That means it is likely that the conclusions, paradigms and core beliefs upon which we based our decisions just two or three years ago are likely to be obsolete today. Even more sobering, the conclusions and strategies which we develop today will be obsolete in a couple of years. We can count on this continuing obsolescence of our best ideas and strategies to be the constant state of affairs.
One of my clients recently told his employees, “The only thing you can count on is that you won’t be doing this job in three years.” His point was that the job will change in that period of time to such a degree that it’ll be a different job. The technology used will likely change, as will the customers, the systems and the focus of the job.
The insightful person will accept that rapid change is now a defining characteristic of our economy and plan to deal with it effectively on an on-going basis. Our ability to change ourselves and our organizations at least as rapidly as the world is changing around us will be single greatest challenge of our professional careers.
Our ability to change ourselves and our organizations at least as rapidly as the world is changing around us will be single greatest challenge of our professional careers.
Instead of thinking we should just persevere until it’s behind us, we should prepare for rapid change to be a way of life.
What’s the best way to go forward in the light of this rapid change? What mindsets can we adopt that will equip us to survive and prosper in turbulent times? What disciplines do we need to develop to enable us to cope? What skills do we need to survive and prosper in the information age?
The Solution
I believe there is one core skill which will define the most successful individuals and organizations. It’s the ability and propensity to engage in purposeful, self-directed learning. The only sustainable effective response to a rapidly changing world is cultivating the ability to positively transform ourselves and our organizations. That’s the function of purposeful, self-directed learning.
The only sustainable effective response to a rapidly changing world is cultivating the ability to positively transform ourselves and our organizations.
In the face of a world that is different one week to the next, our most powerful positive response is to cultivate the ability to learn. By “learning,” I don’t mean just the acquisition of new information, although that is a prerequisite. Rather, I mean the kind of “learning” that requires one to change behavior on the basis of an ever-changing understanding of the world. Learning without behavior change is impotent.
The individuals who become disciplined, systematic and purposeful self-directed learners will be the success stories of the new economy. Likewise, those organizations which become learning organizations will have the best chance of surviving and prospering.
Read what other have said about it:
“…the key thing as we go forward is the ability to learn. You can not arrest the pace of development in the marketplace, in the world, socially and technologically. It is coming at an increasing rate. You’ve got to be able to learn and adapt…” Beale.
Because of the forces surging through our economy, it’s safe to say that tomorrow will be significantly different from today. It will be more complex and somehow significantly changed. That will be true of all the tomorrows in the foreseeable future.
The most skilled entrepreneurs, executives, and employees, therefore, will be the ones who can continually access the changing facts and growing complexity of their jobs, and then change appropriately.
“We understand that the only competitive advantage the company of the future will have is its managers’ ability to learn faster than their competitors.” Arie P. DeGeus
In a world that is rapidly changing, today’s hot new product is tomorrow’s obsolete dinosaur. More important than any one product is the ability to continually create new products. Today’s strongest employee could very well be tomorrow’s employment problem. More important than any one employee is the ability to find and maintain employees who are constantly growing. Today’s closest customers could be out of business tomorrow. More
important than any one customer is the ability to attract and retain customers.
All of these are applications of the ultimate competitive advantage — the ability to learn faster than your competitors.
“In fact, I would argue that the rate at which individuals and organizations learn may become the only sustainable competitive advantage.” Ray Stata
As the economy becomes more and more global, competition will increase. Few businesses will enjoy a secure market position. The quality of competition will also improve as competitors strive to out-do one another in providing customer service and value-added products and services. In this new economy, those who survive and prosper will be those who know how to learn, and who do so faster and more systematically than their
competitors.
Those organizations which become learning organizations will be those who fill themselves with people who regularly engage in purposeful, self-directed learning.
How, then, do you instill this “purposeful, self-directed learning” in your organization? First, let’s define our terms.
Definitions:
Learning
This is not the kind of thing we did in school, where the dissemination of knowledge was a higher goal than changing behavior. Today’s learning, at least for business people on the job, always involves changed behavior. In other words, for you to learn something, you must do something differently. I often tell people in my seminars that “You don’t get paid for what you know, you get paid for what you do.”
Today’s learning at least for business people on the job, always involves changed behavior.
Knowledge, at this level, if it is isolated and unapplied, is virtually useless. That is different from the kind of knowledge which drives a change in behavior. The key indicator is behavioral change.
I’ll often have people approach me at the end of seminar and say words to the effect of “I’ve learned so much.” While I don’t often say this because it would be rude, I will always think, “You don’t know if you have learned anything. Show me what you are doing differently over the next few weeks, and then we can determine if you have learned anything.”
Purposeful
This learning has an end in mind. We’re not in college anymore, where we must take courses just because the college curriculum demands it. Purposeful learning begins with the end – the purpose – as the starting point.
On the job, purposeful learning focuses on improving your skills so that you can do your job more effectively or, broadening your skills so that you qualify for another position.
On the job, purposeful learning focuses on improving your skills so that you can do your job more effectively or, broadening your skills so that you qualify for another position.
So, for example, a sales person who takes an online course in selling, is improving his/her job skills. That same sales person who enrolls in a course in sales management, is investing in acquiring skills and competencies that will qualify him for a promotion.
Self-Directed
In both examples, above, the individual initiated the learning experience. That’s what makes them self-directed. The learning was initiated by the individual in an attempt to better himself/herself.
Not all purposeful learning is self-directed. From my experience, those executives, professionals and workers who take the initiative to improve themselves and gain additional skills are in the minority. I’ve often observed that, in my world of salespeople, only one of 20 salespeople has invested $25 of his money on his own improvement in the past 12 months. Those who create their own learning experiences are more likely to rise to the top of
their professions and gain the positions of influence in an organization.
But just because someone is not ‘self-directed’ does not mean that purposeful learning is not for them. As a veteran sales trainer, very few of the salespeople we train would have taken the course on their own, yet they can gain new competencies and skills and become more effective for their employers and more richly compensated themselves.
