THE MANY FACES OF LEARNING THE MANY FACES OF LEARNING AGILITY
AGILITY
An excerpt from the 2010 Mid Winter Conference of
Consulting Psychology in Scottsdale, AZ
Kenneth P De Meuse
Kenneth P. De Meuse
Guangrong Dai
George S. Hallenbeck
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Situational Leadership
Historically
ƒ Fiedler (1967)
ƒ Vroom & Yetton (1973)
ƒ Graen et al. (1982)
Recently
» McCall, Lombardo & Morrison (1988)
» Brousseau et al. (2006)
B
t l (
6)
» Goldsmith & Reiter (2007)
2
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Learning Agility
ƒ Definition
Ability and willingness to learn from experience, and then apply that learning to perform successfully under new situations. ƒ Focus Focus – Vertical Leadership
ƒ Identification and development of Hi‐Po’s
3
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
The Leadership Pipeline
Adapted from The Leadership Pipeline Adapted from The Leadership Pipeline (Charan, Drotter, & Noel (2001)
(Charan, Drotter, & Noel (2001)
4
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Historical Roots
ƒ People develop on the job ƒ Development depends on raw D
l
t d
d talent, the experiences one has, and what one does with them ƒ Some experiences are more developmental than others 5
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Glaring difference between successful people and those whose careers falter…is their ability to wrest meaning from experience (i.e., learning agility). The Lessons of Experience
McCall, Lombardo, & Morrison (1988)
6
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Half the leaders I have met don’t need to learn what to do. They need to learn what to stop.
learn what to stop
7
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Learning
g
Agility
Leaders create meaning out of events and relationships that devastate non‐
leaders they look at the same events that leaders…they look at the same events that unstring those less capable…and see something useful …The signature skill g
of leaders is the ability to process new experiences
p
… and to integrate Geeks and Geezers: Bennis & Thomas (2002)
(
)
them into their life.
8
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Learning Agile People Do Four Things Well
1.
They are critical thinkers who examine problems carefully and make fresh connections
2.
They know themselves and are able to handle tough situations
3.
They like to experiment and can deal with the discomfort of change
4.
They deliver results in first‐time situations through team building and personal drive
9
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Learning Agility:
p
A MultiMulti-Dimensional Concept
People Agility
Mental
Agility
Learning
Agility g ty
Change
Agility
Results
Agility
10
10
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Description of Mental Agility
▪ Curious
C i
▪ Reads broadly and has wide interests
▪ Gets to root causes
▪ Comfortable with ambiguity and complexity
▪ Finds parallels and contrasts easily
p
y
▪ Questions conventional wisdom
▪ Finds solutions to tough problems
11
11
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Ways to find out more about learning agility
ADD IN
GRAPHIC OF
LEARNING
AGILITY
PROFILES—
12
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Distribution of Learning Agility
13
13
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Are All Learning Agile Created Equal?
▪ Multi
Multi‐‐dimensional construct
▪ High on one dimension –
High on one dimension g
– Low on another
▪ Profiles of high learning agile people
▪ Implications
▫ Selection by profile
▫ Develop by profile
14
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
15
The Problem Solver
The Problem Solver is one of seven distinct types of learning agility…
16
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
The Thought Leader
The Thought Leader is one of seven distinct types of learning agility…
17
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
How do you identify g p
talent??
high potential
18
18
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
Beware of the Self Report . . .
4.2
4.1
4
3.9
3.8
3.7
3.6
3.5
3.4
33
3.3
3.2
3.1
3
Low
Middle
Self
High
Others
19
19
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved
THE MANY FACES OF LEARNING AGILITY
Kenneth P De Meuse
Kenneth P. De Meuse
Guangrong Dai
George S. Hallenbeck
Copyright © 2009 Korn/Ferry International. All Rights Reserved