Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2020 - 13

JULIE WINKLE GIULIONI

PERFORMANCE
MATTERS

LEARNERSHIP:
PREPARING EMPLOYEES FOR
THE NEW LEARNING LANDSCAPE
At conferences and cocktail parties
alike, it's hard to escape discussions of
the challenges associated with today's
fast changing business landscape -
including evolving technologies, access
to information, the ever-shortening halflife of knowledge, and the rise of the
gig economy.
These dynamics have profound
implications for organizations and their
people. As a result, forward-thinking
learning and development (L&D)
professionals are considering how to
address these dynamics and future-proof
their workforces in a variety of ways.
Given that the only constant is change
and that the complexity and ambiguity
we face today will likely persist, there's
one fundamental strategy that should
be every organization's and every
individual's priority: learnership.

LEARNERSHIP
IS INTERNALLY
MOTIVATED.
Instilling learnership is about equipping
the workforce with the skills to learn,
adapt and apply evolving knowledge at
the speed of change. It's about cultivating
the disciplines and cadence of continuous
learning in preparation for a more
productive and successful tomorrow.
In many ways, learnership feels like a
natural extension of school - but the
sensibilities required for workplace
success are profoundly different. Rather
than driven by the externally imposed

pressures and direction that focused us as
young students, learnership is internally
motivated. It's structured not by a
teacher's curriculum but by the individual's
unique interests. Learnership is about
unlearning old ways of thinking about
learning and cultivating a more self-driven
relationship with the continued acquisition
of knowledge, experience and growth.

* Allowing people to unplug and step
away from day-to-day work.

And the way to do that is by cultivating
four key qualities: curiosity, attention,
experimentation and reflection. The
nexus of these qualities is where
learnership lives and thrives.

Cultivate experimentation by:

Curiosity creates the space that
welcomes learning, and inquisitiveness
leads to looking at the world through the
lens of "Why?" and "What if?". Whether
applied to organizational strategy, work
processes or customer needs, a curious
spirit mines the mundane for learning.

Experimentation is a fundamental way
of interacting with the world that
recognizes the power of taking risks.
Stepping into the unknown introduces
the possibility for failure but also for
powerful learning.

* Communicating
smart
failures
throughout the organization.
* Offering support to those who are willing
to step outside their comfort zones.
Reflection refers to our ability to engage in
just thinking. It's only through disciplined
reflection that insights are captured,
experiences are understood and
learning happens.

You can help others cultivate curiosity by:

You can help others cultivate reflection by:

* Removing the barriers to asking
questions at work.

* Creating pauses that build thinking
time into learning experiences.

* Encouraging others to explore what
really interests them.

* Prompting others to extract learning
from even the most routine tasks.

Attention is all about presence and focus.
When people elevate their awareness
of the world around them, they'll seize
opportunities to learn. In this way,
attention becomes an intention to grow.

Helping others cultivate curiosity,
attention, experimentation and reflection
supports the development of learnership
- and enables organizations to thrive in
today's changing business landscape.

You can help others cultivate attention by:

Julie Winkle Giulioni has 25 years of
experience working with organizations
worldwide to improve performance
through learning. Email Julie.

* Encouraging others to evaluate and
eliminate distractions.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE -AGILE LEARNING 2020 I WWW. T RAININGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Training Industry Magazine - January/February 2020

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