How did you learn today?

What I like most about this week’s question is that it’s presumptuous.

I’m assuming that you’re always seeking to learn. And I am of course not alone in my belief that a life of leadership is the adoption of a never-ending journey. Helping others in your sphere of influence to activate their own learning journey is absolutely vital for leaders, especially when you consider that;

learning organisations are 30% more likely to be brand leaders,

according to innovation thought-leader Dr Simone Ahuja.

The crux of this question is how rather than what you are learning. By focusing on creating the conditions, motivation and process for learning, we ensure that we will do so come what may.

What we learn will need to vary frequently. How we learn is a progressive process that needs to be learnt. This is compounded when you look at learning teams and organisations.

Learning as a process is propelled by curiosity and sustained in cultures with high levels of trust, psychological safety and optimism. Needless to say, how to learn begins by cultivating these conditions for yourself, your team and your organisation.

Let’s consider some questions directly related to these three learning sustaining structures;

• Is the language you use with your team encouraging them to experiment and make time to review the results?
• When you interact with your teams, do you do so empathetically, authentically and consistently?
• Do you share with your team what you know, and what you recognise you don’t know?
• Have you created a space in your team’s schedule to share learnings and ideas that the team have encountered through their work or external sources (books, courses, seminars etc)?
• Do you have a specific place to capture your ideas as they occur to you?
• When was the last time you reviewed your ideas book? Can you identify and consistent themes in your ideation?

Disclaimer — If you’ve read any of my previous articles or watched any of my videos, you’d know that I do not consider myself an expert at much. I do however consider myself very good at rigorously seeking out the right experts for me to grow with. As I like to say — I do not have any answers, all I can do is ask better questions.

Therefore, a further thought to share on how to learn. I have benefited I’ve benefited immensely from applying techniques from these three books books; Indistractable by Nir Eyal, Deep Work by Cal Newport and How We Learn by Stanislas Dehaene. If you are serious about improving how you learn, I highly recognise spending some time with these three sources in whichever medium you find most beneficial for your learning.

As always, I hope you’ve found both this question, and these variations helpful.

Thanks for your time and attention — both are very much respected and appreciated.