Want a learning culture? Start a brown bag.
One of my favorite ways to grow is to learn in a group. There are lots of synergies to be gained by bouncing ideas back and forth. It also makes learning much more fun.
Something that has work very well for me is a brown bag learning session. You can start this in your own workplace.
What material to use:
- A book
- Read articles
- Bring a video
Youtube.com and many other sites have technical videos available. A video is nice because there is minimal preparation required. You will need a screen or projector for showing the video.
As with videos, articles require you to find a new one each session. They have the added expectation that participants read it before hand.
A book is nice because you can go through a topic together, building as you go. Let the participants choose the book if possible. I usually select a wide variety of topics and choose books for each topic. Give a link out to a good book store site so they can check the overviews and reviews. That way they will have more “buy in” to the session. Be open to choosing something that you might not normally choose as well. If the majority wants to learn Perl and that is not your main interest, go with the Perl. You’re topics will come soon enough. The “learning culture” is more important then the individual topics.
When to do it:
Some companies will give work time to this sort of activity, some may not. If your company gives you work time, fantastic. Personally, I think that brown bag lunch sessions work just as well. People should be willing to give up some personally time for enhancing their own learning. Doing it during work time may make it something you “have” to do versus something you “want” to do.
Who buys the material:
If you want to go through a book, get with your manager. Propose that you will lead the sessions and the company buys the book. Explain that it is low cost training. Some book stores may give a discount if you purchase all the books at once. If management won’t approve the purchase of the books, explain to everyone that books are fairly inexpensive and their new skills will be far greater then the price of the book. Then, try to stay away from $70 books, unless they want them of course. There are lots of books in the $25-$35 range.
What if no one shows?
Don’t get discouraged if there is limited participation. Commit yourself to keeping it going. It will grow. Keep it at the same time, the same place. Show that you are willing to stick to the learning process even though participation may be a bit slow.
When, how often:
I prefer once a week. If that is too much for everyone however, make it twice a month.
You don’t have to know the material cold. However, you should be able to research and help find answers to questions. After all, you are learning together.
Some technical books may present some challenges. It helps if you have some people in the sessions that can generally learn the material. If everyone struggles with it, or they don’t have enough extra time to really understand the material, you may have to move it to more of a teaching situation. Of course, teaching means that you need to understand the material enough to teach it. For one session I did, we went through a book on COM (yes, quite a few years ago…). The sessions went well until about Chapter 5. Then the blank stares started. We muddled through, but it was tough at times. Which brings up another point, don’t be afraid to stop a session if the book is too difficult to understand, too boring, or just too far outside the sphere of relevance. You can start another one.
When that session is done, start a new one. It’s ok to take a small break in between, but keep them going. Your goal is at the end of a session, to have folks ask “Hey, when is the next session?”.
Be a good facilitator. Be prepared to keep the conversation going. Have some questions ready. Ask them questions about statements they make. Try to get the more quiet ones involved by asking their opinion.
As you get steady participants, try switching off. Ask others to lead a chapter or an article.
If you want to change to a “learning culture”, it has to start with you. As Mahatma Gandi said, “Be the change you want to see in the world”.
May the bugs in your code be few,
Scott
Excellent idea. I am often amazed at how many people do not take advantage of these free training opportunities when someone puts them together.
That is a great way to bring about a culture change or introduce a new idea into an organization. Grassroots efforts often gain more traction than top down mandates.
A good way I keep book costs down is to buy books used and then resell them then done. Often you can get the book for much cheaper on Amazon used books and sell it for the same price you paid for it when you are done.
Thanks John. I’ve found that it works pretty well. And, yes, used books are typically much cheaper. It’s certainly help me increase my library. My problem is, I don’t sell them back.