Toddlers rarely aim to develop competencies. When they start to learn it is to learn how to relate to their environment to get what they need. A while later they start to develop all kinds of abilities related to movements. They want to be able to do what others do. As they continue to grow up they seek to learn all kinds of ways to enhance their relationship with those surrounding them, it includes learning to speak to serve their curiosity.

It’s only later that learning competencies become part of people’s activities. And for many, that is what learning becomes to be. Is it because so much of it is readily available and can be found on the internet? Is it because such learning comes with learning instructions?

It leaves out most of the learning that people can do about themselves, how they relate to others, how others relate to them, how they behave in difficult situations, or how different their behavior is when things are comfortable. Instead of being dedicated to learning, this space is connected to the so-called self-development.

However, the challenge here is, that the idea of self-development implies that who one is and what one does is not sufficient.

An assessment one cannot establish without starting first to learn without judgment, prejudice, or expectations. Which is something toddlers do. They have not yet learned to judge, have prejudices, or develop expectations.

Does this mean that leaders need to become like toddlers? Not entirely. The work is to become aware of judgments, expectations, and prejudices. It allows letting them go for enough time to see a situation without them. It also allows choosing how to integrate them into one’s conclusion of how to assess a situation.

Letting go of existing ideas is like emptying one’s canvas to then use all the details to draw one’s perception of the moment on that canvas.

It requires continuous learning to do so.