What facts were missing from our process?.What harmful behavioral patterns did we display?.What helpful behavioral patterns did we display?.Alternatively, you can practice this with others by conducting after-action reviews and asking questions that look back and look forward: You can practice this on your own by pausing, reflecting, and keeping a learning journal. If not…well, it is literally a matter of life and death. Learnings from each day’s operations must be incorporated into the next day's operations. “The best way to become a nimble learner is to take the time to consider what you have learned from an experience and then apply that learning to future situations,” according to Lombardo.Īn excellent example of this practice exists within elite military units. When was the last time your organization took the time to learn from an experience – a product launch, an acquisition, a promotional campaign, a new sales approach, etc.? It should facilitate transparency regarding information sources.It should provide context to facts in question.

A couple things to keep in mind regarding the Fact Checker role: One way to promote nimble learning is to include the role of “Fact Checker.” This role helps the team ensure it is working with the most current facts, especially related to key assumptions. Many teams regularly ask members to play different roles (timekeeper, devil’s advocate, etc.) as a way to enhance team effectiveness. Are you double-checking key assumptions (using the most up-to-date facts)?.As you think about your organization, how much time are you spending on problem definition?.Here are some questions to facilitate your implementation of this approach: Lombardo suggests, “Set aside the first 50% of the time for questions and problem definition and the last 50% of the time for solutions.” To encourage nimble learning amongst your team members and ensure you are considering all relevant facts, it is helpful to strive for balance between questions and solutions. Most people have a penchant for prematurely jumping into problem solving without first taking the time to properly define and understand the problem. “In studies of problem-solving sessions, solutions outweigh questions eight to one,” according to Michael M. Here are 4 specific, simple, and cost-effective practices to help leaders enhance the nimble learning capabilities of their teams, their organizations, and themselves.ġ. This is the place in which innovation can happen. The nimble learning mindset opens the mind to the simple questions most people overlook, such asĪdditionally, it allows new questions to be asked from a place of possibility. They learn quickly, are unafraid of the new and unfamiliar, and embrace all experiences as learning opportunities. Nimble learning can be defined as a just-in-time process of acquiring relevant and accurate information in response to a rapidly changing environment to support necessary action.Ī nimble learner is characterized by an openness and vulnerability to ask for help when unsure of the best course of action. To keep pace with these changes and make sound business decisions, leaders and their teams must practice nimble learning as part of a broader organizational learning culture. While some facts are constantly changing in obvious ways, and others are likely to remain the same throughout our lifetimes, we need to pay particular attention to facts that we assume we know, but that in reality are shifting without us being aware of it. Given recent economic and social upheavals, more emphasis than ever is being placed on adaptability, and obtaining the right information at the right time.įacts are changing more quickly than ever before, according to the HBR article Be Forewarned: Your Knowledge is Decaying.

Nimble meaning