Learning Agility
The key executive competency
Last year we received a study by Columbia University and CCL (Center for Creative Leadership) on executive competencies and key people in the organization. In it they outlined the concept of “learning agility” and from that they launched a survey to gather information on a considerable number of executives and companies, and thus produced a Learning Agility model.
Let’s take as a starting point the competencies that companies have been putting so much effort into developing in their executives, leaders and all the people working in the organization. We are talking about planning, management, leadership, strategic vision, customer orientation, negotiation, problem-solving and decision-making skills, etc.
What we want to analyze in this article is the basic competence that is behind all of these, which is related precisely to the learning capacity of the organization and the people within it. The learning capacity to acquire new competencies that allow to react, to accompany, and to be able to effectively execute strategies based on the context situations.
Let’s think for a moment about structural learning as we know it, formal learning which is based on training and coaching processes that are already mature in many organizations. What do we do in these processes? We acquire information, we develop knowledge, we develop the capacity of abstraction to be able, through theoretical modeling, to understand reality and find solutions to it, and then we look for their application on practical life.
On the other hand, agile learning is related to growing from everyday experiences. This approach is related to identifying the opportunities we have in everyday life that can serve as sources of learning. On the other hand, leaving emotions aside, developing a capacity for control so that, based on everyday life (which is not always good), emotions do not rule us, therefore letting us rationalize what is happening, understand whether or not it is an opportunity and what we should learn from it. There is also the ability to abstract and model problems, but at a higher speed, in order to apply it in the immediate future.
Although we do not have a methodology, we can identify “enablers” that can accelerate agile learning in an organization. We still have a long way to go, discuss and analyze to see where each organization should start on this path. These enablers are related to:
- Innovation: not so much the innovation of products and processes per se, but the permanent challenge of the status quo, both of the organization and of the people within it (especially the leaders).
- Focused execution: sometimes changes in the environment, or uncertainty itself, lead us to think that improvisation is a good tool. And the reality is that what is being proposed here is to define “attack focuses” and execute based on those targets. While we go through this execution, a lot of things will happen around, but we must go to the next milestone that has been defined.
- Reflection (lessons learned): this is not new, but it is a necessary condition for an organization to develop agile learning, to be able to reflect on what has been happening and to consider how to build on it for next time.
- Taking risks: it is associated with uncertainty, however, in this model, what Columbia University has revealed in this study has to do with the fact that organizations with less risk aversion develop more capacity for learning agility.
- Openness: it has interrelation with reflection, as it refers to not taking defensive positions regarding what we have done and was wrong, but how we would do it differently, looking ahead.
All this leads to a tension between learning and execution, which is always present in companies. The great challenge posed by this model is to learn while we are executing but notice that at the end of the road both dimensions converge in sustaining the business. With immediate and daily execution, we sustain the short term of the business. Learning helps us to “sustain” the long term and be better prepared for it, in other words, both are developed with the sustainability and growth of the business.
Some concepts we would like to share before closing:
- Why do we think that the agile learning model is becoming more and more relevant? Because the more uncertain and turbulent the environment, the greater the impact on the business, in the short and long term, this competence will have for a company.
- On the other hand, we need to think about what mechanisms we need so that people, leaders and the organization as a whole can develop more risk-taking, challenge the status quo, and not lock themselves into defensive positions in the face of each of the problems that arise.
- Considered in this way, learning agility is a competency that has a great impact on the company’s long-term. But it is also related to the short term, i.e., the way in which we solve problems in the short term will be closely related to this learning capacity. One of the points to consider is to get out of the “fight” mode and move into the “learning” mode.
We are convinced that developing the capacity for learning agility will give companies a greater competitive advantage in the times we are living in and in the times to come.