TedX Salon – The Lifelong Learner’s Playbook: The Critical Success Mindset You’re Ignoring

I’m doing a TEDX Salon on learning! The Lifelong Learner’s Playbook – the critical success mindset you’re most likely ignoring

Quick! What is something that every single human on the planet has in common?

Everyone from Tsawwassen to Timbuktu and in between.

Stumped?

It’s learning.

Without our ability to learn we would never have become capable of communicating, walking, dressing ourselves, etc.  

And yet this skill is VASTLY underrated.

Learning is typically left to formal schooling and those fortunate enough to have paid professional development.

And let’s face it, much professional development time goes unused or is used instead to attend a conference simply because it’s in a desired locale.  

Vacation anyone?!

And what’s worse, the typical institution that is held as THE place to learn in so many cultures – aka universities – most of the professors have no training in how to design and deliver powerful learning. 

(No disrespect to universities; I am the first person in my family to attend university and I’m the proud holder of two degrees.)

And to lay it even more out on the table, most workshops are boring, not engaging, not inclusive, not relevant, not memorable, and/or too hard or too easy.

It’s a crime that most workshops are, in fact, designed AGAINST how we learn, making the information difficult to remember and nearly impossible to get the ‘learning to leave the room’ eg to actually DO something with what you learn.

The challenges are many with learning despite the need being so high.

Let me lay a few sobering stats on you before we look at the solution.

1. Six in ten workers need training before 2027.
2. 2 in 10 employees are dissatisfied with the corporate training.
3. 43% of employees find new hire training outdated.
4. 20% of employees don’t have time for training.
5. 20% of Gen Z employees feel their manager doesn’t understand their skill development needs.
6. 82% of leaders say employees need new skills with the AI boom. (Source: Employee Development Statistics You Need to Know in 2024).

But all is far from lost.

We need to remember that we ALL have the capacity to be learning masters.

We already have been, else we’d still be in diapers, unable to talk.

And we need to give our heads a shake because we’ve simply forgotten how important learning is.  

Here’s some examples of just how critical learning is:

1. 70% of workers say learning improves their sense of connection to a workplace.
2. 80% of workers say learning adds purpose to their work.
3. 94% of employees stay longer in companies that invest in their professional development.
4. Companies with a strong learning culture have 2X employee retention rate (Source: Employee Development Statistics You Need to Know in 2024).

And zooming out, beyond just an organizational view, to our world as a whole, this matters more than ever in our conflicted, fractured times.

Learning is everything.

Embrace learning in our everyday lives

To continuously and regularly focus on learning aka to have a learning mindset, means to admit we don’t know it all, and that we’re open to other ways of thinking and doing.  And that, simply, is everything.

For what’s the opposite?

It sounds something like this:

• I’m right and you’re wrong. 
• You have the learning to do, not me. 
• I’ve got it all going on.  
• And I certainly don’t have anything to learn from you.

Ridiculous.

Here are some simple ways to create a learning mindset:

1. Curious: Be curious. Curiousity is direct line to learning.
2. How: Figure out how you like to learn – with people or solo? Books, podcasts, courses, conferences? And once you know, do what works for you!
3. What: Figure out what you want/need to learn in three areas:
   1. What you want and need to learn a little – things that you don’t need to have deep expertise in.
   2. What you want to learn regarding your need for deep expertise.
   3. And thirdly sort out what critical character skills (skills for being human, things like communication, conflict resolution, collaborating etc). that you need/want to learn.
4. Learning Plan: Put it all together and make a learning plan for yourself for the year.
5. Workshop: Sign up for my annual learning plan workshop that I give every January as part of my monthly Learning and Development Roundtable. Watch this space for more information. Sign up for free so you’re sure to get the invitations.

Bonus:

If you’re in Nairobi, please feel free to come to my TedX Westlands Salon where we’ll dive into all things learning mindset.

After all, the Lifelong Learner’s Playbook is truly the critical success mindset you’re most likely ignoring.  But it’s never too late to learn.

Now go on and learn, laugh, and lead

Learn

• When was the last time you had a powerful and positive learning experience?  I’d love to hear what made it powerful and positive as well as what you do to ensure your own learning mindset is healthy and strong..

Laugh

• Learning isn’t always easy, especially learning a new language like Trevor Noah shares in this clip.

Lead

• If you’re in Nairobi, register now for the October 5th, TEDx Salon and come say hello afterwards.