Learning for adults is a bit different but I would like to explain what I researched. There are two important theories:

1. Instructional theory, where the teacher provides knowledge and students are instructed to learn.
2. Constructivism, where the student participates in the process to generate experience, assimilate and accommodate new knowledge.

In my personal case most of my teachers on the school were using the instructional theory: Read the page 45, answer the questionnaire and bring it back tomorrow!

In the case of my kids it’s different, their teachers are facilitators and they motivate their students to experience and therefore produce knowledge. The facilitator is a guide and also learns from the students.

“Look guys, this one is a picture of a baby whale, do you know how big it is? I have here some books, would you help me find it out?”

The facilitator knows only one of the books holds the correct answer, all the other books or materials are talking about adult whales.

“Mrs. Edwards, I found that a whale can be over 108 ft”, “That sounds too big for a baby whale…”. And like that the teacher will guide the curiosity of their students until they find the correct answer.

What happens in the middle is that the students fail, but they are encouraged to continue! they receive tips after their discoveries that guide them to find more and avoid previous errors.

In the case of adults we have a set of concepts that build our interpretation of what reality is. We build a framework that helps us as individuals to interact with the world around us. That framework will also be critical to set the rules for learning more.

Our interpretation of reality includes other members of the community and we switch roles as facilitators and learners.

But because we already know many things, as adults, it is difficult to accept new knowledge. For example if my experience is that Toyota is better than VW will be tough to convince me to buy a VW. Accommodation is the process where we go trough to replace old knowledge for new one and Constructivism can help: If a very good and known mechanic shows me his VW and explains me why is it a better choice than Toyota and he lets me drive his car I might be ready to accomodate new knowledge: “True, VW wasn’t so bad after all…”.

Learning expands our interpretation of reality therefore our framework enables us to have richer interactions with the world.

But one of the most important problems in the process of learning is the feared failure. And the fear to fail is not only a characteristic of individuals but a strong epidemic within organizations. Why to buy a VW if my Toyota is ok? I’d not take risks!

The easiest process to explain knowledge is the one that starts with an idea. The individual decides to take action and generates an experience; as a consequence generates knowledge. In the case of error that is taken as knowledge as well and then a new idea would consider a better way to action until success is achieved. but what happens if fear to fail is part of the system? the process of learning will be interrupted after failure and in some cases even before.

The confident learner knows that making mistakes is part of the process. Therefore experiments and learns in environments where the mistake would not have a full scale impact. There is a name for individuals that master the art of learning, we call them experts.

Communities also learn collectively. The average of individual realities and the interaction between learners and facilitators is what build the community’s framework. That is part of what we call culture: “An integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depends upon the capacity for symbolic thought and social learning” from Wikipedia.

The social reality is the culture of a community. We as individuals, participate in multiple communities and one of them is where we work. Organizational culture is difficult to change because doesn’t depend on an individual it is a collective agreement. That means that in order to keep a flexible and growing Social Reality we need to enable learning, encouraging accommodation of new knowledge and eliminating fear to failure with processes that supports that effectively (sandboxes).

In order to communicate better is required to establish a framework that is common. Two individuals can be engaged in a conversation trying to communicate, but if their frameworks are not compatible the meaning will not be transferred correctly. When a foreigner with a different language starts a conversation with a local normally tries to communicate with mimic, signs and a few words, the normal reaction of the local is to say “yes” or move the head up and down in a sign of acceptance. The local can thing that is understanding the message but there are big chances that is wrong. In that case both were having the best of the intentions to establish a communication channel.

Organizations that communicate globally are constantly working to set a common ground and protocol for communicating effectively. Cultural differences can be a big barrier, specially because values can be very different.

Individuals and organizations need to develop more experience and self confidence in order to community value effectively. Effective leaders are effective and confident, never arrogant.

Many believe on a predefined future for each person. It’s one of those esoteric concepts where science doesn’t have a place. We call it destiny.

The problem with that concept is that it ignores the past. We often blame destiny. It is always easier to evade responsibility. “That was destined to fail” or “no matter what, she was destined to succeed”.

Is it that we invented destiny to protect us from the consequences of our decisions?

I truly believe that life is a quest for happiness where knowing oneself is a prerequisite.

If you are not sure where are you going remember that you are already going. Being aware of what’s the path you decided to take will help you to make effective decisions.

Those shameful mistakes from the past are just part of the path. Analyzing your past should include all the aspects of your life; you’ll remember and you’ll recognize that your past feelings and thoughts are still familiar to you. Just focus on your strengths and not so much on your defects, think on the amazing results of solving problems, remember the moments that changed your life. Can you see that thread that unites all your past and defines you?

I think the path says where are we walking but keeps in secret what is yet to come. Predicting the future is not practical. A roller coaster that lights the path behind and keeps in secret what is in front.

The past is the fundament for the future, hiding it or denying it doesn’t help. The past can say in which circumstances you feel good and what is great about yourself.

Can you see where you path has taken you? Taking control of your future is a wonderful adventure. Discovering the future is not the goal it is just a consequence. The goal is to know to discern which are the decisions that will effectively take you closer to happiness.

I’m ready to erase the destiny concept from my dictionary. I will add the meaning of “My path”. Are you feeling the same?

Jose Antonio Morales

@joseamorales
11.30.2010

Imagine that your company is providing you with economical peace. That it is having a decent growth in profits and there is a growing capacity for saving.

Once you have that scenario in your mind, what would be the next step?

Of course having economical tranquility doesn’t mean that the future will not become present with challenges. But my question goes on trying to find where is the limit.

I see that companies that started from very small as Google or Facebook become huge and powerful and then as multinational corporations can’t keep their initial spirit anymore. Their business transforms into getting more and more and looks like it ends when the market gets bored of them. No glory. Even worse, in the process many people starts hating them.

Isn’t the purpose of your small business to provide you and your team with decent income and facilitate a better future? Isn’t it the way small businesses project themselves as a force for good on society?

When self sufficiency is achieved the challenge is to keep it. And investing in your team and your existing customers might be the right thing to do. But Human curiosity and ambition never ends and a next step is inevitable. That next step could potentially damage the current achievements and that’s why I think it is important to ask where is the limit.

The following are the questions I would ask to find out what to do next:

1. Is your company capable of keeping a healthy wellbeing without you?
2. Are you interested in a new challenge (new company, organization, etc)?
3. Is your company adding value to the community?
4. Is your company a platform for personal and professional growth for your team members?

be sure that I’m not talking about creating a limit for personal growth. I truly think that the sky is the limit! I also think that diversity of experiences and projects can help to reach individual potential, that means recognizing what is the role of oneself on each and every project. Once the role is fulfilled might be the moment to inherit it to another person.

Why so often we prefer to skip and obstacle and go forward? I understand it is because the value of achieving the goal is more important at that moment than stopping to remove the problem, specially if it is not critical for the success of the goal.

Then why do I think it is so bad to skip? Because the next time I have to pass the same way I will have to skip it again. And because in that particular moment I just can’t think of the consequences of letting the obstacle there. Here a sample:

Long time ago we removed a bush from my garden. But we couldn’t remove all of it so a bit of its trunk remained over the surface, let’s say 3cm of it. After that when mowing the lawn I started having problems because the lawn mower couldn’t pass there. So I just made a round a mede it as good as possible.

The next time I avoided passing there because I know the mower would have problems. And the same happened the following time. So I occupied my time finishing with the rest and making a mediocre work on that side of the garden. Of course the bush grew again from the roots I left previously. That part of the garden is now wild and became a reason for procrastination.

Letting obstacles and problems for later are not a good way of achieving effectiveness. You know that postponing the visit to the dentist is going to finish bad.

Of course businesses should produce profit and if possible a lot of it! And I would stress the word profit because it doesn’t imply making a huge volume of money. Let me explain myself:

• A company can receive  let’s say a million Euros in revenue and produce a profit of a hundred thousand euros.
• A company can receive half a million Euros in revenue and produce a profit of three hundred thousand euros.

I think that the second case is more desirable for me because it means that I need half the capacity of revenue than the first case to produce the triple profit. But that doesn’t define what a business is.

The business is a system designed to provide skilled individuals the opportunity to constantly generate value while achieving their professional goals. Where value is the result of following the company’s vision and goals. And where” skilled individuals” means self motivated and ambitious professionals looking for their own potential.

Thar would also mean that an employee should check and double check the vision of the company in order to know if that is the place where she or he would really like to invest time.

Cool! now I know I’m not replaceable. Are you?

1. The “followers” are the ones that decide who is the leader.
2. Companies should hire accepted leaders as chiefs or managers.
3. Democracy knows how to transfer authority to an elected leader. The people will be in charge of verifying if their support will last or not.
4. Studies and titles are not directly proportional with leadership. Experience on solving problems is directly proportional to leadership.

I wish to be a good leader and I think that in order to be one I must become a good communicator. And that’s a challenge because a good communicator does not use only verbal communication. To become a real leader I will need to answer myself the following:

1. Is my career consistent with what I’m good at?
2. Are my professional activities consistent with my personal goals?
3. Am I improving what I do right?
4. Are my professional activities improving the quality of life of others?
5. Is my professional influence helping my colleagues to work more effectively?

If you answer the 5 questions with a clear “yes” then I believe you just need to continue working like that. It is just matter of time for the rest to start following you and believing in you. Consistency speaks by itself.

If I open a company today in a place where no body knows me and I employ a group of people to work with me; are they accepting the job because they are motivated by me or because they need the job?

Of course there is no simple answer but for sure they would not accept the job if they don’t feel at least a bit motivated. But that motivation can stay with them for a short while. How to keep the motivation level growing?

When a new person comes to the company and gets a position, for example a product manager, receives an artificial authority supported by the company’s structure. In such a case is often normal to see others questioning and even challenging the newcomer’s real authority. The motivation for work will depend on the quality of answers the new product manager will provide.

The real authority would be then the capacity to prove value for the rest of the team. I think it is related to: experience, recognition and leadership.

• Experience is the result fo experimentation. It is socially appreciated because helps to avoid errors and increases collective effectiveness. An experienced professional is a competitive advantage.
• By recognition I mean the capacity of being known for something. A recognized and experienced professional provides more value to the collective than just the experienced because being known communicates the existence of a competitive advantage. (Michael Jordan and Nike would be a sample).
• Leadership is the capacity of encouraging others to follow a lead. A leader uses values and self-reflection to motivate. A professional with experience and known for his achievements that is not a leader would probably motivate a few.

The interesting thing is that a student of leadership will know how to practice leadership but if the student has no experience in a field or is not recognized for that, the team will probably fail to follow the lead.

The solution to increase motivation at work would therefore be to have professionals that receive artificial authority that match their real authority level.