LEARNABILIY 23 July

Hello!

I hope you're having a nice month, even if it's just because there's less traffic when you commute to work.

Let's get straight to those Learnability nuggets...

?? Managers, Mentors & Coaches

The 7 Questions

Whether you're a manager, a mentor, a coach or just someone trying to help a friend, you should have these 7 questions in your Learnability toolbox the next time someone comes to you for help.

How many of them do you regularly use?

1. What’s on your mind?

Variations of this question have long been used to quickly focus the conversation on the most pressing issues.

2. ...and what else?

This Socratic question encourages further exploration and is good for digging deeper into issues.

3. What’s the real challenge here for you?

This question helps get to the root of the subject to pinpoint the true nature of things.

4. What do you want to achieve?

Clarifying objectives is always a good idea. It helps people find the 'why' behind the decisions that have to be made.

5. How can I help?

Asking how you can help is a common technique in leadership and customer service to ensure support is tailored to the individual's needs.

6. If you say yes to this, what are you saying no to?

This question is closely related to prioritisation in project management. It helps to understand the implications of decisions and to manage time and resources effectively.

7: What is your key takeaway from this conversation?

Reflection is a key part of learning. It helps individuals think about their own thinking and helps the learning process.

So the next time someone comes to you with a problem, you can quickly help them by using these 7 questions.

For more details about the power and possibilities behind each question, I recommend "The Coaching Habit" by Michael Bungay Stanier. https://amzn.eu/d/0cMCSMtd

?? Educators, Entrepreneurs, and Professionals

Back to Skool?

Despite its name, Skool.com is not for kids. It's a wonderful online platform designed to support learning, build communities, and boost engagement, especially for educators, entrepreneurs, and business professionals.

It nicely combines features of a social network, a learning management system, and a community forum, creating an ideal space for collaborative learning and sharing knowledge. You can create and join communities based on your shared interests or professional goals, organise content into structured courses, and interact through discussion forums, live chats, and comments. One of its strongpoints is that it includes fun gamification elements to motivate and reward active participation.

Skool also provides you with networking opportunities, letting you connect with peers, mentors, and potential clients, leading to new opportunities and collaborations. It supports continuous learning by letting you share ideas, best practices, and keeping you up-to-date with the latest trends. Additionally, companies can use Skool for team collaboration, improving communication and project management, and for engaging with customers by creating dedicated communities for support and feedback.

What's more, Skool helps you build your brand and establish authority by allowing professionals to actively participate in or lead communities, positioning themselves as thought leaders in their field. This not only strengthens personal and professional brands but also offers educational marketing opportunities where businesses can create courses related to their products or services, thus educating their audience and positioning themselves as knowledgeable resources.

If you're interested in learning, Skool is a great platform that supports networking, knowledge sharing, and professional development, essential for business growth and success in today's interconnected world.

Thank you to Sabine Schuh for recommending this resource!

?? Teachers and Parents

Better? Or Easier?

The following thought-provoking article is not mine. It was published on 5th June by Will and Homa from BIG Questions Institute . It asks some very interesting questions about how we structure education. Unfortuately, I can't get the link to work - at least on my computer. So I have taken the liberty to share it here in its entirety.

Hey!

Here’s a frame for thinking about our approach to education in this fraught moment:

We’re trying to do the wrong thing righter.

Let us first say first that we really believe that the vast majority of people who go into teaching and school leadership care about kids, want them to learn, hope for them to thrive and be joyful in their lives.

But what if despite our best intentions, our current practices and pedagogies are really serving us instead of serving our kids?

We've asked questions like these for years, but right now, as the time-worn narrative around “education” seems to be buckling, they feel like they need to be asked again.

• Do kids learn better and become more prepared for life today when we separate out the content into different subjects, or is it just easier for us?
• Do kids learn better and become more prepared for life today when we have every one of them pretty much go through the same curriculum in the same way, or is it just easier for us?
• Do kids learn better and become more prepared for life today when we have them turn off all of their technology in school, or is it just easier for us?
• Do kids learn better and become more prepared for life today when we assess them all the same way, or is it just easier for us?
• Do kids learn better and become more prepared for life today when we decide what they should learn and how they should learn it, or is it just easier for us?
• Do kids learn better and become more prepared for life today when we rank and sort them by grades and test scores, or is it just easier for us?

Increasingly, there’s a compelling argument to be made that the experience we create for kids in schools is the wrong experience for the learning that kids need to do today. And, that the “improvements” or “transformations” that we aspire to are really just trying harder to do the wrong things righter.

And that the righter we are at doing the wrong thing, the wronger we get.

I get it. There’s not a lot of bandwidth or energy to really step back and ask “are we doing the right thing?” or “are we trying to do the wrong things right?”

This is really hard because it’s hard to admit we may be doing the wrong thing. That would force us to look deeply not just at practice but at the way we think about our own value and expertise.

And yet now, as more and more people around the world begin to reflect deeply on what’s most important in their own lives, and life on the planet in general, as hard as it is, it may be the perfect time to go there.

Frankly, the future may depend on it. (No pressure.)

Onward!

Will and Homa

The BIG Questions Institute is an educational organization founded by Will Richardson and Homa Sabet Tavangar . It focuses on addressing the most pressing and significant questions in education to help schools, educators, and students adapt to the rapidly changing world. The institute aims to create a culture of inquiry and deep thinking, encouraging educators to reflect on their practices and innovate in ways that prepare students for future challenges. Visit their website here https://bigquestions.institute

What I'm Doing at the Moment

As it's July, things are fairly quiet

• New Book: However, having things quiet means I can push on with my next book: Learnability. I’m on chapter 4.
• Rejigging Keynote: I've been asked to give a presentation of my Learnability keynote to an online audience after the summer. This requires rejigging the format and taking advantage of the zoom format (polls, chat, props etc.)
• FX Barcelona Film School : This week sees the end of my daughter's summer school course on digital animation. We'll be going along to see what she's been up to.
• IESE: I'll be back at the prestigious IESE Business School as one of their trainers of the MBA Communications Course. It was nice to see a few familiar faces as well as a few new ones at their pre-course meeting this month.
• Free consultation/workshop: I'm still building bridges with potential new clients, after the summer, I'll be offering a free executive development assessment, where attendees will be able to evaluate their, Learnability level, identify points for improvement, as well as start developing their own performance improvement strategy. This will last about 60-90 minutes. Preparing its content to get maximum benefit for all involved is one of my tasks this summer.
• IPA Creative L&D : For anyone curious about how educational theatre companies are run, we're having sound insulation put into our rehearsal studio to make live better for our neighbours.
• Learning Challenge: If you've been following me for a while, you'll know I set myself a learning challenge each summer. In 'A Study In Pink' the first episode of that wonderful series Sherlock, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, he demonstrates his ability to read text upside-down. It's been on my mind for years. So, I've decided that now is the time to try it for myself. My aim is to practise reading upside-down each day for a month and measure my progress.

?? "People don't leave bad jobs, they leave bad bosses". If you could benefit from running an executive accelerator group to strengthen your leadership team, DM me now.

?? If you want your attendees to get more value from your next event or training day, invite me to speak about Learnability.

?? If you have found any part of this newsletter useful, please forward it to someone else who might find it useful, too.

Thank you for your time and keep learning ??