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On-the-Job Learning

10 min read

On-the-Job Learning

Dimension: Capability · Type: Foundation

A structured way to make onboarding, reassignment, parental leave replacement, and partial handovers into designed learning events. Mentoring Plan Map plus a Skills + Mindset + Toolkit prep frame.

Introduced by Paola Pinto (UN Global Service Centre) at the Mentoring 2.0, From Top-Down to All-Around session of the UN Inter-Agency Career Week 2026, on 8 May 2026. Paola anchored the practice in the UN Secretariat’s CDOT Mentoring Essentials Workshop, which her colleagues designed and deliver.

The framework

Two layers: a Mentoring Plan Map that mentor and mentee design together (Scan, SMART goals, Personalised plan), and a Skills + Mindset + Toolkit preparation frame for the mentor.

When to use it

  • When a new colleague joins (from another organisation, from outside the UN, from an internship, JPO or YPP track).
  • During reassignment or reskilling, when someone is moving into a different function with overlapping but not identical skills.
  • When a separation is anticipated (retirement, resignation with a handover period) and the institutional knowledge needs to transfer.
  • For parental leave replacement, where the temporary replacement needs to perform under timeline pressure.
  • For partial handovers (a portfolio split, a project change, a temporary acting role).
  • Whenever you find yourself thinking “I will just send them the handover notes and let them figure it out”, that is the signal to use this instead.

What you need

  • A mentor (more experienced colleague) and a mentee (the person learning).
  • A clearly defined role or scope of responsibilities for the mentee.
  • 30 to 60 minutes for the initial Plan Map design, then a recurring cadence (typically weekly to fortnightly) for review and adjustment.
  • Optional but strongly recommended: the mentor has completed the UN Secretariat CDOT Mentoring Essentials Workshop, or has worked through the Skills + Mindset + Toolkit prep below.

The case for formalising it

Most UN offices encounter the moments above. Most leave them unstructured. The cost is the experience most participants will recognise: handover notes, hundreds of documents, and emails to navigate alone, with no real-time guidance. The result is slow time-to-performance, the new colleague feeling unwelcome, and damage to the office’s reputation in the meantime.

Four reasons to formalise the practice:

  • Acceleration. Skills build while the mentee is already performing, with timely feedback from the mentor. The learning curve is shorter.
  • Knowledge preservation. Institutional knowledge transfers from seasoned to junior staff in a structured way, not through chance.
  • Culture of continuous learning. Embedded learning becomes a routine rather than an event, aligned with organisational values.
  • Engagement and retention. New staff feel welcomed and supported. The first ninety days set the trajectory for the next two years.

The implicit point: every UN office has these moments. Few treat them as designed learning events. The cost is invisible because the alternative is so common it looks like the baseline.

The Mentoring Plan Map

A three-stage process that the mentor and mentee design and implement together.

Stage 1. Scan

Identify the learning gaps between the mentee’s current state and the role’s requirements. The Scan is structured, not impressionistic. It usually pairs with a job task list and a micro needs analysis (what specific tasks does the role require, where is the mentee already capable, where are the gaps).

Stage 2. SMART goals based on the gaps

Set Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound goals against the gaps surfaced in the Scan. The time-binding matters: it makes progress legible to both mentor and mentee, and it allows for course correction when learning needs evolve. Goals should be revisited and adjusted as needs change.

Stage 3. Personalised on-the-job learning plan

Designed jointly with the mentee, calibrated to their specific learning style, prior experience, and current state. Not a generic curriculum but a personalised path through the role’s actual tasks. The plan typically includes:

  • A sequence of tasks of increasing complexity, scaffolded by the mentor.
  • Specific learning moments embedded in real work (not separated training sessions).
  • Feedback rhythms (when, how, by whom).
  • Checkpoints to revisit goals and the plan.

The plan is a working document, not a final artefact. Revisit and update as the mentee progresses.

Mentor preparation: Skills + Mindset + Toolkit

Not everybody is born a mentor, and seniority alone does not equip someone for the role. Preparation matters. The session anchored on the UN Secretariat’s CDOT Mentoring Essentials Workshop, which structures mentor preparation along three dimensions.

Skills

  • Active listening at a deeper level. Beyond hearing the words. Listening for the unstated, the hesitation, the implicit question.
  • Awareness of communication styles. People communicate differently. The mentor adapts to the mentee’s style, not the reverse.
  • Awareness of learning styles. Some learn by doing, some by watching, some by reading, some by talking through. The plan adapts.
  • Timely, specific feedback. Both giving and seeking. Vague feedback (“you are doing well”) does not produce learning. Specific feedback (“the way you framed the recommendation in section 3 was strong because X; the executive summary needs Y”) does.

Mindset

  • Psychological safety. The mentee has to be able to ask basic questions, admit confusion, and try things that might fail. Without psychological safety, the mentee defaults to looking competent rather than learning.
  • Awareness of intentional and unintentional behaviours. A senior person’s casual comment can land as a verdict. Mentors notice the impact of their behaviour, not just its intent.
  • Flexibility. Remain open to the mentee’s input. The mentor does not have all the answers. The relationship is two-way; the mentee often surfaces things the mentor needs to learn.

Toolkit

  • Templates, checklists, conversation guides usable during the journey.
  • A Scan template, a SMART goals template, a Plan template, a feedback log.
  • Specific guidance for difficult moments (when the mentee is struggling, when the timeline slips, when expectations need to be re-set).

The triad together is what equips a mentor. Skills without mindset produces a competent technician who does not produce psychological safety. Mindset without skills produces a kind colleague who cannot give specific feedback. Toolkit without the other two produces empty paperwork.

The CDOT workshop has three prerequisites: completion of the online course “The Art of Mentoring”, attendance at a pre-workshop seminar, and completion of a job task and micro needs analysis. The point of the prerequisites is that the workshop builds on a baseline; the workshop itself is the integration.

Steps

  1. Identify the moment. A new colleague is arriving, a reassignment is happening, a separation is coming. Decide deliberately to structure it.
  2. Identify the mentor. A more experienced colleague who has the relevant knowledge, demonstrates strong communication skills, and has the commitment to transmit learning. Seniority alone is not the criterion.
  3. Mentor prep. Skills + Mindset + Toolkit. If a workshop is available, take it. If not, work through the prep manually.
  4. First conversation between mentor and mentee. Run the Scan together. The mentee’s voice is essential here; do not present a Scan you have already completed.
  5. Set SMART goals based on the Scan. Co-create. Time-bound. Revisitable.
  6. Design the Personalised plan. Sequence of tasks, embedded learning moments, feedback rhythm, checkpoints.
  7. Run the cadence. Weekly to fortnightly check-ins for the first three months, then taper. Adjust the plan as needs evolve.
  8. Close. End the OJL relationship deliberately, with a final review of what was learned, what is still in progress, and how the mentee will continue.

Worked example

A regional office is bringing on a P-3 programme analyst transferring from another agency. Two weeks before arrival, the supervisor decides to run On-the-Job Learning rather than the usual handover-notes-and-emails approach.

  • Mentor identification. The unit’s senior programme officer, a P-4 with eight years in the function, agrees to mentor. She has not done a structured OJL before. She enrols in CDOT’s Mentoring Essentials Workshop and completes the prerequisite online course before the mentee arrives.
  • First conversation, week 1. Mentor and mentee run the Scan together. The mentee’s prior agency had different reporting structures and partner networks. Three gaps surface: agency-specific donor reporting templates and rhythms, the regional partner network, the agency’s particular use of results-based management.
  • SMART goals. Three goals, each with a specific deliverable and a date. (1) Produce the first solo donor report by week 8, with two iterations of feedback. (2) Lead a partner check-in call independently by week 6, having shadowed two and co-led one. (3) Complete a results framework review for one programme by week 12.
  • Plan. Tasks sequenced from observation (weeks 1 and 2), to co-execution (weeks 3 to 5), to lead-with-support (weeks 6 to 8), to independent execution with feedback (weeks 9 onward). Embedded learning moments at each stage. Weekly 30-minute check-ins.
  • Cadence. Weekly check-ins for 12 weeks, then fortnightly for the next three months. Plan adjusted at week 6 because the mentee’s data-skills baseline was higher than expected; results framework review brought forward.
  • Close. End-of-quarter review. Two of three goals fully met, the third in progress. Plan handed to the mentee for self-direction; the mentor moves to a less intensive consultative role.

By month four, the mentee is operating at full P-3 level. By month six, she is independent. The same trajectory under handover-notes-only typically takes nine to twelve months and produces frustration on both sides.

On organisational integration

Three structural conditions make on-the-job learning sustainable beyond individual goodwill:

  • Integrate into HR and learning strategies. OJL is a recognised practice with templates, training, and leadership backing.
  • Communicate it explicitly. Staff know it exists, understand when it applies, and can request or offer it.
  • Reward mentors in the performance document. The work is real; recognising it formally reinforces the practice.
  • Secure leadership sponsorship. Without leadership signalling that this is part of how the office operates, the practice depends on individual goodwill and decays over time.

Without these conditions, OJL works for the people who happen to know about it and disappears for everyone else.

Pitfalls

  • Treating it as orientation. Orientation is the first week (passwords, building tour, who-does-what). OJL runs for three to twelve months and produces actual capability transfer.
  • Skipping mentor preparation. A senior colleague who has not been prepared usually defaults to either over-instructing (no space for the mentee to think) or under-engaging (“you will figure it out”). Neither produces learning.
  • No cadence. “We will catch up when needed” reliably produces no catch-ups. A scheduled rhythm is essential, especially in the first three months.
  • A plan that does not adjust. The first plan is a hypothesis. The mentee’s real strengths and gaps surface in the first few weeks. The plan must update.
  • No close. OJL drifts into informal advice-giving, and neither party knows when it has ended. A deliberate close converts the experience into self-direction.
  • Confusing OJL with shadowing. Shadowing is observation only. OJL has the mentee performing real work with structured support, which is what produces capability.
  • Reward asymmetry. When the mentor’s contribution is invisible in the performance system, the practice depends on goodwill alone. Goodwill is finite.

When not to use it

When the role is genuinely simple and the new colleague has substantial prior experience in an identical role. In that case, handover notes plus an open door for questions is enough. OJL is for cases with real learning to do.

When neither party has time. OJL is structured time, not bonus time. If neither the mentor nor the mentee can protect the cadence, the practice will not work. Better to acknowledge the constraint than to start a structured plan that collapses in week three.

When the moment is too short for OJL to mature (a two-week handover before a separation). Use a compressed handover format with structured Q&A rather than the full Plan Map.

How I use it

Personal note pending. Davide to fill.

Notes compiled by Davide Piga. Last updated 2026-05-09.

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