by Dwayne Phillips Learning is a good thing. There are things I can do to prevent learning. Those are not so good. I don’t know it all. I do know how to learn. I do know how to recognize that I am clueless and I need to learn. Pride in knowing it all keeps me […]
Take Pride in the Ability to Learn
September 25th, 2023 · No Comments
Tags: Adapting · Change · Humility · Learning
One Facilitator, Nine Teachers, and Ten Learners
August 31st, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Facilitated learning sessions offer big benefits. They are not as easy to arrange, but are much better than other methods. There are various ways to conduct classes and learning. The usual method is to have one teacher and nine students. The teacher talks, the students listen (we hope), and the students learn […]
Tags: Adults · Change · Education · Learning · Listening · Teaching
Rehearsing for the Rehearsal
August 28th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips There is the meta-plan or the plan about the plan. There is the meta-rehearsal or the rehearsal for the rehearsal. There are many other meta-this-and-that. They are quite useful. My wife and I have been married since 1983 (40 years as of the writing of this post). I recall our wedding rehearsal. […]
Tags: Learning · Management · Patterns · Planning · Practice · Process · Review · Success · Thinking · Work
Someone Else’s Experience
August 21st, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips People have their own experiences. Assuming their experience denies them as a person. Try to avoid such. Each person has their own experience with something. It is often the case that several people have similar experiences. That gives me the luxury of describing some “average” experience and continuing to satisfy the “average” […]
Tags: Adults · Expectations · Learning · Other · Patience · Self
Student Driver
August 17th, 2023 · No Comments
By Dwayne Phillips Despite what I have noticed the past couple of years, declaring, “I’m just learning” does not allow us to do whatever we want. Earlier this year, I wrote about using Emergency Flashers to gain allowance to do whatever I want (not). I’ve noticed something similar with stickers on cars that say something […]
Tags: Leadership · Learning · Management · Mistakes · Notice · Permission
Nip It in the Bud
August 10th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Accepting poor performance and low-quality products sets a precedent. The longer this lasts, the more difficult it is to change the situation. Comedian Don Knotts had this routine playing Barney Fife on the Andy Griffith Show. “Nip it in the bud,” was the punchline that was punched over and over. I still […]
Tags: Change · Leadership · Learning · Management · Reaction
Work a Little, Learn a Little
August 3rd, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips If we work a little, learn a little, and repeat, we can do some pretty impressive things. We don’t, however, like to do this “little” thing. Let’s work a little, talk about what we did, learn a little, and try again. That reduces the misunderstandings. That keeps us from wasting resources by […]
Tags: Agility · Humility · Learning · People · Work
Things Are the Way the Are
July 27th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Things are the way they are. But why? An old saying explains much of the reason. There is an old but little known saying, “Things are the way they are because they got that way.” Pause to consider. Yes, of course the saying is correct. We are here because everything and everyone […]
Tags: Accountability · General Systems Thinking · History · Learning · Systems
Meta Messages in Job Interviews
July 24th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Take care with the messages you send job interviewees if you really want to hire someone. Another job interview, another headache. Some organizations use this process in a job interview. There are N people sitting around the table. Each person has a sheet with N questions on it. Person #1 reads question […]
Tags: Change · Jobs · Learning · Questions
Understanding What I Should Understand
July 10th, 2023 · No Comments
by Dwayne Phillips Meta understanding is understanding about understanding. This is rarely practiced. That lack of practice is perilous. I once worked with a man who had a high school diploma and nothing else as far as formal education. Still, this person rose in the ranks of government service to the level of Senior Executive […]
Tags: General Systems Thinking · Knowledge · Leadership · Learning · Management · Thinking