Learning is the Work

As you may have surmised from the changes in my blog and Twitter feed, I’ve been swamped in recent changes in my life! Not only have I changed jobs, but I moved into the middle of a merger between Griggs University and Andrews University. As I’ve been experiencing this change, I keep reflecting on a book I read during my studies on change: The Six Secrets of Change: What the Best Leaders Do to Help Their Organizations Survive and Thrive.

Six Secrets of Change

The six secrets are:

  • Love Your Employees
  • Connect Peers with Purpose
  • Capacity Building Prevails
  • Learning Is the Work
  • Transparency Rules
  • Systems Learn

Learning is the Work

I’ve been thinking particularly about the learning. Learning is the work. Systems learn. Learning is the work.

We have so much learning to do, it’s hard to know where to even start!

  • With a 60% staff turn over, we had to learn how to do things “the Griggs way”.
  • We had to learn how to work with each other.
  • We have to learn the “Andrews way”.
  • We have to learn and create new ways of doing things.
  • Some of us have great tech skills in some areas; others need to learn those skills.

Ways We Are Learning

Photo by psutlt

Remembering that learning is the work keeps me focused on the importance of taking time to learn and to teach each other. Here are some ways we are doing that:

  • Lunch and Learn. Our technology committee has scheduled bimonthly Lunch and Learn sessions. We have shared tips for using Outlook/Exchange, how the copier scans to the shared drive, email and computer security, for a few examples. They are not formal workshops, just informal sharing times where everyone asks questions and shares tips.
  • Departmental informal learning. Within my department, we have lots of learning happening! Student workers teaching each other, staff teaching each other. We are trading knowledge and sharing what we know, not just about technology tools, but how the university works.
  • Faculty Institute. Andrews University is starting a two day Faculty Institute in the fall. We will have two strands of sessions on online learning and educational technology topics. The expectation is that this training continues on through the school year.

 What about you?

In what ways is learning the work for you?

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