"Accelerate Your Learning Curve for Greater Success,"
by Susan Dunn, MA, Personal and Professional Development
Coach
Downsizing and technological advances have put demands on
us to learn more and learn it faster. As support staff and
auxiliary positions disappear, job functions are
consolidated, teamwork becomes the norm, and computer and
other technologies keep proliferating, we are faced with a
stressful amount of new things to learn in a diminishing
amount of time.
Yet the faster you can learn new things, the more valuable
you will be to your employer, and the more likely you'll be
to advance in your career. It isn't an option these days.
WHAT LEARNING CURVES HAVE IN COMMON
What can you do to accelerate your learning curve and
increase your value to your employer? The interesting thing
is that there are things all learning curves have in common,
whether you're learning how to facilitate team work,
learning a new software program, learning a new language, or
learning how to negotiate. The better you understand the
mechanics of THE learning curve, the better you'll be able
to deal with the individual ones that come along, and this
is part of Emotional Intelligence.
GETTING RID OF THE FEAR
If you think back on things you've learned in the past,
you'll probably realize that one of the things that slowed
you down was fear. I can certainly think of examples in my
own case.
An example of how fear can slow you down is evident if
you've watched a young child learn how to ski. A child
doesn't fear failure nor success, nor do they fear falling
down. New things are an every day occurrence for a child,
and this is just the next one. In learning to ski, they
fall repeatedly and bounce back like a rubber ball. They
consider it all fun. Thus there is nothing slowing down the
learning except their ability to master the motor skills.
What a relief!
Many of the Emotional Intelligence competencies facilitate
learning. One of them is flexibility. The skiing example
shows a sort of physical flexibility, but this is applicable
to mental tasks as well. We don't all learn best the same
way. You may be sent to a seminar or training that doesn't
fit your learning style. If you're flexible, and have
learned how to learn (the learning curve), you'll be able to
shape things to your own benefit.
Take learning a new software program, for instance,
something many of us are faced with almost monthly. One
person may learn better by reading the manual, while another
may do better by being shown. Yet another may be used to
the "throw them to the wolves method," or by hearing a tape
or looking at an interactive video on the computer screen.
This has to do with your innate learning style which can be
discovered through an assessment such as the
StrengthsFinder® profile, by working with a coach, or by
analyzing your own history. Generally when left to your own
devices, you'll do what comes naturally to you, which will
always be the quickest and easiest way for you to learn.
LEARNING HISTORIES
A client I'll call Alicia learned how to type when she was 6
years old. Her mother let her 'play' on the family
typewriter. By the time she got to high school and took a
typing class which attempted to teach her "touch typing," it
was too late to unlearn the old ways, yet she keyboards at
over 100. Would anyone complain about the method?
Then she took a job where her boss told her he wanted a
newsletter in two weeks, and gave her - wouldn't you know? -
a Mac. Being used to tinkering, she started right in,
asking an office mate some pertinent questions, and figuring
it out fairly rapidly although she had never touched a
computer before. Someone else might have refused that
job or demanded lessons.
The next job Alicia had she was required to use a PC, and
she tackled that on her own as well.
Nick, however, learns best from formal instruction, and then
having a manual at his side. It confuses him if someone
tries to instruct him next to him or talking to him. He would
rather work on his own, reading in peace and quiet.
Emotional Intelligence starts with self-awareness - knowing
your emotions as well as your cognitive abilities, and
particularly how they interface.
Nick and Alicia were both able to learn computer skills, but
they were comfortable in different settings, and it's
emotional "comfort," that gets rid of the fear and accelerates
the learning curve. Learning has a huge emotional component
to it that is just now being honored in our schools and in the
work place.
MOVE RAPIDLY FOR BEST RESULTS
A crucial point is the longer you stay in the confused
stage, the more stress you'll experience. This will
reinforce itself, making it harder for you to learn in the
future. In essence you'll be slowing down your learning
curve each time.
The faster you learn each thing, the less agony, and the
better and faster you'll learn in the future. It's a
win-win. Your employer wants you to learn fast, and it's in
your best interest to learn fast.
Another great benefit is then learning is fun - like the 6
year old learning to ski. This is turn will make you more
resilient (the stress-buster for the 00s) because studies
have shown that lifetime learning contributes to resilience.
The ability to change rapidly, be flexible and learn quickly
are highly valued by today's employers and reduce your
personal stress levels.
These are all Emotional Intelligence competencies you can
learn. How? Start with an overview of the field and an
assessment of your own Emotional Intelligence (EQ or EI).
You can take an interactive Emotional Intelligence course on
the Internet, and then work with a certified Emotional
Intelligence coach who can provide individual instruction to
improve your competencies.
Developing your Emotional Intelligence has many benefits.
It can accelerate the learning curve because it teaches you
correct patterns, makes previous knowledge more accessible,
allows for better cognitive functioning, and manages the
emotions so they help the process, not hinder it. It can
also increase your ability to get the help - and the kind of
help - you need from others.
Even if faced with learning something completely new, you'll
learn to recognize the steps and feelings that go along with
each stage which will eliminate a lot of stress.
You've taken care of your academic education, but what about
your Emotional Intelligence? Take a second look. Many
people are finding it to be the missing piece in their
career plan
©Susan Dunn, MA, The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc .
Coaching, distance learning and ebooks around emotional
intelligence for your personal and professional development.
Susan is the Director of EQ Alive!, training and certifying
managers, coaches, teachers and therapists in Emotional
Intelligence.
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