AMERiCA LEARNiNG MEDiA

What value do learnatics bring to an organization? How to make learnacy go viral across an organization? Interview to Sebastian Bailey co-founder and President, Mind Gym Inc.

Sebastian is an expert in organisational development, innovation, new product development, learning and development, human capital management and change management. Mind Gym combines the best of psychology with the latest in consumer marketing to create bite-size learning experiences and high impact employee communications that change the way people think, feel and behave; not just once but forever.

Sebastian Bailey will be keynote speaker at ATD 2016 (Colorado Convention Center, Denver, US, May 22-25). The title of his presentation: “Unleashing ‘Learnatics’: How Organizations That Learn Stay Ahead”.

Anticipating his conference Sebastian Bailey said: “Jack Welch once said, ‘An organization's ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage.’ He was wrong: Learning is more than an advantage, it's a competitive imperative. But a naive view of learning means it's never thought of beyond the school classroom or a training conference room. Learning itself is a capability that can be developed. This is a call to unleash the learnacy. Learnatics don't just gobble up new information; they do something useful with it. They take what they know, quickly apply it to new situations, and then go and learn some more. An organization full of learnatics will innovate faster, be more efficient, and deliver more value. And if you have enough learnatics, their learnacy will go viral”.

Who are the learnatics and what are the characteristics of them? What value do learnatics bring to an organization?

Learnatics are curious, resourceful and persistent. They are people who know what to do when they’re unsure what to do.

It’s in our interests to find and support Learnatics because they bring huge value to innovation and problem-solving. These individuals are often responsible for the “aha moment” that revolutionize an approach. In our session, we point to a few examples like lasik surgery and the Linux operating system to show how learnatics have enormous impact.

What stops learnacy from spreading?

Organizational culture is key to helping learnacy spread. Every organization wants their people to learn, but permitting learning and promoting it is entirely different.

Many organizations approach learning in a counterproductive way. Learning is limited to training sessions that stigmatize failure and teach individuals to minimize risk-taking. The trick is to prioritize learning and support individuals to find the experiences that make the biggest difference for the organization.

How to make learnacy go viral across an organization?

Learning is contagious. When individual learning is supported by organizational culture, the culture is further bolstered by learnatics. Learnatics create norms for learning that quickly catch on with others in an organization. To get the process started we’ve identified three “hacks” to learnacy:

• Make learning a part of daily experience, not something relegated to a classroom, a few times a year. Famous for their customer-centric culture, Nordstrom brings this hack to life by providing a single rule to new joiners: “use good judgment in all situations.”

• Encourage individuals to take smart risks by exploring possibilities in every idea that has promise. This can be found at Amazon, where in order to say “no” when a subordinate presents an idea, a manager needs to write a two page thesis explaining why they think it won’t work.

• Create a mindset that sees learning is an iterative process. Proctor and Gamble hand out a “Heroic failure” award that honors the employee or team with the biggest failure that led to the greatest insight. They recognize that failures can be more important than success in getting to the right answer.