When asking participants what their expectations are for the time spent together in a training, an often-heard reaction is an assumption that there will be something interesting to learn. Sometimes, participants will share a skill they want to enhance or learn and describe it as an outcome. That is, for example, to become better at communicating or gain self-confidence.
It’s often more of a call for leadership than an understanding of one’s own leadership. What I mean here is, that learning seems to resemble more the idea of receiving a gift, than the idea of something one sets out to create.
A lot of the world of work is based on providing methods, processes, or tools. They provide a framework within which the work can unfold without any need to think much beyond one’s task. And if one tries, the limitations of the IT system or the process will be quickly felt.
This isn’t new.
There is an old story of three stone cutters who describe their work in very different ways. One of them is simply seeing the activity he does. He cuts stones. The second one has a different perspective as he is there to earn money and feed his family. He looks after his people. The third stonecutter sees what he is contributing to with the work he does. He sees the future and his part in it.
We have always been able to describe work from different perspectives. But as in the story, they are not always visible to us.
That is where leadership can come in. A definition of leadership a friend regularly shares with me describes leadership as “declaring a future that others commit to achieve”. This same definition is applicable to ourselves.
What it does is connect us with the human desire to belong to a community and its ability to contribute to that community.
However, the more people get used to seeing learning as a gift, or to expect leadership through others or processes, the less visibility they have on their commitment.
Commitment is not about doing more than others and competing for who does the best job, works the longest hours, or is most visible. It’s about doing the work.
Commitment is looking for ways to contribute and strengthen the team.
