LEADERS who think and act with the same assumptions and behaviors
they’ve used for years are prone to stagnate, underperform or derail. To
sustain success, you must develop learning agility.
Learning agility is
the capacity for rapid, continuous learning from experience. Agile
learners are good at making connections across experiences, and they’re
able to let go of perspectives or approaches that are no longer useful.
Here are ways you can develop your learning agility.
1. Ask for feedback.
Think of one or more people who interacted with you or observed your
performance on a given task. Tell them you’d value their perspective on
how you did, and ask what you could do
differently the next time. To
maximise learning from their feedback, restrain any urge to defend
yourself.
2. Experiment with new approaches or behaviors.
Conduct thought experiments, unearthing possibilities from trying out a
different point of view. For example, one woman was concerned about
leading a new team of highly talented managers. With some reflection,
she realised that she had gotten stuck in the perspective that in order
to be seen as credible, she had to know more than they did. By letting
go of the assumption that she had to be the subject-matter expert and
adopting the perspective that she could add greater value as a
facilitator, she was able to design and carry out a meeting at which
creative ideas flowed freely.
3. Look for connections across seemingly unrelated areas.
Choose a domain you have expertise in but that’s unrelated to your work
and ask yourself how you might apply that knowledge to your current
challenge.
4. Make time for reflection. A growing
body of research shows that systematically reflecting on work
experiences boosts learning significantly. To ensure continuous
progress, get into the habit of asking yourself questions like "What
have I learned from this experience?" and "What turned out differently
than I expected?"
(Adapted from "4 Ways to Become a Better Learner" at HBR.org.)
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