Leadership Notes -- Thoughts on Leading People and Making a Difference in Organizations

Word count this issue: 342

Estimated reading time:  2.45 minutes

I’ve been thinking a lot about learning recently. What are my learnings this year? What are some of the ways we can enhance the learning of our selves and our teams during this challenging economy and the emerging one we are already experiencing?

One way is to make the learning as visceral as possible. The idea of visceral learning is simple. In the words of a great teacher of mine, Juanita Brown, “the collected wisdom of any given room is exponentially greater than the wisdom of the person standing next to the PowerPoints.” Learning styles vary from person to person, each of us want to learn in our own style, and on your own terms. More often than not, though group learning is a key to success. That is not to say that people with the knowledge already in hand are not useful; but rather than standing at the front of the room telling us what to do next, the appropriate role is standing/sitting within the group, guiding and coaching. Watch a group of kids learn to skip rope, or play a game of street hockey. The wisdom is already in the group; there may be an older sister or brother who explains the basics, and corrects and guides, but it is the kids themselves, immersed and in the group who actually play the game; and with practice become very adept at it. The worst thing the older sister or brother could do would be to line all the kids up in a row, wheel in a data projector and give a 1 hour lecture on skipping rope or playing street hockey. So why on earth would we expect that education, training and learning in our networks or teams would work any differently?

I wonder then, what have been the best learning experiences for you this year, and how can you be more visceral in your learning next year?