What is learning?

It’s a question I am really curious about.

As L&D professionals, we think we know. We should know. It’s in our actual job title – Learning and Development.

And if we were to survey 100 people what they think learning is, we would quite likely have 100 variations and different answers. If we asked 100 L&D people, would we get more consistent answers? I don’t think we would – and I don’t think that’s a problem by the way.

Here’s the thing. We all have an opinion about what learning is and we’re all biased in our opinions. It’s rare for any of us to have a genuinely objective view.

My bias is that I am a student of psychology. That doesn’t mean I understand everything about what makes us tick. It means that I am really deeply interested in insight which has rigorous research and evidence that sits with it.

However, I’m also interested a lot in lived experience. Psychology can only teach us so much. Our lived experience has a lot of deep value and informs us of a lot.

So when I see people write about learning or talk about it or present on it I’m often coming at it from very biased points of view. I believe I know. Of course I’m very interested in hearing and learning from others, and I recognise it’s often hard to put my ego to one side and let other opinions or insights influence how I think.

And if you’re still waiting for me to answer the question in the title, that won’t and can’t just come from me. There are incredible writers and thinkers on our field. They spend a lot of time writing and creating content. Don’t get drawn into the cult of a handful of people.

This blog, for the many years I’ve been writing it, has been an ongoing exploration of the title question. I’ll forever keep thinking on it, and will be making more of an effort to keep that writing happening.