“If we all worked on the assumption that what is accepted as true is really true, there would be little hope of advance.”
… Orville Wright (1871 – 1948) US inventor and aviation pioneer
In my many years working as an ontological coach, there have been two themes that have shown up over and over again. The first is people’s unquestioned assumptions and their accompanying inability to challenge their worldview. The second, which stems from the first, is their inability to deal with many of life’s breakdowns resulting from their worldview.
Assumptions are things we have determined at some point in our past to be true. They live as a background story that is generally outside our awareness yet they inform how we make sense of life and the resulting actions. An assumption may relate to something specific or be more general in nature as found in our general prejudices and preferences.
Over the years, I have frequently encountered a common assumption about learning. And more specifically, about the meaning of learning. This assumption is learning is getting to know or understand something. If you know about it then you have learnt it. This is unsurprising as there is another common assumption about learning though our formal education where the traditional approach largely defines success as doing well at answering questions. However, this definition of learning is insufficient.
To appreciate why, take the example of driving a car. You could spend years reading about cars and how to drive them, without ever getting behind a wheel. As a result, you may know about driving without actually being able to drive. Effectively driving a car comes with the experience of actually driving, not simply knowing about driving. Certainly there is a an aspect of learning involving gaining knowledge. However, effective learning is b\eing able to apply that knowledge at the appropriate time in the appropriate way.
A large proportion of my coaching work was with organisational leaders where this assumption about learning was very evident. Most people in leadership roles have been on leadership programs of one sort or another. They think they know about leadership to varying degrees. Indeed, when asked they would have some coherent answers. However, unfortunately many did not apply what they knew. Yet as soon they were made aware of this, they would recognise the leadership idea and indicate they already knew about it. They turned off.
The traditional assumptions about learning as knowledge acquisition are further promoted by the way organisations implement learning programs. Admittedly they are hampered by budget restraints and another assumption about the importance of sharing learning opportunities across the organisation. This has even been further exacerbated with the advent of online learning modules, which tend to be largely knowledge based. There is also little doubt that L&D professionals are measured on how much bang they get for their buck. When this is all added together, it makes sense to focus on knowledge acquisition rather than the sustainable enhancements that effective learning brings.
When it comes to learning, one simple change could make a large difference. Having been struck by the ability of leaders to coherently speak about leadership when asked but not apply that knowledge when needed, I had to ask myself what was missing for them. They knew things they did not apply. The conclusion I came to was that the difference came from my questions. Another assumption about learning is the knowledge will be available when needed. This may be applicable to some degree, but a lot of research points to the quick drop-off when it comes to retaining knowledge from a course.
What is needed is a triggering mechanism to allow people to ask questions of themselves rather than act habitually. As part of organisational learning programs, participants would be well served to ongoingly access what they know and develop practices to do so.
They would also be well served with exposure to the idea that learning is NOT just about gaining knowledge.
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