It’s Time to Be a Learner Again

It’s a presumptuous title. Because I don’t know where you are as a learner as you read these words.

I’ll stand by it.

Regardless of our age, disposition, or current learning-willingness.

It’s time.

Why Learning is So Important Now

• We are at a learning crossroads. Available to us today are only useful tools if we know how to use them. If we want to succeed in this changing world, we must roll up our sleeves, start trying, and keep learning. How (and how much) are you learning about new technologies, especially AI?
• Learning helps us navigate uncertainty. Uncertainty will always exist. And the best way to combat the negative reactions we have to it is to remain a learner, and to remind ourselves we can move forward, despite the uncertainty.
• We have more options than ever. The AI tools we have available to us today are not just the learning imperative, they are also part of the learning opportunity. We can use these tools to learn in ways we've never learned before. Reading or listening or attending training are no longer our main options. The number of ways we can learn has never been more varied or easier to apply.
• Learning makes us human. Peter Senge wrote this in The Fifth Discipline:  “Real learning gets to the heart of what it means to be human . . .through learning, we re-perceive the world and our relationship to it.”
• We can be the example. As we learn, we show and inspire others to be learners too. And as a leader, that is one of the most powerful examples we can provide. Do you want them following your example as a learner?

What’s Possible Now

A month ago, I couldn't write a line of code. I couldn't imagine creating an app of any kind.

Today I've created two that I can use whenever I want.

I didn't do it by studying code. I did it by learning how to use AI tools to create the result I wanted. The tools handled the code. I did the learning, and I came out the other side with something useful I couldn't have made a month ago.

That's new. And it's available to you right now, applied to whatever matters to you, if you're willing to start.

Here’s some help if you are ready to start (or restart) as a continuous learner. 

How Leaders Can Build a Learning Culture

If that is possible for me, it’s possible for you and your people. Here’s how you can make that happen with your team:

• Make learning safe. People want to learn but sometimes it doesn't feel safe to learn, especially in an organizational environment. If people are afraid of making mistakes, which naturally occur when we are learning, they are less likely to learn or they will keep that learning silent and separate from their work life. How safe do your people feel to learn, try, and make mistakes?
• Give people time. Learning takes time, and organizations must give people time to learn! Traditionally this meant offering training, and that can be a part of the solution. But we must look beyond formalized and organizationally based solutions. I'm suggesting that the organization, including leaders and supervisors, must provide time in the workday for people to learn and grow. How can you carve out the time, or raise learning as a priority for your team members?
• Help them see new options. Organizations must help people see how they can use new technologies to learn in new ways, including some that have never existed before. We must help them move beyond the traditional learning approaches they've seen and expected in organizational life. What options are you giving or showing them?
• Celebrate learning, not just end results. Organizations need to get better at celebrating learning and growth because they support the end results they want. If we only celebrate end results, people will stay in safer zones using existing approaches rather than reaching for new learning. What do you celebrate?

The time is now. Where will you start?

Pick one thing.

And start.

I’m leading a webinar in partnership with the Training Magazine Network July 28th at 3 pm ET titled: Three Critical Components to Create Training for Real World Impact. If you want to create more learning and learners in your organization, join me.