What is an Individual Learning Objective
One of the most important parts of your learning is your ‘Individual Learning Objective,’ sometimes referred to as your ‘ILO’. In essence, the ILO is asking, what do you want to achieve from the effort you are putting in.
It will be supported by the ‘Sticky Pieces’ activity requests, which are emailed to you at the appropriate time between the foundation and advanced training days.
As Learners, you will be asked to identify an ‘Individual Learning Objective.’ This is a personal objective with the added challenge of having a new habit/skill up and running within 30 days.
How to Write a good Individual Learning Objective
Here is a great way to build your individual learning objective:
1. Start by picking a starting point:
- Within 30 days of completing this training course, I will be able to…
- At 30 days after this course, I will have a new habit that…
- During this training course, I will be capable of…
- During this training course, I will identify £10,000 of new sales opportunities.
2. Then add a verb and an existing habit to piggyback onto:
Explore, produce, analyse, select, track, recognise, compare, provide, etc.
For example;
By completing this course and within 30 days, I will track promotional effectiveness by updating my promotions spreadsheet at the same time as I create my weekly summary report.
3. Once you have the starting point and a verb, determine the actual product, process, or outcome you wish to achieve:
For example;
By completing this course within 30 days, I will track promotional effectiveness by updating my promotions spreadsheet at the same time as I create my weekly summary report. I can then analyse the data monthly to determine what is working, and what isn’t.
Examples of good and bad individual learning objectives
Good examples of Individual Learning Objectives are:
- Within 30 days of completing this course, I will have the new habit of assessing my project list against my KPI’s/KRA’s.
- At 30 days after this course I will have implemented and will use regularly, the following 3 tools in my category analysis; A, B, and C.
- By <date> I will have saved <£number> by preparing properly for each negotiation because I will piggyback preparation onto an existing task with the same frequency.
Bad examples of Individual Learning Objectives are:
- To be a better negotiator.
- To find more time for emails.
- To understand my category management much better.
Here is a list of items to check your Individual Learning Objective against:
- Review the course learning objectives because your ILO must have a strong link to what the course teaches.
- You must agree your ILO with your line manager because you’ll need their support to achieve it.
- Your ILO must be SMART, i.e: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely.
- Your ILO must look to create a new habit/skill that can be up and running within 30 days.
Please click on the below image to download a template and commence your journey.
