Learning to Learn

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How can we overcome change and learn to create a better experience at work—for ourselves and our teams? To launch us into Season Three of Learning Through Experience, my first guest explores with me the pedagogy of hope and transformation, focusing on interpersonal and group dynamics.

As Dr. Lisa Lahey aptly put it during our conversation, “When we invest in our relationships and our own development, we pave the way for a more hopeful and transformative future.” A renowned author on adult education and development, Lisa specializes in identifying personal and organizational impediments to change, and helping them unpack and understand these insights to ultimately break free of unproductive habits in order to achieve their goals.

Key Topics

05:34 Formative experiences – Lisa shares two personal experiences that shaped her commitment to (and emphasized the importance of) listening and understanding group dynamics

08:06 Adult development theory – Introduction to adult development theory and its impact on personal growth

09:11 Navigating personal relationships – The challenges of balancing personal relationships and self-identity

12:13 The role of development – Emphasis on the necessity of personal development to navigate workplace challenges

16:09 Distinguishing learning and development – The difference between learning and deeper personal development

19:09 The role of others in development – How interpersonal relationships can support or hinder personal growth

30:50 Immunity to Change approach – How the immunity to change approach can help individuals and groups overcome barriers to personal and professional growth; applying the framework in the workplace

35:00 Future of work – How the evolving nature of work requires a shift in mindset toward collaboration and shared leadership

Additional Resources from Lisa

Vox—I’ve spent my career studying bad habits. Here’s what I’ve learned about breaking them.
Brené Brown podcast episodes—Immunity to Change, part 1 and part 2
Putting the “Development” in Professional Development: Understanding and Overturning Educational Leaders’ Immunities to Change—a substantive piece linking adult development with ITC

About Learning Through Experience

We all want work—and life—to be better. So how do we make it happen? How can we learn from the experience we have to create a future that we want? This is the realm that much of Dr. Heidi Brooks’ work explores. As we navigate the everyday, she invites us to cultivate the capacity to learn through experience, and to apply the wisdom gained to co-create a future that is worth fighting for.

Almost all adults work and experience organizational life. Work is the common connector; it dominates where we engage with the world and where the world engages with us. And for Dr. Brooks, it’s a canvas for the great re-imagining of our humanity. So, what can we do every day to help create an experience of work that people want to be part of? This everyday leadership invitation goes beyond deliverables and tasks into thinking of work as a space that we co-create.

Season Three of the Learning Through Experience podcast echos Dr. Brooks’ course structure, centered on interpersonal and group dynamics. Even at Yale, there is a place for learning through experience—not just books. The answer you seek is not on page 4. Watch and listen as Dr. Brooks meets with colleagues and authorities in their fields about transformative experiences that shape and shift how we learn and listen, feel and connect, reinforcing that experience precedes thinking that challenges our paradigms and assumptions.

In order to challenge the status quo, we need to have experiences that open us up to learning. Are you ready? Join us for Season Three of Learning Through Experience.

All Episodes of Learning Through Experience