Showing posts with label learning from others. Show all posts
Showing posts with label learning from others. Show all posts

Thursday 23 March 2023

How to LEARN effectively?

 


How to LEARN effectively?  
(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)

As we have discussed the relevance of curiosity to learn new things on being energetic in the workplace, let us understand the different approaches to learning.

Information access is not a problem in today's internet age like earlier. However, authentic learning is about understanding the concept, its application, its variation in different contexts, and its insights.
 
There are various approaches to learning, and one needs to choose the choice of combination consistently.
 
Self-learning:

Get interested in any subject  /topic, pick up suitable media like books, online courses, and YouTube videos, listen to expert interviews, attend seminars, etc.

This type of learning needs self-initiative, interest, and focus.

At the beginning of my career, fortunately, one of my bosses introduced me to many books on manufacturing systems, which helped me get more interested in those subjects. Eventually, i extended to other subjects, which improved my learning interest.

Observing others @ workplace:

Observing others @ workplace is one of the most effective learning processes for developing behavior and management style. We shall observe the bosses, colleagues even junior colleagues from whom we can learn what to do and don't. (Good and bad behavior😎).

Through observation, i learned a lot from my bosses about handling conflicts and the communication process, 

You might have realized some of the mannerisms you got from your bosses and peers as they inspired and impacted you.
 
Being part of a cross-functional team:
 
Working with a diverse team is one of the best ways to learn more about ourselves. It brings a new dimension to our skills in managing interpersonal aspects, persuasion skills, and ability to tolerate others. When we work with others, we become vulnerable and expose our natural strengths and weakness of ourselves. That introspection will be effective learning.
 
People will learn more in a project management environment of any size than in a functional setup. That is why some organizations encourage more of the CFT approach in solving organizational problems in which people learn and contribute more, and the energy level would be enhanced.

Learning through Teaching :

The learning pyramid model advocates that one can learn more by teaching others than by any other form of learning.
Teaching means sharing what you learned with others the way they understand. In the process, you are thinking more about the concept, its application, and its example and learning the art of communication.
This teaching process will make our learning more effective as we internalize it.

Where can we start teaching?

We can start teaching with our colleagues and internal team. As a manager/leader, one must spend time with others to share their experiences and learnings. Teaching makes us effective learners of concepts and communication skills. Teaching needs passion and patience.
 
In summary,
  • learning can occur in any format and combination, depending on the individual and subject.
  • We must be aware of the learning approaches and open enough for continuous learning, as learning will shape us to the next level and be energetic.
 
Have a great week ahead!
 

Self-regulation -Curiosity to LEARN

 Self-regulation -Curiosity to LEARN 

(Execution Excellence -"Ability to get things done" Series)

 
As we outlined self-regulation practices to keep our energy level, we mentioned the mindset of acceptance, enhancing the circle of care, looking at everything from a TIME perspective, etc. One more important aspect i have observed in most effective people is a curiosity to LEARN.
 

Curiosity to LEARN :

Curiosity to learn means a strong desire to learn something NEW in the domain or field we work or something beyond the domain or field.

Learning continuously enhances our perspective about the domain, and the intent to learn makes us more energetic.

One interesting personality i came across in my consulting experience. I always admire his curiosity to learn something. Whenever i interact with him, he used to display pleasant looks and a high energy level, which i attribute to his interest in learning something new.

He has been from the financial domain throughout his career and claims to be a senior citizen!😎. Still, he works in a manufacturing organization to engage himself and actively contribute his experiences. He used to attend all my sessions. In one of the sessions, i  taught the complicated manufacturing system concept, which most engineers usually find difficult to understand and apply with ease. Even though he is from a financial background, he took the lead in using the concept in his manufacturing division and brought some clarity to his colleagues.
 
He could have excused himself by stating that the concept is far from his core finance domain or age limitations. What made him learn some complicated manufacturing subject is his curiosity to learn. He keeps himself engaged and displays high energy in his work.

Even today, he is a voracious reader of books on management, leadership, and philosophy, and he regularly recommends some books to me. Some of the books we mentioned here are all from his recommendation only.


i am correlating his energy level with his curiosity to learn.

The important learning is, irrespective of our age and background if we develop the curiosity to learn something new and keep ourselves engaged, it brings a unique perspective to our lives and makes us more energetic. 

People follow the person who displays energy in the workplace than passively.

 Have a great week ahead.

Friday 12 August 2022

Wisdom from Experience

 Last week, i happened to meet one of my coaches after 12 years gap. He is one of the highest-paid CEO coaches in India, and even now, he is very active in coaching and training high-profile people in business. 


In 2009, i attended his intense training programme, and he spotted me due to my peculiar and nasty😢 behaviors during the session. I benefited immensely from the programme, and he was instrumental in my decision to venture into coaching and consultancy.

I did not dare to contact him after the programme since he expects high performance from his students. Coincidentally, i completed ten years of my venture this month with reasonable impact or success. So, i thought of meeting him to express my gratitude to him for shaping my profession and asked for an appointment. Immediately he agreed to meet and met him in his office last week.

He had spent more than 75 minutes with me, and the discussion went around those horrible and enjoyable experiences in the training session, my venture experience, success/failures, revenue, growth aspects, and so on..He also shared some of his life experiences, and the meeting went on just casual.

after returning home, when i assimilated the conversations between us, stunningly, i realized that he shared many pearls of wisdom from his rich coaching experience just casually..( he did not charge anything as he seemed to be happy as a guru about my transformation/performance post-training session!!😊)

i thought even though it was a private discussion and the wisdom he shared with me could be helpful for anyone in the professional setup, either as an individual or an entrepreneur.

Hence i have listed some of the pearls of wisdom i learned as follows. 

1. Identfying the purpose of life at an early age is a must for everyone as it opens up huge potential and life experiences. He even suggested Simon Sinek's books on structurally learning the process of knowing our purpose..( sometime back, we shared the "start with why" book written by Simon Sinek).

2. Either individual or organization, one should know our "Core Competency"  and work on it than cribbing too much on weakness or competition

3. Know your niche and be aware of your core competency in business. Keep on polishing it rather than  diversifying in many skills  

4. You are known for your craft ....go depth on it and improvise it.

5. dilemma on scaling up or being content with the existing status quo is purely individual, or entrepreneur choice..what works for you will work for you. ...anything you make it happen if you decide on it either way...your temperament matters.

6. Do not copy any business model; each business model will work for the entrepreneur's mindset and values. What works for you, you will work and be happy with the process. The other side is always green, and you may not know the struggles in it.

7. one way of scaling up in today's environment is to productize your knowledge and experience in the niche segment.

8. You must be happy with what you have and what you are.


Hope you may relate it to your professional challenges

i thought those are profound, and wisdom comes from experience ..can be applied to anyone in life

Have a great week ahead.

Monday 18 September 2017

No effort or experience is waste

In personal and business environments, sometimes we may feel upset when our work is not recognized as it supposed to be or when the effort does not produce right results. If you observe some highly effective people, they continue to be persistent in their efforts and moved on. It is more perspective on how they look at the at the efforts and result.

You may be aware of the incident that happened to Thomas Alva Edison as he had done thousands of experiments to find an alternative for lead in storage batteries, but could not succeed.. When one of his associate friends asked about his  guilt  about his effort vs. result, Thomas replied, “ I have got a lot of results from effort’s.Now i  know several thousand things that won’t work.This learning experience will help me to find the right alternative”. Rest of the history we know. 

Key learning’s from highly effective people's perspective

1. Result is not in our hand, but effort
2. Each effort is not a waste, it gives experience to us
3. Life is all about experience 
4. One experience leads to another experience, by the way, we mature 
5. Eventually, your effort  & experience produces results.

The point is how we look at each experience, effort, moments in life and move on!