We talk about learning as something that we choose to do consciously, as if on all other occasions we’re simply maintaining a benign state of readiness for when we can move forward again. But the rather inconvenient truth is that we are always learning. Our brains, our neurons, are constantly and incessantly firing and wiring. We are either learning ‘negatively’ through our increasingly conditioned responses to threat, or we are learning ‘positively’ through conscious consideration, deliberate action and immediate feedback in the form of consequences.
Of course learning through conditioned responses is very valuable for our survival, but frankly once we’ve gone beyond the point where we are so young, naïve and unaware as to be a danger to ourselves and others if we are let out on our own, it should pretty much all be about the positives. What stage of development in our lives can we be reasonably certain of not requiring further conditioned learning? Probably just beyond adolescence which means that by the time we arrive in the workplace, we should be predominantly fed positive learning experiences. Wow, all those skills we can develop as we insatiably consume knowledge and learn through constant experimentation, rehearsal and performance on the job. And with all the amazing feedback we get, both immediately in terms of ‘natural’ consequences when things we try just don’t work, and from our colleagues and especially our manager, we’re surely on the path to growth, uncovering and unleashing our massive potential in service of this wonderful enterprise we’ve joined.
This is not mere idealistic fantasy on my part. This is completely within our dominion if only we had the sense to organise our workplaces accordingly. After all it happens gloriously in sport and the arts, so as humans we are most definitely capable. And I urge you to be very watchful of any scepticism that might wash over you at this point, since positive learning is not a ‘nice to have’ – it is a complete essential. If we do not create the environment and the cultural conditions for positive learning, it’s not just that we’ll suffer the frustrations of unrealised potential, it’s that we’ll actively do harm. There is no neutral state - you are either actively fostering a positive learning environment or you are a steward of negative learning.
Human beings look solid, secure and reliable with any change happening quite gradually, almost imperceptibly. At least they look like this at work, since they’ve learned so to appear. In our natural state, free of threat, nothing could be further from the truth. Human beings are organisms in constant change, a mass of vibrating molecules in a dynamic state of flux. We can learn to appear solid and unchanging, but give us the freedom to be ourselves, and we are dynamic, active, clumsy, messy and completely beautiful. I use a descriptor in my training courses – we are all beautiful, flawed geniuses. Unfortunately at work we’ve become so petrified of the flaws and the messiness, that we’ve crushed the human spirit in so many of our organizations, trading it for conformity, compliance and ‘just enough’ growth.
Whereas we should be giving positive learning total priority in our working environments, in my experience corporatism is appalling at this, focusing as it does almost all learning energy on controlling or even seeking to eradicate the inconvenience of human beings.
The learnings that are critical for our creative growth and development in the corporate world are things like:
Whereas we should be giving positive learning total priority in our working environments, in my experience corporatism is appalling at this, focusing as it does almost all learning energy on controlling or even seeking to eradicate the inconvenience of human beings.
The learnings that are critical for our creative growth and development in the corporate world are things like:
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