One of the consistently popular “key learnings” in my seminars has been the four ways that people learn, also known as the Kolb Learning Cycle.

• People learn from experience
• People learn from reflection
• People learn from conceptualizing
• People learn from experimentation

Being a Change Agent: Bridging Tangible Experience With Conceptualizing

I challenge leaders to become agents of change. They can use the learning cycle by focusing on the elements of reflection and experimenting.  Consider a script such as this for encouraging reflection:

Let’s stop and take a deep breath. How are things going with this strategic initiative? Are people satisfied or frustrated with our progress?

You can encourage an experimental mindset which is valuable for learning:

Let’s give this a try. If it doesn’t work out we’ll learn something from it.

Culture is Shared Learning

I often hear people expressing the challenges of dealing with culture.  My defintion of culture is a shared learning of a group of people.

• You’re trying to get them to learn new things
• You’re trying to get them to un-learn existing practices

Suggestion: read my prior article Five Things a Strategic Initiative Leader Needs to Know about Innovation for more on this concept of culture and learning.

How do you encourage learning in your strategic initiative teams?