Learning Contracts

A formal agreement with someone spelling out what they will learn in a specific period and how its value will be assessed.

A learning contract is a formal agreement, in writing, between you and your manager spelling out what you will learn in a specified period and how it will be assessed. The strength of a learning contract lies in its formality, thus making the requirement to learn and develop explicit and imposing the rolling discipline of negotiating a new contract when the time limit for the old one expires.

Whilst a learning contract is formal and in writing, it need not be complex and certainly requires nothing in the way of small print. One side of an A4 page is ample, with space for the learning objective, the proposed activities, the resources needed, the means of assessment and the target date. It is difficult to give specific examples of the contents of a learning contract because the whole point is that it is tailor-made to the needs and opportunities of the individual. Typically, however, contracts cover gains in knowledge, techniques and skills to improve the person's job performance. Examples might be:

To acquire more knowledge about

• information technology
• financial analysis
• market segmentation.

To become more skilled at

• negotiating
• presenting
• communicating in a foreign language.

The possibilities are endless. It is a good idea to aim for incremental contracts where knowledge and/or skills are acquired in attainable steps or stages over, say, six to eight week time spans. Setting grandiose objectives which are long term and ambitious is too daunting and means that the contracting process is engaged in too infrequently. Six contracting sessions per year between you and your manager would be an admirable habit to adopt.

Learning contracts are attractive because they:

• are individually oriented/tailor-made
• pinpoint specific knowledge/skill areas to help the individual improve or become better at his/her job performance
• are appropriate for anybody irrespective of function, seniority or age
• build in the need for learning to be assessed bi-monthly when the next contract is negotiated
• encourage people to make and take work-based learning opportunities
• 'force' you and your manager to have purposeful interactions about learning that you probably wouldn't have without the discipline of learning contracts.