Skills for the future workplace
In this uncertain world, one thing’s for certain: we won’t solve future challenges with past solutions.
The changing, increasingly complex nature of the problems we face require new skills, new mindsets, new approaches. They require us to learn – to continuously learn, adapt, and let go of that which no longer serves us. For this reason, future potential is as much about someone’s ability and commitment to learning as it is about their performance.
What’s more, this continuous learning has to happen in the flow of work. Individuals will need to become adept at balancing a commitment to both performance and learning, seamlessly noticing skill and capability gaps and closing them on the fly. This is called learning agility, and it is now a key differentiator for leadership and performance.
What is learning agility?
Learning agility is the real-world practice of learning in the flow.
An agile learner is always scouring their everyday experiences for learning opportunities, meaning they can learn something new in one situation and then quickly transfer it elsewhere. In turn, this enables them to make sense of uncertain or dynamic situations by applying learning from past and present experiences – swiftly and effectively.
This is a key competency for leaders as our world becomes ever-more disruptive, volatile and dynamic. Because, in W. Warner Burke’s words, learning agility is about “what you do when you don’t know what to do.”
How to develop learning agility?
Want to build your learning agility muscles? Here is a four-part strategy that anyone can play with:
1. Adopt a learning mindset
A learning mindset is the starting point for becoming a more agile learner. We define a learning mindset as an orientation towards curiosity, exploration and future possibility. It’s what will enable you to both seek out and create opportunities for learning in everyday life.
Having a learning mindset means being highly curious, following it wherever it takes you. It means being open-minded, resisting the urge to jump to short-term problem solving and instead maintaining openness to new ideas and perspectives that will challenge your own thinking. In this way, you will come to see challenges as opportunities. Adopting a learning mindset also means regularly seeking feedback from others, in order to uncover blind spots and new insights for growth. Finally, it means operating with deep humility, finding comfort in not knowing the answer and working hard to understand others – especially those you disagree with.
2. Experiment
What can you do when you don’t know what to do? When uncertainty and ambiguity are high and very little makes sense? You try things out and see what happens – indeed, this is the only thing you can do.
Taking risks, experimenting with new approaches, being willing to get it wrong… all of this is key. Because being paralysed into inaction doesn’t help anybody and, whatever the outcome, every experiment is an opportunity for learning. Indeed, it’s often the case that the bigger the failure, the better the learning.
3. Reflect
Reflection is a powerful tool in anyone's toolkit. It’s what turns experiments into valuable learning opportunities. Consider the action you took: what was the outcome? What impact did it have? How did other people respond? What went well and what didn’t? Did it highlight any gaps in your knowledge, understanding, or skillset?
However, reflection requires intention. It doesn’t happen on its own, especially with the busy pace many of us now experience in the workplace. So be intentional about carving out regular, dedicated time for it, whether that be in the form of a solo walk, 15 minutes journalling, or a 1:1 dialogue with someone who witnessed what it is you tried to do.
4. Adapt
Whatever insight you can extract from your reflection, this is all valuable data that can help inform what you do next, enabling you to move forward incrementally better off than you were before. But it requires you to be responsive and adaptable, changing your approach and undertaking further experiments – at pace. Learning on the fly this way can feel uncomfortable but being able to take what’s useful, unlearn what isn’t, and adapt your approach accordingly is the hallmark of learning agility.
Learning agility in leadership
These four steps (adopt a learning mindset, experiment, reflect and adapt) are the keys to building learning agility. But they’re also the keys to unlocking leadership. At Impact, we believe leadership is a special type of action and that this action happens when:
- Someone notices that something is needed – they’re curious and open to what they can learn from the environment, those around them, and themselves.
- They decide what to do.
- They act – they undertake experiments with the aim of moving the group or situation forward.
- They review and reflect – often leading to further leadership action.
The similarities between these two processes are no coincidence. We believe a large part of leadership development is all about building a person's ability to learn in a continuous and agile way. So we don't tell people what to do; we empower them to learn, take action, and develop themselves in the flow of work.
As our world changes, leaders will more than ever need to act quickly and decisively in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges, working with others to seek out the next right move and take action. This is why learning agility is a key differentiator for the leaders of the future.
Explore the relationship between leadership and learning in our leadership playbook.
Join our panel webinar exploring leadership for continuous change.