It is clear that in the world we live in, a fixed mentality does not bring many advantages. Every leader has to embrace change in the present times and continuously improve as a life purpose.
We need an "infinite" mentality as Simon Sinek says in "The inifinite Game", or at least we need a growth mentality, where people feel comfortable learning, developing knowledge and growing both personally and professionally, embracing interaction in uncertain environments.
The main triggers for learning agility are:
- Innovation, to question the status quo and challenge assumptions in order to discover new paths.
- Action, to learn from experience by managing the stress caused by ambiguity, with observation and active listening.
- Reflection, to continually seek feedback with enthusiasm.
- Risk, yes, to venture into unknown territory, there are new things to try out there, and to generate a progressive risk, not a sudden one.
On the contrary, the destroyer of any possibility of learning agility is defense, as the amiable reminds us (fleeing / fighting).
Among the skills that allow us to have learning agility are
- to be more social, to want to interact with more people (although in the present time it is more difficult physically it is not it in way online with meetups, congresses, conferences, networks interconnected with common likings)
- to have focus, in order to be more focused on our objective, we need a purpose on which to focus, what for? i want or need this learning, what will it bring me, in what advantageous situation will it place me, in what environment can i experience it?
- Being more original, going outside our comfort zone challenges our own beliefs and opens us up to being more permeable to other points of view, and to embracing new perspectives.
- Being less complacent, is related to the previous one, if we challenge ourselves as a practical exercise, am I aligned with my beliefs, values, principles, are they the right ones, in what situations should my behaviors change to grow personally and professionally?
A very accurate pattern for not being complacent, being more original, having focus and questioning our learning is to start from positive experience vs. negative experience.
How would you describe the situation you have had as a positive experience?
What was the end result of the positive experience?
How would you describe the situation you had as a negative experience?
What was the end result of the negative experience?
Let's place more value on what we learn from our own experiences than from other people or formal learning.
To do this, let's consider the following aspects:
- Quantity : the more experiences the better, responsibilities unknown to us, new instructions, inherited problems, problems with peers, taking certain risks, certain external pressures, influence without authority, interaction with different cultures and diverse groups.
- Quality : the intensity of the experience, as a novelty or complex.
- Diversity: The variety of experiences, with new people and new situations.
The creation of learning patterns is very important, it allows us to internalize the mode and carry it out in an iterative way by introducing it into our mentality, our habits and behaviors.
LEARNING PATTERN:
- What did I learn about my work?
- What things did I learn about work by interacting with other people?
- What things did I learn about myself?
By internalizing this pattern on a daily - weekly basis, you will perform better than your colleagues, learn new information more quickly, learn to interact more effectively, be more adaptable to working globally, and remove from your backpack knowledge that you learned but have not put into practice or that you no longer bring to the current context (Diogenes syndrome).
To do this we must combine the previous learning pattern with the learning experience pattern.
LEARNING EXPERIENCE PATTERN:
- Search : Willingness for new, challenging and extendable situations.
- Understanding : Curiosity and willingness to experiment, Why, How, Why not?
- Interiorization : With continuous feedback.
- Application : Applying what has been learned to adapt quickly.
These patterns will allow you to expand your mental model, taking advantage of each new experience as an opportunity to learn, the further out of my comfort zone you go the better you will tell yourself, focusing more on the experience than on the results of it, appropriating the experience to know when it is time to move forward, in this way you will look for the limits of your comfort zone, you will take risks to learn, you will define the opportunity cost that untapped experiences have, listening to your internal clock and challenging yourself, looking for experiences outside of work that expand your network and your knowledge enriching you.
