Leaders Create Learners

Leaders Create Learners

“Why should I encourage you to learn? You’re here to do a job.”

We could call that ‘manager-talk’.

We know that the best leaders are the best learners. They may even say: “I learn from my people every day.”

They also know that if they provide learning opportunities for those they are leading, all of those respond positively not only because of the new learning which they will take with them, but the learning becomes a motivating factor for them to achieve even more in the work that they’re doing.

Leaders motivate those who are following by helping them learn.

Whilst traditional, academic learning is important – especially when it is relevant to the workers being done - learning takes many forms.

Employee surveys show that there is a strong desire for learning to take place in the workplace.

In the workplace, learning can occur when individuals reflecting on new experiences, mistakes, challenges, new opportunities, and then being aware of the learning that’s come out of this.

When the leader admits his or her mistake, maybe even a mistake that was made in the past, and they then recount what they learned from that, this becomes a learning opportunity for the team members when they hear this. They also understand the importance of the leader admitting to the mistake and then recognizing the learning outcome from that mistake.

Clearly, when the leader discusses an error or a mistake that an individual has made – especially when that individual comes forward and admits the mistake, the best leader response is always “So what did you learn?”

When the leader ‘creates a learning culture’, the engagement level increases - and so does productivity.

When leaders develop a learning culture, it strengthens adaptive responses. It builds a welcoming attitude to change.

There are many ways to create a learning culture: 

As a leader, open the weekly team meeting with : “What did you learn this week?”

“What did you learn about yourself this week?”

“What did you learn which can change positively the way we do our work?”

Or have the team members write down each day what they learned that day and then share in the team meeting after a week. 

The learning culture becomes embedded and so the individual learning is relevant, authentic - and memorable. 

Learning never stops, especially when leaders create learners.