Leader as Learners

From the Fall, 2007 issue (Vol. 6 No. 3) of the Community Leader newsletter:

By: Cindy Wilcox, BCLP Trainer

A learning community is a community that is continually expanding its capacity to create its future.

Leader as Learner
As community leaders – those willing to help create and sustain healthy communities – we are constantly asking ourselves, “What exactly do we need to be doing?”

It’s a good question. We’ve all read about the many leadership skills required of us – effective communication, decision-making, self-awareness, ability to form and sustain relationships, ability to help others align around specific goals, etc.

A less frequently talked about but nonetheless important skill set involves learning. We tend to think of learning as acquiring new information or skills, but it is bigger than that. Learning for leaders involves a fundamental shift from seeing problems as caused by someone or something “out there” to understanding how we contribute to the problems we experience. In the best learning communities, then, leaders are continually discovering how they create their own reality, and what they can do to change it.

Types of Learning
Adult learning scholars have long distinguished among several different types of learning.

One type of learning known as “single loop” involves the detection and correction of error. When something goes wrong, single loop learning involves looking for another strategy that will address and work within the same assumptions and context. An alternative response is to question the underlying assumptions themselves – to subject them to critical scrutiny. This is described in the literature as double-loop learning.

Ron Heifetz distinguishes between learning that addresses technical challenges – those for which we have the necessary know-how and procedures — and adaptive challenges – those for which our existing knowledge or approaches are inadequate. Adaptive change, then, requires new learning that includes changing attitudes, values, and behaviors, as well as a willingness to experiment and learn from both successes and failures.

Two Learning Skills: Reflection and Inquiry
Most of us would agree that the most powerful learning comes from direct experience. But there is a catch.  A wealth of experiences that were not made sense of in meaningful ways will yield very little learning.

Intentional reflection is a powerful learning tool for leaders that involves actively making sense of new experiences, rather than simply accepting or rejecting them based how well they fit current thinking. Reflection skills require slowing down – becoming more aware of how we form our mental models and the ways they influence our actions.

Inquiry is another important skill that comes into play once we realize that our assumptions, behavioral norms, or mental models deserve questioning. Inquiry involves things like:
- Asking questions
- Making your own reasoning explicit
- Encouraging others to questions your view (and the views of others)
- Designing experiments that will provide new information

Finally, remember that learning is never over, because our creative drive as individuals and communities is ever present. When we meet our vision or goals, new vision or goals will arise. We are on a perpetual learning curve as individuals and communities, so let’s enjoy the ride!

Leaders help their communities learn their way into the future!

Note: Tips on things to do to improve learning skills in ways that contribute to community leadership can be found in this edition’s Leadership Toolbox.