There is a term that I like – Learning Environment – that sounds nice…
It’s different from – Teaching Environment or Managerial Coaching Environment – the difference lies in the the person to learn.
Reading How Come Every Time I Get Stabbed in the Back My Fingerprints Are on the Knife? : And Other Meditations on Management by Jerry B Harvey. He writes about the challenges as a Professor and consultant in determining what exactly his job is.
“Many teachers have the following maxim on a sign atop their desks (or buried in the deep recesses of their brains): If the student hasn’t learned, the teacher hasn’t taught. That maxim is quite peculiar, because it clearly implies that the basic responsibility for learning belongs to the teacher. Consequently, if the student performs incompetently, the teacher is at fault.
But, following the same logic rigorously, if the student performs competently, the teacher must then get the credit. For all intents and purposes, the student doesn’t exist, expect as a sort of inanimate, passive receptacle for the teacher’s competence or incompetence.” (Harvey 1999)
In the world of work change the word Teacher with Manager; Student with Subordinate.
Intuitively the quote above makes sense, in both ways…
We do feel it is the teachers or managers duty to impart learning and development and they should be held accountable.
AND
That the individual should get credit and have accountability to learn, and if we choose to give “credit” to the teacher or manager for the learning, then the individual is no longer responsible for their own learning and development.
On to the inquiry:
How might you encourage learning? For yourself? For others?
Learning in the sense of people want to learn and apply their learning.
I would love to hear some of your thoughts…because I don’t know.
image by oskay