Resources

Competency guide

Learning and growth competency

Learning and growth means seeking useful feedback, learning from evidence, and applying that learning to improve personal and team capability.

Published by Peasy HRPublished 18 Aug 2026Updated 18 Aug 2026

Short answer

Learning and growth means seeking useful feedback, learning from evidence, and applying that learning to improve personal and team capability.

About Learning & growth

Seeks feedback, learns quickly, and continuously improves personal and team capability. Evidence comes from changed work and shared learning, not course attendance, enthusiasm, or claims about mindset.

Use this competency for

  • Assessing how feedback and experience lead to observable changes in work.
  • Setting expectations for closing skill gaps and making useful learning available to others.

Do not use this competency for

  • Do not use it to score curiosity, intelligence, training hours, or access to development opportunities.

Important distinctions

Adaptability

Adaptability concerns changing the current approach when conditions shift. Learning and growth concerns building lasting capability from feedback and experience.

Knowledge sharing

Knowledge sharing distributes information. Learning and growth requires evidence that capability or future work changed as a result.

Expectations by level

IC1

Applies feedback to defined work

Builds skill in well-defined work by seeking guidance, applying feedback, and checking whether the change improved the result.

Observable behaviors

  • Asks for feedback on a specific part of the work.
  • Applies relevant feedback in the next comparable task.
  • Records lessons from an error or unfamiliar assignment.

Examples

  • Uses review comments to revise a checklist for the next task.
  • Practices an unfamiliar workflow with guidance and then completes it independently.

IC2

Directs own capability growth

Independently identifies capability gaps in ambiguous work, tests ways to improve, and transfers useful learning to peers.

Observable behaviors

  • Chooses a development goal tied to recurring work evidence.
  • Tests a new method and compares its result with the previous approach.
  • Shares a reusable lesson with the people who face similar work.

Examples

  • Uses repeated review findings to choose and track a focused skill goal.
  • Documents when a new method works and where it does not.

IC3

Builds capability across teams

Addresses complex capability needs across teams by creating learning loops, standards, or development opportunities grounded in work evidence.

Observable behaviors

  • Identifies a shared capability gap from repeated outcome patterns.
  • Creates opportunities to practice and receive feedback on complex work.
  • Evaluates whether a learning intervention changed later performance.

Examples

  • Builds a review practice after tracing recurring defects to the same skill gap.
  • Updates a shared standard after comparing results from two approaches.

Add Learning and growth

Use the free builder to connect each level to the feedback loops, skill gaps, and capability evidence relevant to your Function.

Build your framework

Common questions

Should completed courses count as evidence?

A course can support development, but assessment evidence should show how learning changed work, decisions, or capability.

What if feedback is not useful?

People need not apply every comment. Look for whether they examine relevant input, seek clarity, and explain their evidence-based response.

How can managers avoid access bias?

Assess learning within the opportunities available and ensure comparable access to feedback, practice, and development support.

Related resources

Competency guide

Ownership competency

Ownership means taking responsibility for an outcome, following through on commitments, and acting on blockers before they become surprises.

View competency

Competency guide

Customer focus competency

Customer focus means understanding customer needs, weighing relevant trade-offs, and delivering value that matters to users or buyers.

View competency

Function template

People Operations competency framework template

This People Operations Function defines communication, ownership, policy design, and cycle operations with evidence a manager can cite. Use it as a starting draft, then edit names, levels, and examples to match how your team actually works.

View template
Learning and growth competency framework | Peasy HR