Page 207 - HBR Leader's Handbook: Make an Impact, Inspire Your Organization, and Get to the Next Level

196 HBR Leader’s Handbook

In broad terms, we can divide the world of professional development
into two major categories: formal learning and informal or on-the-job
learning. We’ll discuss these in turn and highlight the kinds of knowledge
and skills each can best help you develop.

Formal learning
Formal learning has historically meant classroom-style instruction and
lecture, supplemented with reading and discussion. Recent evolutions in
education have expanded and blurred the category, which now also encom-
passes computer-assisted content delivery and engagement, online video
instruction, role-playing and simulations, and so forth. But the heart of the
approach remains the same: someone experienced in a discipline present-
ing well-codified knowledge to students looking to learn and assimilate
what’s being offered.
Training and classroom teaching in business are often derided for
being too academic and burdensome, but both still have their place, par-
ticularly when now enhanced with participatory and individualized expe-
rience of technological enhancements. Formal learning can be especially
cost-effective for any topic where the facts and practices are well estab-
lished, or where the knowledge you need to master is sufficiently detailed
or technical to make learning on your own, or through episodic experience,
less effective (or even impossible). These topics include essential business
basics or technical knowledge like accounting, corporate finance, mar-
keting, or different legal topics such as intellectual property or labor law.
Formal learning can also be a good way to get up to speed on established
best practices in such topics as talent management processes, workplace
diversity, compensation policy, and so forth.
Workshop-style programs, which are more participative and facilitated,
can help you hone behavioral and stylistic skills such as communicating for
influence, giving performance feedback, resolving conflicts, or developing
interpersonal strategies for negotiation. The safe space of a workshop or
classroom, combined with a program of simulation or case-study learning,
can be an excellent way to develop and practice such skills, without the risk
of what could become punishing failure in an actual workplace setting.