of our survey convey how current methods are perceived and valued, and also provide a starting point for further debate and discussion at goodpractice.com."

To receive your free copy of 'How managers learn (in their own words)' visit GoodPractice on Stand 65 at Learning Technologies or email Lynsey Jenkins at [email protected].
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