Learning FOMO

I remember that summer day when I got on my sister’s green banana seat bicycle with the confidence that I would successfully ride my way down the street. There had been much training for that moment: tricycles, getting on the two-wheeler bike with the kickstand to just balance, making it a few feet without falling, having my father hold the back of the bike for me. But that day, I was ready. Come what may, I was going to achieve my goal.

Why was that day so important? All my friends were already riding their bikes & had plans to ride together to the ice cream shop on the last day of 2nd grade, hang out at the shopping center, and ride back together. I had to join them – I was NOT going to be the one that wasn’t there to experience that first freedom ride of our childhood. My learning was driven by FOMO: Fear of Missing Out.   

FOMO (and a healthy dose of intrinsic motivation) inspired me to learn how to swim, to ice skate, to join clubs in high school, to write an Honors paper in college, and to join and then lead committees when I entered into the workforce.

I would venture that it has inspired your learning as well, especially as you reflect on the past year:

·      Did you find yourself learning how to make sourdough bread last year? 

·      Did you start learning a new language?  An instrument? A new signature dish?

While some of it was due to newfound time to (re)explore a passion or due to intrinsic motivation, likely there was an element of FOMO driving your learning. When everyone around is learning something new - and sharing their experiences with us - we are inspired to join in, to learn, to stay current.

The question for many learning practitioners is: How do you recreate FOMO in the workplace to accelerate learning? 

As skills change rapidly, especially in the past year where external forces have fundamentally disrupted our businesses (digital, transformation, changing customer needs, etc.), learning plays a pivotal role in driving business performance. 

Creating Learning FOMO will inspire people to pick up the new skills your organization needs, dust off rusty ones, and upskill themselves. 

Here are a few ideas for creating Learning FOMO in your organization:

1.      Make a splash: Having one pivotal learning that everyone is talking about creates energy, a common language, and a desire to learn.

1)     Connect it to a mission: Is there a separation on the way? A merger? A change? A transformation? Pick the handful of learnings that people will need to be successful, channel all the energy to these few. 

2)     Draw on internal influencers: Just like social media was so powerful for advancing your Tik Tok dancing skills or your sourdough bread baking skills, draw on your internal influencers to post their learning experiences on your Yammer pages, on Slack, or to share their learnings at team meetings.

We all need a reason to upskill ourselves or learn something new; create some Learning FOMO and see how it impacts your business performance. 

Now, let me get back to my kitchen, where I will be armed with a classic Indian cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey, soon posting photos of my delicious creations, inspired by all of your gorgeous foodie posts!