Leading Effectively e-Newsletter - April 2009 Issue

Time Honored

CCL has been studying leaders and their development for 38 years. Many of our practices have become "tried and true" ways to develop leaders and leadership. Here, we highlight ideas, strategies and tactics that we have developed and refined over many years and by working with many thousands of clients.

How to Learn in the Moment of Crisis

For decades CCL research has shown the power of learning from experience. In a time of extreme economic crisis, those of us who can learn in the moment — and from mistakes — will be more flexible at meeting the challenges of tomorrow.

Individual learning agility, however, isn't sufficient. Groups and organizations need to capture the best repeatable practices and identify avoidable mistakes as they work, not afterward when it's too late to change.

The process of critical reflection is one way CCL teaches clients to understand the impact of events and adapt as needed. Here's how to get a group to learn from reflection:

• Clarify the key event. It may be obvious, such as the loss of a major customer or a failure to deliver on time. A key event is often something strikingly good or bad, but don't overlook routine work as a tool for learning.
• Set up the discussion. Ask questions to focus or frame the discussion. For example: What can we learn from our failure to meet the deadline? What can we do differently so we prevent similar problems moving forward?
• Suspend judgment. Focus attention on the event — not yourself or others — in a constructive and positive way, not blaming or defending. We use the image of "putting it in the middle" — figuratively setting the event on the table for everyone to look at and examine.
• Explore. Relive the event and share perceptions of what happened. Each person gets a chance to tell from his or her perspective what actually happened. What was the sequence of events? What were they thinking? What were they feeling? What did they do? Observe and discuss similarities and differences of perception and experience.
• Reflect. Interpret the event to better understand how and why it happened. What assumptions were operating? What were instances of causes and effect? Reflecting will reveal obstacles, disconnects, hidden beliefs, as well as highlight key actions. Consider what went well and what did not.
• Identify lessons. Talk about what can be done to repeat the current success or to avoid making the same mistake again? What lessons can be learned? What should we keep doing? What should we stop doing? What should we do differently?

The process of critical reflection may require some planning and setting aside a significant amount of time the first few times you put it into action, or when you're trying to understand a particularly complex situation. But you can also speed up the process and use it in the moment — on the production floor, in a sales meeting or even one-on-one to help work through conflicting viewpoints.

Want to help your organization improve learning agility? Try these resources:

• Critical Reflections: How Groups Can Learn from Success and Failure
• Becoming a More Versatile Learner