Lessons about organisational learning from an 11 year old
This year my son started at a public intermediate school. Up until this point he had always been a relatively reluctant learner but the move to Intermediate has radically changed that. The reasons for this change are multiple, but I will focus on three reasons that are most relevant to organisational learning.
ONE. He has a great teacher who is clearly dedicated to the development of the children in his class. His teacher believes that the students need to be challenged and supported in equal parts to enable them to do their best. He believes that the children are absolutely capable of achieving what they need to and that his role is to unlock that capability. He treats them as smallish adults.
TWO. Learning is the responsibility of the child. They have a six day, cyclical curriculum that means each day is different and just because you did something on Monday last week doesn’t mean you’ll do it on Monday this week. The kids need to be prepared and organised (bearing in mind that is as prepared as an 11-year-old boy is capable of being!) The teachers still play a huge role in ensuring that things stay on track but this move towards accountability starts to build maturity in the children. The children also know why they are learning the things they are taught. They understand the context in which the learning exists and how the whole is made up of the sum of the parts. The learning is also practical, useful and engaging.
THREE. The school embraces technology and ensures that systems are set up to support the teacher and the pupils in order to maximise the opportunity to learn. As a parent it’s disorienting at times, as students exist in an entirely Google world: Google Classroom, Google Docs, YouTube and more, but this generation more than any before them are truly digital natives. My son uses these same tools in his ‘down time’. Watching YouTube videos, exploring the internet, researching, playing games and interacting with his friends on email or school community websites. To get a generational perspective, trying asking a kid about their favourite film stars. They’ll look up at you blankly — but ask about video bloggers on YouTube and they’ll roll off their favourites – Stampy Long Nose, anyone?
The school’s approach to learning has engaged an 11-year-old boy in everything from metal and wood work, to sewing and cooking, reading, writing and maths, to robotics (I know, right!) and leadership. They are creating a little global citizen.
Let’s now compare this to organisational learning.
Are your leaders clear that their role is to develop the team? Do they demonstrate commitment to this goal? The leader’s technical knowledge and skill is secondary to their ability to challenge, support and develop the team. Imagine if leaders had the same level of commitment to development as the best teachers.
Who owns learning in your organisation? Is it the individuals? Even if there is a philosophy of individual ownership of development it is usually exists in an environment that reduces the effectiveness of the idea. We need to be able to provide people with an environment where they can learn what they need, when they need it. A friend recently told me that the best investment he ever made in team development was to give his team access to YouTube with no boundaries. The only condition was that they had to write up what they had learned on a wall that was visible to all. What the team learned astounded him; new coding languages, updates to their own skill level around technology fixes, new approaches to projects and more. After six months, the whiteboard was overflowing with what they had learned — all of which benefitted the team and the organisation as well as the individual. His engagement score around team development rocketed and the team embraced new and innovative things.
Can people maximise technology for organisational learning in your business? If not, why is technology such an issue? Let’s be honest, most organisations struggle with it. The issue is either firewalls and security or people aren’t trusted to access learning appropriately. Everyone has a computer, a smart phone, a tablet with all the knowledge of humanity at their fingertips — and yet we restrict access to it. We need to embrace the changing world and use technology to benefit us individually and organisationally instead of focusing on finding ways to say ‘no’.
We need to take lessons from our schools and advance more quickly to break down barriers and silos. We need to trust our people to know what it is they need to learn, so that they can be better at what they do. We need to provide opportunities for people to build on their strengths, not attempt to fill every gap of ‘development needs’; rather provide a suite of learning opportunities or pathways that they can explore.
At Beyond Performance we have our Performance Equation® (Content + Context) x Collaboration = Performance. In this instance it’s the teachers that are providing the context and content, the collaboration comes through technology, classroom activities and their communities.
A quick caveat to this article. My son is 11. Most days when he gets home from school and I ask him to tell me about the favourite part of his day or what he got up to, his answer is still, “Y’know, stuff”.