learning

Is that you or the assessment speaking?

I’ve found this question a valuable one in coaching and just talking over personality assessments with friends…”Is that you or the enneagram/StrengthsFinder/(insert your favorite assessment here) speaking?

When someone says something that is a little too spot on to be true, it’s a good question to ask.

When we ourselves are assuming a lot about ourselves or someone else based on an archetype we should ask this.

The assessment should serve us, not we serve the assessment.

We do this when we don’t recognize the assessment as a shortcut. It’s a shortcut to quicker understanding or quicker connection.

That can be massively useful! But it cannot be used as a crutch to avoid experiencing another person as they are or doing work to understand our own motivations and personality.

What’s better than an assessment is a walk and talk with someone else or a phone call.

What’s better than an assessment is creating a rhythm of journaling or another reflective practice.

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good assessment. I’m a big advocate for the enneagram, the StrengthsFinder, and the DiSC but they are shortcuts. Useful shortcuts at certain times but still shortcuts which bypass the real work often needed. A little knowledge can be dangerous.

Initially inspired by Seth Godin from his Akimbo podcast episode “Spirit of Ecstasy” (Go to minute 28:00). He points out that personality tests can be used as a shortcut to actually get to know someone and build intimacy.

Per an academic paper in International Journal of Evidence Based Coaching and Mentoring, strengths assessments can lead us down a path that is not congruent with our true selves, especially when we may learn something not totally true, it can be tough to unlearn it. In order to ethically use these assessments, we must create a space for ourselves and others to “dispute, validate and add to their test results.”

A little knowledge can be dangerous

Curiosity is a powerful force and one that I recommend investing into, flexing often, and encouraging in others.

That curiosity, when used as a shortcut can be a dangerous thing.

We can read one article on something and assume we know more than we actually do.

We can hear someone’s type or style on a personality assessment and quickly assume a lot about them.

We can realize the complexity of a systemic problem and immediately be frozen from action because all options visible to us don’t appear to solve the problem.

Curiosity alone is not enough. We must flex our muscles of humility and drive along with it.

Humility that the little info gained does account for the entire lot. Realization that there is more to the person than a basic archetype (no matter how true that archetype may be for us). Acknowledgement that a systemic problem must be addressed through struggle to find an outcome.

Drive to seek out more information to truly validate a hypothesis. Stamina and care to get to know a person rather than place them in a box. Tenacity and grit to wade through the complications of systemic problems and come out the other end rather than avoid entering the muck.

A little information is good. It is the beginning unto more.

We don’t need to become experts in it all but our curiosity must have co-conspirators of humility and drive on the journey to improvement.

Inspired initially by reading Peter Senge’s The Fifth Discipline where he shows that systems thinking can cause us towards inaction but must instead drive us towards resolve.

Also inspired by applying this to personality tests/assessments by Seth Godin from his Akimbo podcast episode “Spirit of Ecstasy” (Go to minute 28:00). He points out that personality tests can be used as a shortcut to actually get to know someone and build intimacy.

Purpose and Vision

We often get purpose (theme as I often call it) and vision mixed up.

They are inevitably intertwined but also distinct.

Quick idea: “It’s not what the vision is, it’s what the vision does.” – Robert Fritz

Purpose/theme: why you’re here. Broad.

Vision: how your purpose plays out in areas of your life.

I’ve found value in defining my purpose and then clarifying my vision in different areas of life…family, work, friends, community.

My purpose/theme: Invoking people’s truest selves!

Work vision: Creating rhythms and structure in organizations which bring out people’s best. (Coaching, training, succession planning, DEI…)

Inspired by Peter Senge’s Fifth Discipline where he talks about Personal Mastery.

To live is to learn

Breathing. Moving. Growing. Changing. Living. Learning.

Living = Learning: Not only for us as individuals but also for our organizations (families, business, non-profit, friends, neighborhoods, ecosystems…)

The best organizations are alive meaning they are learning.

I’ll be doing a deep dive on Peter Senge’s book The Fifth Discipline as part of my Master’s in Strategic Leadership and Design with UIndy. In this study, I can’t wait to uncover the pioneering ideas of the past (which are now leading edge) so we can chart paths for the pioneering ideas of today.

Coaching is Like Scaffolding

When we are operating just beyond our comfort zone or current skill level, we benefit from having scaffolding around us.

This is a place for a coach. Someone who can help you consider the next step, provide a push back on track as we get off, help us feel more certain.

Where could a scaffolding coach help you?

Where can you be a scaffolding coach for someone else?

Isolated : Insulated

Just because we are not isolated does not mean we are not insulated.

Change, progress, movement, improvement, growth happens when we ensure we are not isolated as well as not insulated.

Exposure. Reflection. Conceptualization. Application. Repeat. This is the route to growth. Any isolation or insulation will only slow/limit this growth.

David Kolb’s learning styles as well as Tara Fenwick’s practice-based-learning talks more deeply about this concept. Ed Batista summarizes and adds to Kolb’s Learning Cycle.

Curiosity Leads to Generalist

As we are driven by genuine interest to curiosity and that leads to learning, inevitably we will widen out our knowledge and experience base.

Actually being a generalist (good at a lot) is sort of being a specialist. Seth Godin uses the idea of a Swiss Army knife. It does a lot of different things and therefore is specific.

This learning builds in flexibility. Nimbleness. Ability to respond “no problem” with most requests.

As knowledge sharing increases and organizations become more decentralized, it will be less important to be singly specific. It’ll be more important that we all become generally specific. Good at a lot so we can take the knowledge easily accessible and find a way to apply it effectively.

It’s less about what you have and more how you apply knowledge or information in general.

Inspired by Seth Godin Akimbo podcast episode “Go Invent Something” Q and A at the end.

Data I found through Harvard Business Review which points to generalist being more able to apply knowledge than specialists.

Curiosity Needs Time and Space

Continually learning and growing is key to staying engaged in work, succeeding professionally, being our best.

We cannot expect to fill our entire day with back to back meetings or project time and learn most effectively.

We need at least a little time and space. Not hours on end to read a book, but maybe. Not years in a career to complete a degree, but maybe.

I’m more so talking about 15 minutes after a meeting to reflect and grow. 5 minutes to let your head dream and drift. 30 minutes to journal or write each day.

I’m also not just talking about time. A workspace that allows for you to observe and see things clearly. Rhythms in your day that set you up for clarity. Relationships that challenge you beyond the what did you do but how did you feel, what does that mean for where you’re going.

For example, I’m trying to schedule each day with at least 30 minutes outside of lunch to sit in my comfy chair and read or think. I also start my day with 5 minutes of mediation. I end my work day with 15 minutes of journaling at a separate desk in my office designed for analog processing…think big paper, post it notes, colored sharpies, and scissors.

Of course we can learn even in the midst of back to back but I find I learn best with a little time and space. And I find I have to fight for that time and space…or at least proactively set it up.

Learning and Accountability

As we undergo change, learn something new, grow, we need to keep accountable to make the change or apply it to our daily lives.

Sometimes we can learn and keep ourselves accountable.

Most often I find I best apply my learning and growth when it’s done with others. They help me learn deeper as well as stay motivated to put the learning into reality.

Find a cohort. Find a colleague. Find a partner to go with.

You’ll probably make the most of your investment of learning or change if you have people along for the ride with you.