It doesn’t matter very much what kind of job you have. The people, equipment, procedures and technology associated with your job are all changing.

Importantly, all employees must understand that these four things will continue to change. That’s why employees must also continue to learn, grow and change.

Today, there is a great need for accuracy, cost reduction, speed, quality and service. This is how companies compete. To help their employers reach t hese goals, successful people find ways to anticipate, learn about and adjust to the changes. They learn how to work with new processes, technology and equipment. They look for ways to help their employers increase accuracy, reduce costs, multiply speed, improve quality and achieve exceptional service.

Everything associated with those workplace changes can be understood and overcome with learning and knowledge. The people who continue to learn and gain knowledge can keep up with the changes and even create them. However, the people who stop learning will stand little chance of making the needed adjustments. With time, the people who stop learning simply become “dead wood.”

When young adults graduate from college and land a job, they sometimes feel that they have learned all they need to know. That is not true.
Successful people work hard to be on the cutting edge of change. They are the ones who are eager to create the changes. They understand that it is positive change that drives us into the future. Those who have become dead wood have little value to employers because they are no longer capable of change and fall further and further behind.

The challenge before each new college graduate is to develop an ongoing, never ending, desire to learn everything there is to know about their field of work and to look for, welcome and embrace the changes that lie ahead.

Successful people recognize that they themselves are responsible for keeping up with the changes in their field. Nobody can do it for them. Employees should not rely solely on their employers to do it for them. Some employers simply don’t recognize the need or are unable to afford the time and costs. Companies can become dead wood too. They are the ones that go out of business.

You can stay up with the changes in your field by doing the following:

- Reading job-related trade journals
- Holding discussions with associates
- Asking questions
- Conducting research on the competition
- Taking additional courses
- Joining professional associations
- Attending lectures and seminars
- Associating with the brightest in your company
- Writing articles, papers and books
- Conducting surveys
- Serving on an association board or committee
- Networking with the leaders in your field
- Volunteering to work on projects
- Accepting consulting assignments
- Touring other facilities
- Conducting interviews
- Exploring the internet
- Teaching a college course

Questions: Are you willing to slowly but surely become obsolete in your field simply because your employer can not or will not support your need to keep up? -or- Are you going to take personal responsibility for continually learning what you will need to learn, as things change?