Focus on Continuous Learning
Do you know what continuous learning means? This resource addresses the meaning of continuous learning and provides strategies to be a leader through continuous learning.
Just what is continuous learning?
Continuous learning has been called by many names, such as life-long learning and constant learning. Whatever the name, it the concept of consistently and constantly expanding your knowledge. It means going above and beyond what you are learning in school, and soaking in information constantly, like a sponge!
Companies talk a lot about providing continuous learning opportunities because with learning, individuals grow - and that can often make them more motivated! Continuous learning can help us enhance our cognitive ability and help us to come up with creative solutions to problems our business faces. Often, the Human Resource Department will help facilitate continuous learning, such as providing seminars and workshops on leadership development, and problem solving. For example, did you know that Pixar Animation Studios has a school called Pixar University, where any employee can attend a free class? The classes aren't all related to animation skills, either - they have options in painting, ballet and even film-making. How do you think this makes Pixar successful? You guessed it - by allowing employees the opportunity to learn, they are creating new skills which help them become a more well-rounded person.
Are you wondering how you can focus on continuous learning to enhance your leadership skills? Here are some ideas:
- Be open to new experiences that may be out of your comfort zone
- Take an online class
- Watch YouTube videos to learn how to do something you've never done before
- Look up concepts and words when you aren't sure what they mean
- Read books
- Attend a conference, webinar
What is learning agility?
Learning agility is the concept of being able to learn something and adapt that learning based on current conditions. It is the ability to adapt to different conditions, and relearn concepts for the current situation. For example, suppose you are engaged in continuous learning in order to understand how to replace a leaking faucet in your house. Suppose you move into a new house, and there is a leaky faucet, but the plumbing is a bit different, and it is a different type of faucet. You can take the information you learned before, and perhaps with some additional learning, apply what you've learned before to repair this new faucet.
The same things happen in business leadership. We are faced with situations we learn to handle, but then new situations come up. We can be more agile in our learning and decision making, if we determine what was learned before, and change it to meet the current situational needs. Suppose you have to have a difficult conversation with an employee that isn't meeting expectations. You may research and find information about how to approach that conversation, and the conversation goes mostly well. Then, you have another situation come up, which is about a different performance issue by learning agility, you can take what you learned from the previous experience and build on this new experience to ensure the conversation goes smoothly.
As a leader, when we focus on continuous learning, and learning agility, we can not only apply what we've learned in the past which allows us to build on experiences and situations. This makes us more capable and ready to deal with the many situations that are likely to come up.
Source: Saylor Academy
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.