To be a partner in guiding the learning of others
In my previous article, we discussed a model of people development, focusing on the “ability of personal growth” (the ability to learn from experience). We also discussed the importance of how to develop the ability of personal growth of subordinates when it comes to their development.
Once the “foundation,” so to speak, has been laid, it is time to start providing concrete support. From this point forward, I would like to assume that we will be dealing with the adaptive challenges of our subordinates. It is also important to deal with technical challenges, but since there are many books on subordinate development that deal with this point, I would like to leave it to those books.
The process of facing and working with subordinates to address their adaptive challenges can be a long road. There is no “just do this and it will be solved” method. (If there were, it would be a “technical challenge” rather than an “adaptive challenge.)
In order to face the adaptive challenges of our subordinates, it is important to imagine the story of overcoming the adaptive challenges.
Foreshadowing future stories
Overcoming adaptive challenges” is nothing more than the process of overcoming the conflict of being held in a state of contradiction. The nature of the contradiction varies from person to person and from situation to situation, but I believe that there is a common story of overcoming.
One archetype for that story is mythologist Joseph Campbell’s “The Hero’s Journey. Myths from around the world share a common pattern, which is illustrated in the following diagram.
The archetype of story will help us to visualize how the process will go beyond adaptive challenges, what challenges are likely to be involved in the process, and what kind of environment and support will be needed to overcome these challenges. To learn more, please also refer to the following articles.
Of course, things do not always go as envisioned, and I am not suggesting that we should control things in that way. Nevertheless, by keeping a bird’s-eye view of where we are in the overall “journey” and what aspects are likely in the future, we can better guide our subordinates in a natural way toward the desired direction without being shortsighted.
Experiential learning cycle
Keeping an image of the subordinate’s growth story through the “Hero’s Journey” can be seen as a macro and bird’s eye view approach.
For a more micro approach, it is important to design “experiences and questions. For this purpose, it is useful to understand the concept of the “experience learning cycle.
The experiential learning cycle is a learning model reconstructed by Kolb based on previous research, in which learning is facilitated by the cyclical progression of four elements, each of which consists of two axes: subjective and objective, concrete and abstract.
When the experiential learning cycle is functioning, the following processes are spinning.
Subjective x Concrete (lower left)
Subjectively perceive sensations and thoughts from actual experience of some event
↓
Subjective x Abstract (upper left)
Reflecting on a concrete experience and giving it meaning for oneself
↓
Objective x Abstract (upper right)
Obtain suggestions that can be applied, such as understanding the cause-and-effect relationship of events that occurred, or forming a pattern of success or failure stories
↓
Objective x Concrete (lower right)
Verify implications as hypotheses in real-life experiences
↓
Subjective x Concrete (lower left)
Subjectively capture the experience gained from it again
Support subordinates according to their learning styles
The experiential learning cycle, as the name “cycle” implies, is about rotating the four quadrants as coherently as possible. However, each person has his or her own learning style, and within these four quadrants, there are strong parts (that can be practiced naturally) and weak parts (that cannot be practiced naturally). As an example, the following diagram illustrates the four types.
Which type are you closer to? For me, I am the abstract type. While I can practice reflective observation and abstract conceptualization in my daily life without any hesitation, there are times when it takes me a long time to take action, or when I fall into perfectionism and failures are unacceptable.
In people development, we observe which type of people we are developing and try to help them achieve a good balance.
For example, for the “subjective type,” we provide support for abstracting past experiences. It is also effective to encourage them to make it a habit to write down their experiences and what they have learned from them.
Or, if they are the “abstract type,” we can encourage them to increase their concrete actions. For example, we can encourage them to lower the bar by saying, “It’s an experiment for learning, so there’s nothing wrong if you fail.”
The Importance of “Questions” in Experiential Learning
It is important to have questions to facilitate effective experiential learning.
Questions are closely related to the purpose of experiential learning. For example, if a person is faced with the challenge of listening to the true needs of customers, the question could be, “How can I understand the true needs and desires of my customers?” In this way, questions that are connected to the desired image and wishes are put into the form of concrete questions as much as possible.
When the “question” is clear, the sensors that receive information through daily experiences are strengthened, and the experiential learning cycle is more likely to rotate. If we were to place the “question” in the experiential learning cycle, it would be in the middle of the cycle.
As a specific support, it is a good idea to have a dialogue with subordinates about what kind of “questions” they should have in mind as they work. It may be easier to understand if you clarify the “scene” and the “question” as a set. In the example above, while having a dialogue with subordinates, it is important to clarify the situation of “business meeting with a customer” with a question, “How can I receive the true needs and thoughts of the customer?
As the experiential learning cycle continues, the answer to the question will gradually emerge. Once that happens, we will generate the next “question.” We should consider the “question” as something that is constantly evolving, and ask our subordinates to be aware of the “question” for their learning.
The “depth” of experiential learning
Furthermore, the process of experiential learning also has a “depth” perspective. It is the image of what was initially a “dot” becoming more multifaceted and holistic as a line, surface or three-dimensional.
Let us consider the depth of experiential learning from an example of “a customer making a complaint.”
A “ dot (fragmented)” learning would be to “try to eliminate the mistake.” This is an embodiment of learning directly from experience.
In the “line (continuity/relationship)” learning, which is a step deeper, for example, “standardize operations to prevent mistakes from occurring” takes place. The process of experience that a mistake occurred is captured in a “line” (in this case, a cause-and-effect relationship).
At a deeper “ surface (complexity),” the learning occurs, for example, “review the organizational culture that disregards operations. We see the background of the phenomenon structurally and become aware of the “ sense of value” that is the root cause.
Viewing experiences in connection with “wishes”
Up to the “ dot, line, and surface” level of experiential learning, things were viewed objectively as “external phenomena. However, in experiential learning at the “three-dimensional” level, “external phenomena” are viewed in connection with “wishes,” in other words, “what one truly desires. For example, one of my own “wishes” is “to create an environment in which employees can work happily. Therefore, I cannot tolerate any measures that “sacrifice the happiness of employees” when addressing some challenge.
In the previous example, when the problem is “an organizational culture that disregards operations,” it is necessary to look back and see where this is derived from one’s own sense of values. In my case, I had the idea of “trying things out first. By thinking of trial and error as a good thing, I had an aspect of thinking that it was good to continue trial and error even in situations where operations and systems were not fully established.
However, I realized that this way of thinking was contrary to “creating an environment in which employees can work happily. At that time, I needed to consider which one is my true wish, and give priority to my true wish and change the one that is not.
Normally, it is not easy to change one’s “ sense of value,” but when one is aware of his/her “wish,” he/she will be willing to change his/her “sense of value.
Therefore, when facing an adaptive challenge that requires transforming one’s sense of values level, while it is fundamental to view it at the “surface” level as the depth of experiential learning, it is sometimes necessary to view it at the “three-dimensional” level as well.
In this article, I discussed the importance of supporting subordinates in their experiential learning cycle and how to be a partner in guiding their experiential learning.
Here are the quests of the day. (If you’d like, please share your thoughts in the comments.)
・Which of the following types is closest to the learning style of your subordinates or junior staff members? (If you have no subordinates or juniors, consider your own style)
・What kind of support could you provide to help that subordinate or junior staff member to make the experiential learning cycle work better? (If you don’t have a subordinate or junior staff member, think about what you can do to make your own experiential learning cycle go even better.)
Bunshiro Ochiai
