Put the L Plates on

30 May Put the L Plates on

Put the L Plates on

I had a great time seeing Michael McIntyre on his Working it Out tour recently. The intention is that Michael tests out new material with small audiences before his big arena tour. It was so fascinating to see him in a more informal setting with a notebook and papers, reflecting on his impact, asking a team colleague to make some notes, and seeking feedback from the audience.

This got me thinking about how often we have a learner mindset in an open way, experiment and try out different approaches with the intention of developing and refining our practise. Following that with seeking feedback and deliberately taking the time to think about the impact we are having and making adjustments to our behaviour.

One inspiring quality of a leader is vulnerability, Brené Brown in Braving the Wilderness writes:
“The definition of vulnerability is uncertainty, risk, and emotional exposure. But vulnerability is not weakness; it’s our most accurate measure of courage. When the barrier is our belief about vulnerability, the question becomes: ‘Are we willing to show up and be seen when we can’t control the outcome?’ When the barrier to vulnerability is about safety, the question becomes: ‘Are we willing to create courageous spaces so we can be fully seen?”

And yet sharing with colleagues that you are learning, experimenting, and that you are work in progress can be hard to do our a high pressured, performance and results world. Once we do let people know we become a role model for growth. It is so inspiring to be involved and asked, “I’m working this out, give me some feedback, what’s going well, what do I need to change, what’s the impact on you?”. How many times do you catch yourself saying this has to be right, I need to look as though I know what I’m doing, vs. I’m learning and developing new skills. It’s the occupational equivalent of having a L plate.

Carol Dwenk in the book Mindset explores growth by saying “The growth mindset is based on the belief that your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts. Although people may differ in every which way in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments, everyone can change and grow through application and experience.”

My gentle nudge would be to let people in on your work in progress, role model being a learner and experimenter, seek feedback and refine, and you will inspire others to learn and grow. Put that L plate on