Guidelines for Learning

Guidelines for focusing on learning

1. Release the need to be right.
2. Welcome one another’s thoughts and opinions.
3. Suspend judgement.
4. Listen for understanding, not rebuttal.
5. Make personal statements by using “I” rather than “you.”
6. Clarify first what was said before you challenge someone.
7. Take time to reflect.
8. Lean into discomfort.
9. Respond first to what was said before making your point.
10. Have fun.

(thanks to kottke.org for this list)

I wish the people I work with would heed this advice. Often the conversations I have seem to be the other person just waiting for their turn to talk. Meetings are more like lectures where there is no interaction, the chair has no interest in hearing and learning from you.

One of my favorite quotes (after my fractured quotes) is “you can’t learn anything if you’re talking.”