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Friday, January 28, 2011

Lean Quote: Create a Learning Environment

On Fridays I will post a Lean related Quote. Throughout our lifetimes many people touch our lives and leave us with words of wisdom. These can both be a source of new learning and also a point to pause and reflect upon lessons we have learned. Within Lean active learning is an important aspect on this journey because without learning we can not improve.


"The leader needs to create an environment in which people can analyze the situation and develop a good response." — Bill Gates

People learn more quickly in the right environment. Consider the following suggestions for creating an environment that is conducive to learning and development:

• Model your commitment to development by sharing your development objectives and asking for regular feedback. In particular, ask others to give you feedback on your coaching efforts.

• Tailor your coaching and support to each person’s individual learning style.

• Be genuine. Let your personality, insights, observations, and self-disclosures add depth and richness to your coaching efforts.

• Emphasize small, reasonable steps. Because people learn in small steps, expecting too much too soon can discourage progress.

• Promote active experimentation. When people try new things in different ways, they solidify their understanding of what really works and prepare themselves to use skills effectively in a variety of circumstances.

• Give people permission to make mistakes as long as they learn from them. Focus on what they learned rather than on how they performed.

• Encourage people to talk to each other about what they learned from their mistakes. Back up your words with willingness to talk openly about our own mistakes.

• Remember that your position as a people manager or team leader may make some people especially sensitive to what you say or do. Avoid offhand remarks and irrelevant criticisms.

What do you do to create a learning environment in your organization?


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1 comment:

  1. Tim,

    Great post! There are not enough learning organizations out there. You provide ideas that leaders can use to transform their teams. One Point Lessons are a great tool for communicating Lessons Learned. Thank you for sharing.

    Chris

    ReplyDelete