Professionals too busy to learn LO8795

Eric Bohlman (ebohlman@netcom.com)
Thu, 1 Aug 1996 00:28:38 -0700 (PDT)

Replying to LO8778 --

On Wed, 31 Jul 1996, Michael Erickson wrote:

> Motivating people to learn is a tough nut to crack because we all have a
> different "mental model" about how that is done. I personally can't NOT
> learn. I seem to be stuck in perpetual "experimental mode" and if it were
> not for my good fortune to work for a manager that tolerates and expects
> that sort of thing from me-I would be in serious trouble jobwise, because
> how can you justify spending 10 to 20% of your time "tinkering" when your
> job description says you ought to be producing.

The other day I was thinking about the fact that one of the most common
metaphors for a business is a sports team. Now at any level beyond
informal pickup play, a sports team spends far more time practicing than
actually playing. The same is true in the performing arts; a theatre
company or an orchestra spends a lot more time rehearsing than it does
performing in public. It seems, though, that we expect our businesses and
non-profits to behave in a completely different manner; I think we're
guided by a meme that says "hire people who already know everything they
need to know to produce." In the language of business, "developmental"
means "remedial." Is it any wonder that we have problems? If you were
the coach of an NFL team, would you excuse the star quarterback from
practice on the grounds that he's so good he doesn't need it?

Your "tinkering" sounds very much like practice or rehearsal. Outside the
business world, it's the "non-productive tinkering" that makes the
"productive" game or symphony what it is.

Eric Bohlman (ebohlman@netcom.com)

-- 

Eric Bohlman <ebohlman@netcom.com>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>