The best way to build Capability is first-hand experience
Yesterday I took my daughter to the airport where she and her year 7 class mates are embarking on a two-week New Zealand adventure. They will be hiking, white-water rafting, visiting glow worm caves, lakes, a glacier and so much more.
We chose this school for her for many reasons but primarily for their ethos on education which strongly focuses on being actively engaged with the world and learning from first-hand experience.
My hope for her is that she continues to take these skills and focus on continual learning from experience through life. As we age, sometimes we learn to take less risks rather than more. I was reminded of this by my second visit to the Great Barrier Reef. The first time I snorkelled at the Reef I was 12 years old and although scared of the swim from the pontoon to the Reef, I still ventured out and had the time of my life (my whole 12 years of it).
This time around I was in my mid-forties, and helping my youngest daughter snorkel, while my oldest undertook her first scuba dive. After much cajoling she entered into the water, to then have to convince me to venture out further. The set up at the Reef is far superior and very well assisted to the point where even those who cannot really swim can participate. So, it does not stand to reason or logic that I would be less adventurous.
Holiday adventures and travel may seem on the surface to have little to do with the world of work. However, we build capability and learn a lot about the world and ourselves through experience and travel to the unknown or something unfamiliar is a great lesson.
Learning is generative, that is through learning you gain the power or function of generating, originating, producing or reproducing something. For this to happen it requires more than sitting in front of a computer, or in a class room. It needs all senses engaged, you participate, comprehend, apply what you learn and then ultimately extend or create something new from that.
There is a lot of hype about continual learning and rightly so. But even on a personal level or for your career, make sure that the time you spend at work not only delivers on your day to day work performance /outputs but also helps you gain experience and build capabilities to achieve your goals and aspirations.
The key take-away for you reading this article is to look at your world of work in the last year. Did you gain new skills and capabilities, did you learn from new experiences and situations or was it more of the same. If you want to make a change or hope for something different, then you need to be ensuring you continue to learn and grow. If you don’t you are positioning yourself beautifully for more of the same.
If you are interested in making a personal change, let’s talk about coaching options. OR
If you would like to know more about building capability for your organisation or team, please message me your email and I will share my White Paper on addressing capability.