Becoming a More Versatile Learner

Almost all managers regard job experiences and the lessons they provide essential for their development as leaders. But not all of those managers are successful at learning those lessons. That difficulty is often related to a manager ’s relying too much on one preferred learning tactic—a tactic that might not be suited for gleaning the lessons of a particular job experience. By increasing the number of learning tactics and becoming a more versatile learner, managers can better position themselves to take advantage of the lessons that job experiences offer and contribute to their leadership development.

This series of guidebooks draws on the practical knowledge that theCenter for Creative Leadership (CCL) has generated, sinceits inception in 1970, through its research and educationalactivity conducted in partnership with hundreds of thousands ofmanagers and executives. Much of this knowledge is shared-in a waythat is distinct from the typical university department,professional association, or consultancy. CCL is not simply acollection of individual experts, although the individualcredentials of its staff are impressive; rather it is a community,with its members holding certain principles in common and workingtogether to understand and generate practical responses to today'sleadership and organizational challenges.
The purpose of the series is to provide managers with specificadvice on how to complete a developmental task or solve aleadership challenge. In doing that, the series carries out CCL'smission to advance the understanding, practice, and development ofleadership for the benefit of society worldwide.

Maxine A. Dalton is a research scientist at the Centerfor Creative Leadership and program manager of the Tools forDeveloping Successful Executives program. Her research interestsinclude adult development and learning in domestic andinternational organizations. Dalton has published widely, including“Best Practices: Five Rationales for Using 360-DegreeFeedback in Organizations” in Maximizing the Value of360-Degree Feedback: A Process for Successful Individual andOrganizational Development (Jossey-Bass, 1998). She holds aPh.D. in industrial/organizational psychology from the Universityof South Florida.