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Learning through movement

In the last article I pondered over challenging experiences that tickle learning. The research 'Lessons of Experience'[1] highlighted 'relocation' or movement as one experience that often-triggered learning. As a child I remember learning a small verse in Marathi which translates as, “If you travel to a new country, if you become friends with the learned or if you move around in intellectual gatherings, you become witty". Movement is natural to us. Birds and animals migrate. Some communities migrate seasonally to cope with harsh situations, like the shepherds of Maharashtra migrating towards the Sahayadris at the onset of summer. (We used to often cross such herds while commuting a few years back. But I have not seen one in the recent past). That movement is to cope with the harsh external environment. But the advantage of movement is felt even otherwise. Almost every community, every religion has the concept of “pilgrimage”. I have personally met people who walk to Pandharpur with the palkhi. They were not superstitious; in fact, they had clear ideas about their religious outlook. But they felt that the experience was very enriching. Many of us get captivated by wanderlust because we like such experiences.

So what is it that drives learning in such wandering? Learning is essentially noting new patterns and refining our existing patterns. When I am moving, I am changing the environment around me. Naturally, the new environment will provide new patterns, and will also challenge my current assumptions. Put into a new situation, I am more observant of differences; I am more open to take inputs and more ready to accept changes. It thus creates a very nice setting for learning.

And what do we learn in the process? Well, it depends on the person. What is their expectation from the experience? That expectation drives the data that is going to be processed. As I discussed in my first few articles, it is all about what we observe. There are some people who want to tell the whole world that when they traveled, they saw 'so many' monuments, gardens, museums etc. They rush from one tourist spot to another. The objective is to take a selfie, post it and not really bother about knowing anything about the place.  Naturally, such a person will only note the time taken for journey, showstoppers in the transit and the 'shortest' possible route. It is still learning, but the choice of data is based on observation.

In contrast, there could be someone who wants to cherish only one spot. Visit it more often, read about it, talk about it. The learning may be restricted to one spot, but that was the objective anyway.

Our interests also influence what we observe. Whichever country I traveled to, I always liked to take public transport, move in marketplaces, watch the crowd. Whereas someone else may want the quietness, serenity, or grandeur. All of these will influence what we have learnt.

Yet another aspect of the learning is your readiness to observe and absorb change. Do you consider change as alien, something that you need to endure, or you find it interesting? The uncle next door to me was proudly narrating how he had wada pav in his Europe tour. He would eat pasta or pizza in India but was reluctant to try the local cuisine in Europe. Again, there may be zones where we feel comfortable to accept changes. This uncle probably was not comfortable trying gastronomic adventures outside his home. Because as we move, there is also sense of insecurity. We want to protect some part of us, and not agree to change until familiarity is established.

That protection leads to formation of a restrictive wall around us, so that we maintain our identity. I remember when I first traveled to the US, when I was curiously trying to relate and absorb, I was still trying to compare with my old state, and almost always agreeing that I would rather be in the old state. While we observe the data, we will synthesize it based on our prejudices and preferences. Learning will accordingly be taking a direction driven by these prejudices and preferences.

But our research in “Lessons of Experience” brought forward movement, which was a shift in location, shift in project, shift in technology. Essentially, it was a shift at the same level but in new circumstances. And since, in such movement, the business objectives have to be met, learning was also related to cultures. Getting to the nuances of the cultural landscape helps the leader learn tolerance and accept diversity more easily. It is not necessary to travel abroad for learning this difference. India itself has such a rich variety. That variety is when you are reading about it, but it can really be hard when you have to live through it. Even within states, there are notable differences.

I grew up in Mumbai, the city notorious for its pace of life. But I was at ease with its rush. When I moved to Pune, I felt everything (and everyone) was so slow.  A couple of years before that, my husband moved to Bangalore and also found the place to be very slow. This was Bangalore in early 80s. Even now it is slow but that is probably because of traffic jams. Jokes apart, movement highlights cultural differences – the way people approach situations, their sensitivities, their preferences.

A new place also means you need to seek help. You have to depend on relationships. You have to build new relationships. This leads to another set of learning related to how we engage with people, when to trust others and when not to trust!

For a business leader, such movement also highlights structural differences. The compliance requirements, the working condition differences, differences due to physical conditions such as weather etc. make the leader aware of new ideas and new approaches. The leader can then experiment with these ideas if and when he returns.

Till now I talked about physical location movement. Let me also discuss about movement in function, department or project. This movement does not disturb the larger setting, but it disturbs the atmosphere around and that brings in new change. A long time Purchase person moving to Sales, an executive in manufacturing moving to HR, brings in so many changes in terms of priorities, objectives, challenges, people around you etc. that it is as good as new location. It provides a broader view of the organization, and thus the leader becomes a general manager. However, I have met so many organizations that resist such a change. The senior leaders are not ready to release or accept a person (They are OK if the person leaves the organization but are not OK if the person moves to another department). In some of my assignments, I tried to convince the leaders for such movement but all that as done was to give some lip service. On the other hand, I have also seen organizations where not only managers, but workers are also encouraged to move on, and it shows in the results.

Business leader or not, one should keep moving. At least I enjoyed my movements in terms of roles and locations. Sometimes these movements were tiring, sometimes they were just fine, but they were always exciting! Do you feel so as well? Let me know.

 


[1] “How Indian Leaders Learn” was a research project conducted jointly by Tata Management Training Center and Center for Creative Leadership in 2006-2007. In the study, we interviewed senior business leaders, asking them “What are the key events in your life that you think helped you develop as leaders, and what did you learn from them?” 

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