As I get underway with my business and begin working with clients I find that every effort I make is ultimately about learning.
I may have a depth of knowledge about the work I do but I don’t ever want to sell my clients strictly on my knowledge. This may be a rookie mistake but the clients I work with are people who understand that every new effort is learning. That is because every effort meant to bring about real change must follow a new path.
There are many lessons to be learned when you choose a new path.
Everything is Learning
The old saying about, “you learn something new everyday” has always served as a centering idea for me. Days that I feel like I haven’t learned something are days that I haven’t lived life to its fullest; days where I haven’t been fully present to what is happening around me.
When we work together on a project it is important to be fully present. By this I mean that it is important to give your focus over to the task at hand; to stop multi-tasking for those moments that you are trying to create the change your organization needs.
By being present, paying close attention and actively listening; this is where you can learn a great deal about yourself and your organization.
There are multiple layers to every problem we come across. If we spend all of our time searching for solutions instead of listening for the heart of the problem we might create short term change; but, we’ll miss the opportunity for cultural change.
For me, this business venture requires my presence to make sure it remains a worthy effort. Learning becomes my culture and affects my approach to everything. The culture of learning forces me to be present at all times so I don’t miss a lesson.
Teachers are Learners Too
Over the past week I’ve had the pleasure of working with another social entrepreneur who has a great deal of experience. She can see the potential in my ventures and is helping to draw that potential out for the world to see.
Her organization is hoping to learn more about the use of social media to affect social change and she turned to me to share knowledge on the subject. In return she is sharing a great deal of knowledge with me about becoming a productive social entrepreneur. At once we are both teacher and learner.
Thanks to her lessons I am working hard to pinpoint deliverable activities that I can offer to clients that are more concrete and actionable than the deliverable descriptions I’ve listed so far. This is something I’ve been struggling with because I couldn’t recognize it on my own; I needed someone else to teach me.
Growing and Sharing Knowledge
What do you do with all of the lessons learned, discoveries and innovations that come from a culture of learning? I believe you grow through them. I also believe that you share them – letting new knowledge grow even in the most unlikely places.
The picture I’ve included at the top of this post is one form of harvesting knowledge: what is learned and what is decided during a work session. While it may feel similar to taking notes this method is important for several reasons.
- It is visually stimulating, begging that participants pay attention to what is being created.
- It is large and available for all participants to see, in real time; this creates ownership.
- It sits in the middle, maintaining focus on the purpose of the meeting.
- It provides multiple cues (words/colors/graphics) to stimulate your mind when considering the content.
- Like notes, it provides a record of what happened that can then be maintained/transferred for future learning and application.
This online journal is an extension of the harvest for my work. In every meeting there is a place for the large format real time harvest; out of that comes the ability to introduce technology for quick search-ability, link-ability and reuse.
Harvesting of all forms becomes our link between the past and the present and the connection between all participants in the project. This is the sweet fruit that sustains us and provides seeds for future growth.
