Free Article By Paul Glen of C2
Consulting
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How to Learn with Peers
Last month, I wrote about a missed opportunity
for learning that's sadly too common among IT managers. While many believe that
a career in management requires a commitment to continuous learning, they often
miss out on chances to glean ideas, insights and techniques for leadership from
their peers.
For a variety of reasons, they are unable or
unwilling to share experiences of success and failure with their colleagues.
Posturing and perceptions of competitive pressures interfere with some of the
most potentially productive relationships in the workplace.
But how do you, as a manager, foster an
environment that encourages and facilitates these exchanges? Below, I have
gathered some of my own ideas and have mixed in some from your peers who read
Computerworld who have generously shared their experiences.
Have weekly meetings without the boss. Let's be
honest -- open discussions of challenges and failures are less likely to take
place when the guy who writes everyone's salary review is sitting there with a
notepad. For peers to behave as a group, they need time away from the official
authority figure. They need to have a sense of mutual trust that can't form in
the absence of time alone together.
At these meetings, they should review current
situations and use the opportunity to discuss experiences and find solutions. If
the meetings become only discussions of experience and theory, then they will be
considered less important and ultimately will die from lack of participation.
Institute brown-bag lunches with topic
discussions. Although it's important to keep meetings focused on practical
matters, a dose of theory is still useful, too. Set aside a few of the meetings
to explicitly discuss an article or idea. Select a couple of newspaper or
magazine columns or even a Harvard Business School case study and have a go at
open conversation. A good discussion of theory can help people make sense of
their experiences and environments.
Assign a task force of peers to oversee a
change initiative. But be forewarned: In my experience, when a group of
colleagues is asked to oversee a change initiative that affects all areas of
responsibility, there are three general patterns of group dynamics:
* They cohere as a group and really learn a
great deal about one another and their organization, succeeding magnificently.
* They cohere as a group and agree to sabotage
the effort together, learning little besides how to obstruct change.
* They wallow around waiting for someone to
take the lead, making little progress.
When this strategy works well, it's fantastic.
But getting some outside help from a consultant or other facilitator can improve
the chances of having a valuable peer-to-peer learning experience.
Disclose your own failures and ask others to
disclose theirs. People learn a lot more from failure than they do from success.
Most people who have great success don't really know why they succeeded; they
just know that they did. They may delude themselves into believing that they've
discovered some secret methodology, but they usually can't reproduce the
results. But failure is a great teacher if one makes the effort to absorb its
lessons. Sharing experiences of failure not only helps to process the lessons
but also helps to create an environment of trust in which it's safe to admit
that no one is perfect.
Encourage participation in associations. Not
all peers are members of the same company. Sharing with peers from the industry
is often less threatening than sharing with perceived competitors inside the
company. Shop around and learn about which local chapters and national
associations -- such as the Project Management Institute or the Society for
Information Management -- are available in your area.
In IT, we are generally introverted, so looking
for connections outside of work isn't necessarily second nature. Remember that
what you get out of an association is often proportional to what you put in, so
try out a few and find a place where you can both contribute and learn.
Attend outside courses designed to help peers
learn together. There are a few programs designed to encourage this type of
learning, ranging in length from a few days to a year or more.
It is possible for IT managers to overcome the
natural tendency to isolate themselves from their peers, but it takes time and
patience. If you can begin to take advantage of these kinds of opportunities,
everyone benefits.
© Copyright 2006 by Computerworld Inc., One Speen Street, Framingham, MA, 01701. Reprinted by permission of
Computerworld. All Rights Reserved.
