When I was younger I used to think that "training" involved a whole heap of deep, prescribed study or set of learning materials. You had to learn how to do things the right way - precisely by the book.
Now, here's something called the 70:20:10 Model for Learning and Development.
It reports the following influences on learning:
- 70% from challenging assignments (i.e. on-the-job training)
- 20% from developmental relationships
- 10% from coursework and training
The key insight here is that the majority of learning is actually done by hands-on doing! (Perhaps this is not so surprising to some)
The 70% figure suggests that this majority percentage is huge in proportion to the rest, which I find quite striking.
Maybe I just needed some confidence and encouragement that it okay and good that I keep on the path of "giving things a go", "trial and error" and "learning from mistakes", as challenging as this can be at times?
And to keep on seeking for that wisdom to be gained from the 10%, and the 20% through people (which is another thing to realise too)!
As applied to Christian ministry: "Ministry is caught not taught" (Colin Marshall, 1995, Growth Groups, pg 123)