Learning by Doing Conaty & Charan write that, “Developing talent through experiences expands capability and capacity… This is learning by doing, and no book or classroom teaching can substitute for it.” Describe an example of “learning by doing” that has helped you or a colleague to grow professionally. What did this experience teach that could not be taught through formal training? What part of the experience could have been learned through formal training?  Should your organization create formal training to complement its hands-on learning activities? Why or why not? Post your initial response by Wednesday, midnight of your time zone, and reply to at least 2 of your classmates' initial posts by Sunday, midnight of your time zone.​​ 1st Response to this classmate RE: Week 4 Discussion COLLAPSE Hello Class and Professor,  In most organizations, formal training is an essential component of keeping up with new trends and technologies in the industry. However, training may not solve all performance and behavioral problems. Hence, an organization should conduct a training needs assessment before introducing training programs to assess whether training may solve a performance problem. Other than training, learning by experience may be an option. As such, evaluation of learning by doing or experience is essential in informing its effectiveness in complementing formal training.  Describe an example of "learning by doing" that has helped you or a colleague to grow professionally. After graduating from university with a bachelor in Statistics, Kelvin joined our local animal feeds manufacturing company as a data analyst. His university training was majorly mathematical and had nothing to do with animal health and nutrition. However, his new role required him to have insights into animal nutrition. He quickly got in touch with the production manager and was occasionally involved in the production team while formulating the food rations. With time, Kelvin developed the skills of accurately preparing feeds' components such as proteins and minerals while retaining acceptable profit margins. Soon, Kelvin became an essential component of both the production and analytics teams.  What did this experience teach that could not be taught through formal training? Although the training was an option in learning animal nutrition, it would take time to cover all aspects. Still, the organization does not use all aspects of animal nutrition modules. Learning by doing was the most suitable learning method as it incorporates relevant theoretical and practical elements of animal nutrition. Nevertheless, training modules hardly existed at the organization to enhance the incorporation of animal health and data analytics.  What part of the experience could have been learned through formal training?  Animal health and nutrition training is available at the organization. Employees within the production team regularly participate in formal training relating .

1. Learning by Doing
Conaty & Charan write that, “Developing talent through
experiences expands capability and capacity… This is learning
by doing, and no book or classroom teaching can substitute for
it.”
Describe an example of “learning by doing” that has helped you
or a colleague to grow professionally.
What did this experience teach that could not be taught through
formal training?
What part of the experience could have been learned through
formal training?
Should your organization create formal training to complement
its hands-on learning activities? Why or why not?
Post your initial response by Wednesday, midnight of your time
zone, and reply to at least 2 of your classmates' initial posts by
Sunday, midnight of your time zone.
1st Response to this classmate
RE: Week 4 Discussion
COLLAPSE
Hello Class and Professor,

2. In most organizations, formal training is an essential component
of keeping up with new trends and technologies in the industry.
However, training may not solve all performance and behavioral
problems. Hence, an organization should conduct a training
needs assessment before introducing training programs to assess
whether training may solve a performance problem. Other than
training, learning by experience may be an option. As such,
evaluation of learning by doing or experience is essential in
informing its effectiveness in complementing formal training.
Describe an example of "learning by doing" that has helped you
or a colleague to grow professionally.
After graduating from university with a bachelor in Statistics,
Kelvin joined our local animal feeds manufacturing company as
a data analyst. His university training was majorly mathematical
and had nothing to do with animal health and nutrition.
However, his new role required him to have insights into animal
nutrition. He quickly got in touch with the production manager
and was occasionally involved in the production team while
formulating the food rations. With time, Kelvin developed the
skills of accurately preparing feeds' components such as
proteins and minerals while retaining acceptable profit margins.
Soon, Kelvin became an essential component of both the
production and analytics teams.
What did this experience teach that could not be taught through
formal training?
Although the training was an option in learning animal
nutrition, it would take time to cover all aspects. Still, the
organization does not use all aspects of animal nutrition
modules. Learning by doing was the most suitable learning
method as it incorporates relevant theoretical and practical
elements of animal nutrition. Nevertheless, training modules
hardly existed at the organization to enhance the incorporation

3. of animal health and data analytics.
What part of the experience could have been learned through
formal training?
Animal health and nutrition training is available at the
organization. Employees within the production team regularly
participate in formal training relating to trends and new
technologies in line with animal feed production. However,
Kelvin's case stood out, as it required integrating skills in feeds
formulation, production, and data analytics.
Should your organization create formal training to complement
its hands-on learning activities? Why or why not?
Kelvin's case depicts a situation where learning through
experience may yield significant outcomes. However, it is
rational to analyze such a situation in the context of the problem
at hand. Organizations should also adopt formal training to
complement learning by experience. Learning through
experience enhances personal growth and competence aligning
with new roles (Fernández-Aráoz et al. 4). Formal training
improves collective responsibility for success among current
employees and new teammates by sharing experiences,
challenges, and insights (Stibitz 3). A blend of learning through
experience and formal training enhances performance and
employee outcomes.
Fernández-Aráoz, Claudio, Andrew Roscoe, and Kentaro
Aramaki. "Turning potential into success: The missing link in
leadership development."
Harvard Business Review
, vol. 95, no. 6, 2017, pp. 1-9.
Stibitz, Sara. "How to get a new employee up to speed."
Harvard Business Review

4. , 2015, pp. 1‑5.
2nd response to this classmate
Dear Professor Dibenedetto and Class
1. Describe an example of “learning by doing” that has helped
you or a colleague grow professionally.
I am a long-life learner in all aspects of my life. I have
developed a growth mindset. I have improved my life quality
and work as observe people doing things that I will not
ordinarily do well. One example that stands out in my pursuit of
learning by doing is how to do proper workforce planning,
which is a combination of HR concepts such as organization
design, budgeting, and job pricing. These are competencies that
involve knowledge in HR, finance and remuneration, and data
analytics. I realized that I do not have a budget to hire an
employee who is an expert in workforce planning, as it is a
critical skill in the insurance business. Most actuaries do not
want to work in HR but were keen to design a workforce tool. I
approached our CEO, who agreed that he would second an
actuary into HR to develop the tool. I used to watch him with
the design and play with the tool until it was executed.
2. What part of the experience could have been learned through
formal training?
There is no part in the learning process that I would say
required formal training. I am already a seasoned excel
spreadsheet practitioner; otherwise, I would have preferred
formal training as a beginner. I still believe that 70/20/10
learning is still relevant, where 10% is about formal learning.

5. 3. What did this experience teach that could not be taught
through formal training?
I currently do all my annual workforce planning and reporting
using the tool, and I have trained others in the team through
action learning and are using the tool in all our 33 countries.
We used the same tool during COVID-19 to schedule the
workforce and understand who can work from home indefinitely
(and only come as required), hybrid model, and tracking those
on sick leave due to the pandemic. We are also using it to plan
for the workforce plan during the recovery phase caused by the
pandemic as we want headcount growth not to increase by 2%
over the past three years. I would not gain a portfolio of diverse
skills in reward, budgeting, and data analytics at the same time
if it were not through action learning.
4. Should your organization create formal training to
complement its hands-on learning activities? Why or why not?
My organization has formal training programs supported by a
learning management system. Our main challenge is that
learning it is isolated from the day to day work requirements of
employees. I believe learning on the job through the 70/20/10
action learning process should be the norm. Learning can be
powerful if it is integrated into the daily workflow. As scholar
Josh coined, “there is a new paradigm of learning in the flow of
work.” The fourth industrial revolution tools such as AI,
automation, podcasts, youtube has enabled an environment
where lifelong learning is part of the economic imperative. For
employees, research now shows that development opportunities
have become the second most crucial factor in workplace
satisfaction (after the nature of the work itself). In my view, the
traditional corporate learning portal (the learning management
system) is rarely used (other than for mandatory compliance
training), and it often takes many clicks to find what you need.
Learning, therefore, ends up being reduced to important-but-
not-urgent matters.

6. References
Dr. John. E. Di Benedetto, H.R.M. ANNUAL, Executive On-
Boarding… Successfully Assimilating New Leaders, Week 4
JWI 521. 2020 JWI 521, Week 4 Lecture Notes, 2020