Future-proof your job skills through microlearning

If you and your career have been “on a break” and you need to refresh your skills, you're not alone:

According to Future of Jobs 2020, “job automation and economic uncertainty will displace 85M jobs” and create 97M new jobs. And “50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025” (World Economic Forum). 

For women, in particular, there is some reason for concern but lots of room for optimism:

According to The future of women at work: Transitions in the age of automation 2019, women who make these skill transitions could either “be on the path to more productive, better-paid work” or “face a growing wage gap or be left further behind” because gender parity is slow (McKinsey).

But what skills should you invest in?

The #1 skill is learning how to learn efficiently. According to Forbes, the ability to learn is one of the most important 21st century skills for success, and this applies no matter where you are in your career. For learning drives adaptability and fuels future opportunities. 

But lots of people don’t know how to learn

There are many reasons that people don’t learn well on their own or in the classroom, including:

• School was and is still not their jams.

• They don’t know how to apply what they’re learning.

• They think they don’t have the time it takes to learn.

• They don’t know what to focus on or how to get started.

• The number of options makes them feel overwhelmed (like me in the cereal aisle—why so many options for breakfast?).

And if your last “official” learning experience was in a classroom long ago, you might have thought some of these things, too. But you can take learning into your own hands and learn effectively through microlearning.

Microlearning* is a learning approach that focuses on breaking down a skill into tiny Lego-like learning blocks. And when you put all the short, focused learning blocks together, they form a shiny new, transferrable skill. Here’s how to give it a try.

How to add microlearning to your day

You can likely fit in many of these steps throughout your day to make progress.

But the time it’ll take you varies based on how much time you spend online, how focused you are on progressing, and how much practice and feedback you want to include in your learning.

Get ready to learn (time varies)

• Pick ONE skill and break it down into parts, for example presentation skills might include presence, audience, message, application to use, and templates.
  This step breaks down the skill into smaller blocks. Aim for as small and many skills as possible, and if you’re not sure, search online.

• Jot down a few questions about what you want to learn, for example if you’re focusing on the application to use, you might ask How do I create a presentation using Google Slides?
  This step primes your mind to look for connections behind the scenes. Aim for the one or two questions that really interest you.

• As you read or search online for information, bookmark pages you come across related to your questions.
  This step lets you return to them later when you’re ready to learn. Aim for no more that 3-5 pages per question and consider including pages that spark your interest even if they’re not direct how-to material.

Read and take notes (15-20 minutes)

• Set aside 15-20 minutes to read some of the bookmarked pages.
  This step enables you to focus on your topic. Aim to do this in a quiet place without distractions.

• Take notes on what's new, interesting, and surprising.
  This step focuses on what you don't know already because it pops out. Aim to  focus only on new, interesting, and surprising information because this means you don’t know it already. We often spend time reading information that we know already, which doesn’t add to our skills.

• Summarize what you learned and list the questions that come up.
  This step forces you to think about what you read and incorporate new learnings. And questions highlight areas of interest and knowledge gaps to close. Aim to be clear and concise in your summary and include the whys whenever possible, for example what colors that grabs attention in a presentation and why.

Share what you learned (10 mins)

During a routine conversation, talk about what you learned--in plain language--with someone (even one of your kids so that you have to explain it clearly). If you’re short on time and without people around, record yourself explaining it and listen.

This step is key because it reinforces what you learned by building new connections in your brain. And it highlights what you need to learn more if you can’t explain something.

Practice what you learned (10 mins)

Practice the skill that you’re building, for example create a presentation using what you learned like layout or color.

This step reinforces learning through application. We learn by doing. So aim to practice as soon and often as possible. And continue incorporating what you’re learning as you progress to create a single project or portfolio piece.

Bonus learning move: Get feedback from a mentor for feedback and practical guidance.

Learning how to learn helps you return to work and future proofs your skills. It also brings you and your career closer together by giving it attention after so much time apart. It’s through this attention, you’ll find out if you really want to stay together with your career or find a new one.

And unlike Ross and Rachel, it won’t take 10 years to figure out if you need to refresh your skills or learn new skills to PIVOT your career in a new direction. Your interest and enthusiasm will let you know soon enough.

*Microlearning is often defined as being app-based, but I think it’s just how we learn app or not: one atomic-aha moment at at time. So microlearning can also be self-directed.