(Psychological Safety cont. 7)

Desirable Behaviours (Learner Safety)

2. Learner Safety (how do you make others feel safe and motivate them to learn?)

i) unite your team with learning (don't make learning a competition; ideally should be fun and engaging; understand that learning is a highly individual process and involves everyone helping each other)

ii) adopt a student mindset (approach learning with humility and consistency, not arrogance or complacency:
"...we are always learning and will never arrive at a place of permanent competency..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

iii) assess the learning style and temperament of each person (everybody has preferred learning styles, eg some are
    - visual learners
    - learn alone
    - learn out loud
    - self-directed learners
    - learn in the classroom
    - learn one-on-one
    - learn on-the-job, etc.

It is important to recognise the learning styles of each individual and that there is no perfect approach or one-size-fits all.

It is also necessary to remove the inhibition and anxiety that can be associated with learning.

iv) share what you are learning (sharing your experience of learning by revealing insights, topics, joy, satisfaction, etc, can encourage others to learn:
"...your optimism and enthusiasm for learning is contagious..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

v) invite your team to learn (encourage the more tentative employees to become active participants)

vi) invite others to share their roles (encourage people to talk about their roles as this will help people to appreciate each other and to learn something new about their roles)

vii) share past mistakes and failures (don't hide mistakes/failures; encourage people to share, and learn from, mistakes/failures, especially your own:
"...talking about failure and sharing of your own abilities are crucial to encouraging others to learn..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

Celebrate failures as learning experiences as you often learn more from failures than successes:
"...destigmatise failure and create a culture where failure is not seen as an accident, but instead as the way forward..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

viii) ask for help from those in different roles (model humility by learning to ask for help from others; this leads to increased confidence and engagement)

ix) frame problems before you solve problems (at the start, define the problem correctly; otherwise you can end up solving the wrong problem)

x) share your and others' personal learning goals (develop and share your technical and non-technical learning goals as a way of motivating others to set and pursue their own goals:
"...Individuals learn more effectively and consistently when they have set clear goals about what they want to learn..."
Timothy Clark, 2022

Encourage everyone to set concrete and time-bound learning goals that are appropriate given their roles, responsibilities, etc)

xi) reinforce learning potential (the learning potential is unlimited; encourage sharing new learnings that are being implemented)

xii) formulate questions (asked the 'right' questions:
"...thoughtful questions require tremendous thought and preparation. In fact, it is part of the learning process itself..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

A good idea is to formulate a set of questions about the issue before you start discussing it.

Ask questions to activate learning, ie encourage people to ask people questions to push their thinking, skills and experience.)

xiii) implement rotating mentoring (use an outsider to provide a concentrated learning opportunity, ie learn from an individual who has a different perspective, skills and experience.)

xiv) assign action learning projects (for specific projects, provide clear objectives, timelines, resources and ground rules that are for solving particular challenges)

xv) dedicate time and resources to learning (as learning is important, it needs to be adequately resourced in time, expertise, finance, etc)

xvi) admit your ignorance and say 'I don't know' (acknowledge areas that are beyond your know-how or competency; gracefully acknowledge your own limitations and this will encourage others to learn without fear)

xvii) demonstrate patience and empathy (avoid any demeaning or belittling or disrespectful behaviour, such as responses that are sarcastic or indifferent or harsh or critical about the learning as they are demotivating; show patience and empathy)

xviii) challenge staff with hard problems (ask staff to solve problems that they have no idea how to solve; check regularly to provide appropriate coaching and guidance)

xix) establish a club, ie book, video, podcasts, etc (create incentives - financial and non-financial - for continual learning, ie reading books, watching videos, listening to podcasts, etc on relevant topics; share insights, etc)

xx) incorporate a daily learning segment (like micro-learning segments of a couple of minutes, eg a single point lesson on a particular topic; rotate these segments around different staff members)

xxi) communicate the vision of potential (help people see their potential, ie what they can become; continuous learning is an important part of this)

xxii) model notetaking (taking notes is a good sign that people are actively learning, ie
"...capture figures, insights, and observations that you want to remember and ponder later..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxiii) remove learning obstacles (understand the learning environment for individuals and collectively; identify any potential obstacles to the learning process and remove them.)

xxiv) embrace quality feedback (focus on the quality or substance of the feedback rather than where it came from; all feedback should be appreciated; this includes asking for feedback at the moment of need, as each day we encounter questions, problems, challenges, etc; if no obvious solution,
"...teach your team to formulate a learning response (not an answer) to the problem and then ask a colleague to give feedback (not an answer)..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxv) identify and share what you unlearn (in a dynamic environment your
"...knowledge, skills and experience can become obsolete. Identify the times when you see this happening to you. Point it out to others. Acknowledge that you are in a cycle of unlearning and relearning..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxvi) provide unwavering support through the low points (as we go through learning cycles we encounter points of discouragement or low confidence; provide extra support to keep up morale and encourage efforts to move forward, eg reward evidence of progress, irrespective of how small)

xxvii) journal your learning observations (record your observations around the learning as individuals and collectively; provides another lens to observe and enhance learning patterns)

xxviii) be a self-sufficient learner (learn in both formal, ie classroom, etc and informal settings, ie on-the-job, etc;
"...never become dependent on an organisation or other people to tell you what to learn, why, or how..."
Timothy Clark, 2022)

xxix) teach the concept of learning agility (it is
"...the ability to learn at or above the speed of change..."
Timothy Clark, 2022

To reduce the sense of risk when engaged in the learning process, you need to be convinced that not taking learning risk is greater than the risk of taking it)

xxx) encourage the emotional side of learning to build confidence (learning process is both intellectual and emotional, with the latter influencing your desire and ability to learn; need to remove from the learning process the negative emotions of fear, inhibition, anxiety, etc;
"...learning is a beautiful interplay between the head and heart. Encourage both..."
Timothy Clark, 2022