Are We Running Away From Learning?

Posted March 2019

I was teaching my son how to sew not so long ago, and whilst I was showing him how to make a stitch, he took a very deep sigh and said, “I have so much to learn in life.”  Now, as a mother I had to laugh at the profound statement my son made at the ripe old age of 5 years, but then later on I reflected and wondered…just how much are we willing to accept the amount we need to learn?  Taking myself as an example, I put on hold creating this website simply because the task seemed so daunting and the learning so great, I lacked the confidence to get it started.  I was so scared of it all, not because I am a techno-phob, because I think I typically have the confidence to explore and use technology – I seem to know how to solve the basic problems we face each day with technology and if all else fails, I instigate the most technical solution possible – turn the machine off and then back on again.

But creating a website takes technology and technical knowledge to a whole new level and I was unsure of my ability to learn this.  And so I started thinking, how much do we run away from learning?  Do we even know we are running away from it or are we running at such a speed that we have already moved around the corner and have forgotten why we were running in the first place?

If this is the case, how does this translate in the workplace?  How much learning are we actually taking on board each day at work and how much are we pretending to ignore simply because it all seems too hard?  What does this mean for change?  When we want to create a change how can we if we are dealing with the lack of willingness to learn something new?

We know there are 7 reasons why people resist change and there are clear tactics how to deal with each one, but what if the there is no rational reason?  What if we just are afraid of learning?  How do we deal with that?

Before we can learn anything, there are two things that MUST happen.  First we must be aware we need to do something, in order to achieve a task, make a change, or discover something new.  Secondly we need to have the desire so we can make the decision to learn.  Creating desire so we make the decision requires motivation, inspiration and enthusiasm.  Without these things, we simply won’t do it.  This is why, when I am asked to join or lead a change programme, one of the first milestones I look to achieve is to create a brand/logo for the change – something that not only quickly and easily allows people to identify the change but to also no what it is about for them.  This will help build the excitement and motivation around the change by using the branding in all the communications and elements of the change.