Do you take time out to sit on your A.R.S.E – Part 3

Leaders are learners

I once coached a builder who was so frustrated with his leading hand he was just about to sack him. His complaint was, “He just doesn’t listen!” So, we completed an engaged learning profile consisting of 30 questions and found that he was 18 visual, 3 auditory and 9 kinesthetic. It not that he wasn’t listening, it was just that he isn’t and never will be an auditory learner. When the owner of the business changed his teaching style to visual and kinesthetic, the leading hand became one of his best employees.

We can’t compete with someone's natural learning style, and most of us naturally teach from our strongest style which may not be that of our listeners. Adapting and adopting to learning styles of the listener is essential for information transfer and healthy communication.

What is your preferred learning style?

We all have one. Do you like to listen to podcasts, read books, sit through courses, or learn virtually? Do you like to learn in the morning, lunch time, afternoon, evening, or late at night? Are you a planner or do you like to take every opportunity at any time to invest in learning? Can you study for hours or do you need to take lots of regular breaks?

Knowing your preferred learning style will help you engage with learning more often and in a variety of ways. It will also help those that need to teach you to understand how best to deliver the training.

There are days that I could sit and study and other days I may try to study and my brain will wonder to everywhere but what it is I am meant to be focused on. I have a busy brain and one of the key things that help me with focus is physical activity. Walking and listening. Studying after a workout or first thing in the morning before I have too many distractions.

What is your learning pace?

Are you a studier, a pacer or an intuitive?

A studier has a thirst for learning and will never action all they learn. They enjoy building theories and philosophies around what could be done but implementation is difficult. This is not wrong - it is real. The types of roles best suited to this learning pace are theoretical and analytical. Less physical and analytical and more subjective. Some professional services such as teaching, lecturers, psychology, medicine and allied health professionals, actualists, law, sciences, and R and D.

A pacer is someone who likes to learn and apply as soon as they can. Typical roles in this area may be building trades, hairdressers, beauty industry, manufacturing, cleaners, landscapers, and physical roles.

An intuitive can appear anywhere in life but will often be in SME business opportunities. An intuitive will take an instruction, directive or role and interpret this for themselves and come back to you with a unique twist on how this task should be done. Intuitives make good leaders. Entrepreneurs are often intuitives, nurses, emergency personnel, architects, engineers, creative industries like wine making, artist, signwriting, interior designers and decorators, and graphic design.

We all need each other and a variety of learning styles and paces to deal with the complexity of needs across life. Complementary learning approaches help fill all the gaps, remove the barriers and fill the drains - not create them!

When we know how to utilise differences and enhance diversity, we reduce conflict and create completeness.

Do you want to learn more? You can! Call me and I can explain how to utilise this information to help you Planalife you want to live in through a Business on Purpose. How to use intentional learning as a primary tool in building a business that will last.

Don’t forget to register for our online Hello Marketing workshop on Friday 27th May from 9am - 12.30pm, and our How Can Your Relationship Survive Your Business? in-person workshop from 7-9pm on Monday 30th May. Reserve your spot online.