Stick The Learning
… to stick, learning should be slow and hard, not quick and easy …
These words from author David Epstein in his book, Range, are a necessary reminder in the fast-moving, quick and easy world we live in.
Across social media, I am struck by the number of solutions being offered to achieve our (assumed) goal of speeding up everything, including our learning and growth.
Don’t read the whole book, we’ll give you a snapshot.
Don’t spend 15 minutes, we’ll give you the 30 second highlights.
Don’t watch a 3-video series on how to do that, we’ll give you the bullet points.
Don’t take time to understand, we can do it for you.
It comes as no surprise when I read that survey results showing merely 20% of Australian employees* are engaged in the workplace.
So much of what we are doing at work is at break-neck speed, feeding the productivity monster, ticking boxes and doing it the way we’ve always done it. Perpetuating the quick and easy, and driving us toward the short cuts and speed hacks.
Critical human needs for value, meaning, mastery and growth are sadly, too-often missing in this environment. The impact of which ripples beyond our individual levels of satisfaction and engagement, and impacts our team’s performance and entire workplace capability.
A learning culture is possible when we value real growth, development and mastery. It’s not easy, but then that’s the point, don’t you agree!
[*Source: Gallup Aust & NZ Workplace Report 2023]