Learning experiences

In the articles so far, I discussed the learning process. Taking it forward in the coming set of articles, let me share some thoughts on specific situations that could provide opportunities to learn. The backdrop to this is a research project that I was involved in Tata Management Training Center – ‘Lessons of Experience’ , the data that I gathered about competency development of SME leaders as part of my PhD research, and also the information that I capture while interacting with participants who attend my workshops. The idea behind the upcoming articles is to explore the opportunities of learning, and the process of learning in these situations. 

This set of articles will include learning through challenging assignments, learning through movement, the boss as a facilitator, learning through mistakes, triggering self-realization, learning through structured interventions, learning Business leadership, learning from family, learning about relationships, and more.

But before I plunge into these specific aspects, let me share with you the backdrop of these articles.

Learning is not restricted to people in ‘leadership’ position like business leaders alone. Everyone, in every walk of life, is trying to comprehend and learn. But my exposure to business leadership situations is much detailed due to my engagements and my study. I may have some observations about how a mechanic learns to maintain a vehicle, or how a mother of a newborn learns to manage the baby, but I have not worked on it systematically. On the other hand, when it comes to business leaders, I have spent time studying various aspects. So, these articles will focus on business leadership.

 At the same time, we talk about business leaders themselves. In the Indian context, business leadership is often associated with designation. The higher the post, the 'bigger' the leader. If a person does not get promoted at a normal or super normal pace, he often goes out of the radar for talent development. It may be though that the person is not growing in designation for the reasons other than incompetence, and may still have a strong desire to learn. Most of the data that I collected was from “successful” leaders. However, my experiences are not restricted to only those who are successful. 

The process of growing as a business leader provides many opportunities to learn. Here, we should notice the special features in business leadership in contrast with social leadership. First of all, the role of such a leader is always changing. With the change in role, different skills are required which the leader has to learn. The role of the leader changes due to personal growth and organizational growth. To illustrate, a young team leader has to demonstrate strong people skill. As he grows to become SBU head, he has to demonstrate strategic skills.  Thus, leadership development never stops. Another point to note is that a business leader is often selected and not elected. The business leader may get into leadership positions not because the followers choose him, but mostly because his leaders feels that he should take that role. Thus, the skill of influencing followers has to be acquired by such a leader. The leadership role has to operate in many (often contradicting) dimensions. A leader has to learn to cope with these dimensions. The business leader is neither conversant with all the dimensions nor is comfortable in all dimensions at the same time.

Going beyond the 'role', I came across various instances that reflected an organization’s approach towards learning while I interacted with clients. Let me share some with you.

I wrote case studies of large projects. I observed that project design and planning was done at one location by one set of people while execution was at another location by a different group of people. The planners do not have any ‘direct’ learning from execution, and the people who execute do not have access to the reflective observations which drove the planners.  

Another organization encouraged learning intervention. However, there was absolute emphasis on completion and score. Although everyone appreciates Three Idiots – the movie that raised core questions about education and learning – when it comes to actual implementation, many talent development activities revolve around achieving numbers. I created courses with many e-modules of short duration. The idea was that a person will spend a few minutes every day on the subject, let the learning get absorbed and continue the next day. But in this organization, there was a big rush to complete modules as soon as possible. Absorption, reflection and application were simply less relevant.

Yet another organization had a very harsh approach towards ‘merit’. In that organization, mistakes were not tolerated. In the process, no one talked about the mistakes, or blamed the mistake on someone else or else portrayed the mistakes as mishaps. The impact of such a culture on innovation, teamwork and employee satisfaction is important. But for me the impact on learning was also important.

When a manager interrupts a person attending a workshop, or recalls or blocks their participation, the team is given signals such as ‘Your current performance is more critical in the organization’, ‘You are too critical in your current role and you can grow only if you perform that role’, 'Provide lip service to development initiatives’ and so on. The participant follows the clue, and thus, an organization culture of apathy towards development keeps evolving.

When it comes to smaller enterprises, the organizations are not ready to invest at all. I remember talking to an SME leader who asked me why he should spend on training a new joinee. According to him, the trainee should have learnt whatever was required as part of their college education. The learning canvas of SMEs is a very different topic. I will touch upon it at a later date.

While organizational culture influences the learning of the group, learning itself differs according to each individual. Here, the factors in play are the person’s individual abilities, psychological and cognitive nature, and the motivation to learn. The nature and extent of learning will also depend on the abilities and demands of the learning situation. For example, a person with limited skills and low comfort level with numbers would find a training program on subjects like finance a ‘not-so comfortable’ learning experience that may not lead to learning. Therefore, it is important for a person to be aware of their learning preferences and impediments.

But there are organizations that are actively involved in learning, and there are people who are sensitive about learning, ready to develop through various experiences. My next set of articles will present such learning experiences.

I look forward to your comments and ideas.

Happy learning!