Thursday 12 November 2009

That Learning Moment

Something said in the train I travelled on to Kraków last week. An American boss was having a pep talk with a Polish employee, in the course of that conversation, he spoke of 'that learning moment'.

Americans have that linguistic gift of putting across into a couple of snappy words what European academics would need to pen entire monographs to communicate.

Here was a concept I immediately recognised; that singularity in time when understanding, total awareness and appreciation occur. Eureka. Lightbulb. The Penny Drops. And what has thus been learnt stays with you a lifetime. A good 'learning moment' should cause you to question your old concepts and behaviours, and improve, and in doing so, you come closer to fulfilling your potential as a human being. Which is why we are all here.

Total continuous improvement. Lifelong learning. You gain awareness, you implement, you improve, you monitor progress and feed back. Unlike a spiral spring, which rises, steadily but slowly, there's no pattern here. Long complacent stretches, then PAFF! Enlightenment! And straight up to the next level.

When I look at myself, I see can see I often plod along year after year, with the same certain assumptions, doing things the same way, approaching work the same way, getting complacent about the need to improve constantly, indeed - not really caring too much. But then I meet people that inspire me - to go up a stage to see the bigger view, a wider perpective - to learn.

The key thing here is to be able to recognise That Learning Moment when it occurs. And be able to act on it.

5 comments:

student SGH said...

Any time is a good moment to move to a level higher. Sometimes it's just good to look at one's accomplishment from the different perspective, review it and the get oneself together and press ahead with a new quality

student SGH said...

a propos plodding - worth looking in the Net for "warm chair attrition" - a syndrome formally not known in Poland (there's no translation, I haven't heard or read about it in Polish), what does not mean Poles are not afflicted by it.

pinolona said...

I have the opposite problem: I'm always trying to move things along but they don't move fast enough...

Chrisoz said...

Every Day's a school day. It's as simple as that.

Chris

oppollo said...

Great observation about America capacity to seize the sense of life in a simple phrase. Where Europeans (and especially French) need a doctorate to do the same.