Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction

00:00:54: Idea for action 1: practice starting from scratch

00:03:39: Idea for action 2: do some fast fact-finding

00:06:22: Useful resource

00:06:38: Final thoughts

Interview Transcription

Helen Tupper: Skill 14 is learning agility, and this is one that I think we've spent quite a lot of time on, because we've done a full podcast episode on it, we came up with a whole assessment that we'll tell you about in a few minutes. 

So, it's something we really care about and it's something we've got lots to help you with.  But why and what is learning agility?  So, this is about your ability to do things that you have not done before.  So, learning agility enables us to sort of succeed in situations that are new.  And if you deconstruct learning agility into what are the things that make it up, there are three things that contribute towards it. 

So, this is about navigating newness, it is about understanding others and it is also about self-awareness.

Sarah Ellis: And so we're really going to focus initially on navigating newness, because we've talked about understanding others in our empathy skill, and I think often we don't get much practice being a beginner.  So, that is my idea for action, is practise starting from scratch and I really mean starting from scratch, because when was the last time you did something that you've not done before?  So, this was a really good question that Cath Bishop actually asked me the other week. 

So, Cath's been on the podcast, she's the author of a great book called Long Win, and that's one of her killer questions in the book.  And she asked me that question, I asked her that question.

Helen Tupper: What was your answer?

Sarah Ellis: Well, luckily she asked me on a week where we had just done a training session on AI, and it was a three-hour training session.  So, "When was the last time you've done something you've not done before?" I was like, "Oh, I've literally just spent three hours doing loads of things I've not done before, trying out new AI tools that I'd never even heard of, that I'd never experimented with", and actually that didn't feel too uncomfortable. 

And I was reflecting on why, and I think that's because we were being a beginner together.  So, we were doing the AI training as a group.  So, I was reading earlier about, the reality of being a beginner is you feel -- apparently the two main emotions are exposed and embarrassed.

Helen Tupper: That sounds about right, yeah.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, and you sort of get it.  But actually I was thinking, "Well, in that scenario, I didn't feel either of those things".  But I think that's because it was sort of a group and probably we were all starting from the same place.

Helen Tupper: Definitely times when I have been a beginner, and I get those emotions of like embarrassed.  Like often, being a beginner when you join a new community, I often find like, "Oh, I don't know, and do I fit in?" and all those kind of things.  Confidence gremlins grow, don't they, in those moments.  But like, how am I being a beginner now or what's the next time going to be a beginner, I don't think I've got that answer in my head at the moment.

Sarah Ellis: No and I think it's very easy to fall into that trap of never doing it.  And there's quite a lot of evidence actually, we do less and less "beginning" the older that we get.  So, I think you have to inject newness, you have to you have to discover that and find that.  

Now, maybe some people in their jobs are doing things where they're like, "I don't need more of that because loads of newness is coming my way all the time", in which case, if that's you, you're practising a lot of learning agility.  But I think for most of us, it's often about spotting the chances to sort of add that agility in, because then we are I think increasing our career resilience, so that perhaps when something new does come our way, it's not the first time in five years that we're not doing something that feels familiar. I read a really good quote earlier where it said, "Familiarity breeds complacency" and I was like, I mean that's quite brutal.

Helen Tupper: Yeah, that's quite a brutal quote!

Sarah Ellis: But in a Squiggly Career, you don't want to be complacent because that's when we stall, that's when we get stuck.

Helen Tupper: I guess you stay in your comfort zone for too long, and it's not that comfort zones are bad, but if you spend all your time there, you'll hold yourself back over time.  So, my idea for action is different, as ever!  I was trying to think about, when I am demonstrating learning agility, so I'm navigating newness, what do I do?  And I think I'm a very fast fact-finder.  So, I think the thing that helps me succeed in new situations, so I recognise this is new, "I'm a bit uncertain here".

Sarah Ellis: I don't know what I don't know.

Helen Tupper: Yeah, I don't know what I don't know, and I think I have a very rapid approach to filling that knowledge gap, and I do it from quite a few places.  So, I'll go to a couple of people very quickly, probably on WhatsApp, because I think what is the quickest way that I can get someone to respond to help me fill my knowledge gap?  And I'll ask very simple questions like, "I'm about to go and talk in this situation.  Is there anything that you remember from when you did this that you think it'd be useful for me to know?"  So, I ask very quick questions.  Obviously, I will do a bit of Google, often have a little scan on LinkedIn. 

So, I think what I do with my fast fact-finding is, I don't rely on one person, I don't rely on one source.  So, it'll be people, little bit of LinkedIn, little bit of internet.  More recently, we've talked about this a few times actually in the sprint, something like ChatGPT, I will bring that in a little bit.  And I just have a real burst of getting knowledge that then helps me take whatever it is I've done before, with this immersive new little bit of knowledge that I've got, and I really think it helps me navigate the stuff that I definitely don't know yet.

Sarah Ellis: Yeah, I always think you're good at combining, "What have I done before that might be useful?" so this is a new situation but you'll still have experiences that you can apply; and, "I am going to collect".  I feel like you're sort of, "Right, I'm going to go and collect from loads of different places", almost in a kind of, "I'm not going to dive too deep, but I am just going to bring all these bits of data together", and then that helps you to see a more complete picture that you couldn't have done for yourself, because you're like, "Well, this is new to me", and then it at least gets you started.  Because I think when you're navigating newness, you don't need to have all of the answers, you know, when you don't know what you don't know.  What you do need to figure out is like, "Well, where shall I start?  Or what matters most initially to move forward?"

Helen Tupper: Yeah, in my head I've got this image of a bridge, like a rickety bridge like you would see on an Indiana Jones movie.  It's quite an old reference!

Sarah Ellis: Such a 1990s reference, 1980s reference maybe!

Helen Tupper: I know, but bear with me, most people can remember a rickety bridge.  But you've got where you are today is this one side of the bridge, and where you want to get to is the other.  And it's like my knowledge has got like some little blocks on that bridge, but they're almost too far apart, there's a risk I might fall down.  So in a way, for me, it's like my rapid, fast fact-finding, it helps to fill in the gaps along the bridge to get me to the other side.  That might not be a very useful analogy, but it's what's going around my head in terms of what I do.

Sarah Ellis: So, if you want to do a learning agility assessment for yourself, don't get too carried away by the word "assessment", it's quick and it's easy.  But what you will get, which is probably the most useful thing, is once you've filled it out, we then email you with some ideas for action on each of those three areas, and the link to that will be in the show notes.  And that's all for this skill and next time we'll be talking about work-life fit, which I suspect is probably going to be one of our most popular topics.  But that's everything for today, thank you so much for listening and bye for now.

Helen Tupper: Bye everyone