Learning Agility

Many of us have read the blogs, heard the stories, and saw the testimonials. Company websites claim that “Learning agility equals leadership success” or that “It is the most in-demand business skill of the 21st century.”

The business world seems enamored with the concept of learning agility.

I found following definition aptly fit for day-to-day practice.

Learning Agility is the

? Willingness and

? Ability to learn new competencies

in order to perform successfully under first-time, tough, or different conditions. *Lombardo and Eichinger(2000)

This definition emphasizes not only two parameters to measure learning agility but also offers conditions under which learning agility need to be assessed.

Concept of Learning Agility was first introduced by Lombardo and Eichinger in their seminar research, as the primary indicator of leadership potential.

Conventional wisdom suggests that “the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior.”

Consequently, these authors argued that potential cannot be fully detected from what an individual already demonstrates on the job.

The word “potential” according to Webster’s dictionary means “existing in possibility; capable of developing into actuality.”

However, the emerging consensus today emphasizes that the central role of learning from experience and growth play in long-term potential.

Rather, it requires the individual to learn to do something new or different.

During research on this topic, I found following model on the topic

However, I found following model more practical.

This model talks about Domain & Component of Learning and their intersection further creates Nine Facets of Learning Agility.?

? Nine Facets of Learning Agility (*Guangrong Dai and Kenneth P. De Meuse)

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• Intellectual curiosity >> Intellectually adventuresome; is sensation seeking; possesses broad interests; open to new experiences; possess a need to understand and make reasonable the experiential world
• Unconventional thinking >> Comfortable with ambiguity and complexity; questions conventional wisdom; looks for root causes in things; experiments and tries new ways of doing things.
• Cognitive flexibility>> Views things from a variety of viewpoints; switches easily between thinking about different concepts; able to overcome initial responses or thinking that has become habitual; adjusts thinking in new situations
• Open-mindedness>>Comfortable with people who are different; suspends judgment; open and receptive to new and different ideas or opinions of others
• Socially astuteness>>Empathizes with others; reads and understands people well; effective sensing the motives and taking the perspectives of others
• Social flexibility>>Senses interpersonal dynamics; picks up on social cues and adjusts own style to situations in real time; easily plays different roles depending on the circumstance
• Personal learner>> Directs attention inward; possesses a high need for self-knowledge; tries to understand self; has the desire to learn and understand personal values, purpose and standards
• Self-reflection>>Exercises introspection; analyzes the why behind own behaviors; receptive to feedback from others; reflects on experiences; comfortable admitting personal faults
• Self-regulation>>Inhibits automatic thinking and behaving; aware of personal beliefs and assumptions and how they impact behaviors; uses self-awareness for better control and management of emotions and behaviors

*Reference -Contemporary Talent Management by Ibraiz Tarique https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Companion-to-Talent-Management/Tarique/p/book/9781032038285#

?#leadershipdevelopment #talentmanagement #successionplanning

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