"Engineering Management Thought of the Week" Jeff Glass

Managers, individual contributors and students alike, constantly need to learn new things.  Sometimes this occurs with plenty of preparation time and sometimes it requires cramming – to prepare for a meeting or a new project or a deadline or, for students, exams!  In technical organizations, being able to learn enough in order to quickly assess  a situation (e.g., about a new market, an up and coming technology, a competitor’s approach to a new product), is particularly valuable.  I have seen both technical and marketing staff make themsleves invaluable to their organization simply from their skill to learn new areas quickly.  Of course, learning it yourself is only half the battle, you also need to be able to communicate effectively to all different levels and types of employees in the organization (but that’s a post for a different day!).  In addition, you need to remain objective in your assessment of the area you have just learned.  This is non-trivial because you have just spent an intensive time studying the area so it is easy to lose perspective and become a champion for it whereas the organization needs you to provide an objective assessment.  But back to the main point, learning a new area is a type of expertise you can develop that will make you an important contributor to your organziation.  Below are a few tips I wrote up for our undergraduates that I think apply equally well to new managers,  individual contributors preparing for a new project/area and Master of Engineering Management students;

1) Know Thyself – find out what works for you to optimize your study time. For some people this means a quiet library spot and for others (like me) it means working in a noisy coffee shop. For some (like my wife) it even means studying with the TV on in the background (I do not understand that but I bet some of you do). The corollary is “Don’t fool yourself” by sitting somewhere with a book open and then calling it study time!

2) Reading and Studying are NOT the Same Thing – Too many people read a bunch of pages in a book and then are surprised when they do not do know the material. Reading something is very different from understanding and internalizing it. You need to test yourself and have your colleagues test you on the new material. Ask yourself questions about it, think about it, decide if you agree with what you have read. I like to make 2 columns; put key words and phrases on the left and the concepts and ideas related to them on the right.  When you are done studying, the right hand column should be irrelevant. All you need are the key words or phrases to trigger the thoughts and concepts on the right.

3) To Memorize or Not to Memorize – Lets face it, sometimes memorization IS the best approach to a set of material. Most of my colleagues with great memories do well when they need to quickly learn a new area. But there are also plenty of times when memory is NOT what you need. You need to understand and be able to argue a point and analyze a situation. Know what approach is best for a given type of material and study accordingly.

4) Balance – If you study all night and can not think the next day, you have not done yourself any favors. Try to balance your study time and break time so that you are at peak performance when you really need to call on the new material. This takes planning and also takes us back full circle to number one; Know Thyself.

I will close by emphasizing that learning is a lifeling requirement no matter what your position.  Optimizing how to learn a new area can make you invaluable to your organization.  If you are known as the person who can learn quickly and effectively then you have certianly given yourself more opportunities and security in your career.