Back to the Learning
Both humans and organizations start life out in a learning mode. Human infants have a steep learning curve, needing to learn to talk, walk, and to become a self-feeder. Trial and error learning is supported by much failure but ultimately success. An average early walker falls up to 19 times an hour. And yet neither the parents nor the child make a judgment about the failures; there is only encouragement and support during each attempt and great celebration of the successes. This confident and unashamed learning style is fantastic to watch.
Organizational lifecycles describe start up organizations as in infancy which is a time characterized by lots of learning, enthusiasm, celebration, and failure. The lifeblood of a young business is cashflow, but none of the other daily crises are fatal. Finding that a product needs to be revamped or that a supplier is not sustainable are all normal learning curves that founders need to work through. There should be a plan, but that plan will be modified by trial and error and bumping into walls. PayPal was not founded to be an online payment service; it was originally a cryptography company that over several years found its sweet spot as the default online payment system for millions of customers.
As people and organizations achieve and become competent, pride sets in and with it a desire to protect that pride. The child relishes looking smart in science class and develops a fear of looking foolish in gym class. The organization becomes attached to its model of success and managers taking a cue from the culture avoid taking risks that could result in a failure.
““To attain knowledge, add things every day.
To attain wisdom, remove things every day.””
Growth mindset requires that risks, failures, and iterations are desirable and yet the things that get us to this level of success begin to hold us back.
In training older adults, we are taught to look for interference, which is when a previous skill, inhibits our ability to learn a new skill. When I must learn a new password or a new piece of software, the past memory interferes with learning the new information. A colleague who recently bought a new house found himself getting off at the wrong exit out of habit.
Thinking about the new year, consider both emotional and task unlearning. The safety I feel by staying in my expertise prevents risks and growth. The habits that have become the status quo in the company blocks the insight that could lead to an innovative improvement.
What do you need to unlearn in 2021?