CHAPTER 8

Inspires Continuous Learning

Definition

The Best Boss acknowledges the inevitability of mistakes with a direct report, encourages discussion of them when they occur, and ensures lessons are mined for immediate learning.

Favorite Quotes From the Study

Discussion

The Best Boss sets up a culture of continuous learning that fuels employee confidence in “embracing” the job in order to achieve results. The Best Bosses in our study accomplished this by stating a very clear “philosophy of mistakes” to new hires:

Further evidence showed that when mistakes occurred, Best Bosses would respond to them in very supportive and generative ways, (i.e., by using the mistake as an opportunity for the employee to learn and grow).

We are suggesting that a Best Boss uses mistakes as a platform to foster employee growth in combination with their own coaching behaviors in response to those mistakes made by their direct reports. We also hypothesize that this way of interacting diminishes tendencies of perfectionism in some that suppress learning, and hence, the achievement of results. For example, excessive concern with perfection can result in an employee not taking on a task or speaking up when needed for fear of making a flawed contribution.

Furthermore, we believe the Best Boss approach to mistakes increases the employee’s propensity for taking calculated risks over time as a result of being freed from the fear of failure, as well as having increased opportunities to learn from experience.

Igniting the System

It’s easy to see connections between “Inspires Continuous Learning” alongside the other dimensions of the Best Boss model. Additional study examples help illustrate the connection.

Leads From a Higher Purpose

A focus on fostering continuous learning is likely part of the value set held by many Best Bosses who have an implicit or explicit purpose to serve the interests of others. It takes leadership courage to place a direct report in a situation where a mistake could be costly to both the organization and a boss’ reputation—just like the bosses we read about in Duncan’s story (Chapter 5) who put him in his first solo meeting with the union when he was new to the labor relations role.

Activates Potential

A Best Boss who inspires continuous learning is likely to activate employee potential and perpetuate it, rather than deactivating potential by admonishing mistakes, thus creating fear and anxiety in their direct report. Consider a time in your life when the consequences of having made a mistake or reaching too far were demeaning or caused shame. While some people use this as a way to “stand up” to such critique from a boss, many if not most people simply feel defeated, demotivated, and/or less likely to take calculated risks.

Promotes Dynamic Autonomy

The Best Boss finds opportunities to promote autonomy and learning simultaneously. This is accomplished by providing “just in time” coaching to an employee while providing critical contextual information the employee might need to succeed.

[In response to the question, what kinds of things would your Best Boss say or do?] “What went right? What went wrong? What would you have done differently? Do you understand the politics of this issue?”

Provides Pervasive Feedback

A natural appreciation for continuous learning highlights the desired nature of adaptive feedback—a point that can be lost on many leaders of people. For example, a Best Boss keeps the focus on learning by providing both confirmative and constructive feedback to the learner. Confirmative feedback tells the learner what he or she is doing correctly. Corrective feedback—incorrectly referred to as negative feedback—points out an opportunity to do better. Feedback provided in the context of continuous learning is experienced positively by employees, and eventually becomes a standard way of interacting at work.

Related Thinking

It is likely that bosses who demean mistakes, or worse, make them anathema, may limit their employees’ path to engagement at work. It is also conceivable that such a perspective limits an employee’s freedom to innovate. Imagine 3M failing to capitalize on the “mistake” that led to Post-It notes? The story has it that in 1968, 3M employee Spencer Silver had mistakenly created a removable adhesive as opposed to the super strong one he had intended to create. While he came up with potential uses for it, 3M showed no interest in bringing it to market. Fast forward to 1974, when Arthur Fry, another 3M employee learned about the unusual adhesive at a departmental seminar being conducted by Silver. Fry thought of using the adhesive for keeping bookmarks from falling out of his choir hymnal. He helped convince senior leaders at 3M of the value of this new bookmark, and eventually they came around. The outcome is probably sitting in your desk drawer right now.

Beyond the Post-It note, the value of the mistake that led to the first implantable pacemaker is known to many. Back in 1956, Wilson Greatbatch, an adjunct professor of engineering, was attempting to build a device that would record heart sounds. He made a “mistake” by using the wrong transistor in the device, which gave off an electrical pulse, like that of the heart, instead of recording its sounds. Following his “mistake,” Greatbatch sought out surgeon William Chardack, and by 1960, they were able to control the human heartbeat.

Our study and personal experiences suggest that Best Bosses who allow mistakes and coach through them are cultivating a robust belief system in their employees that ultimately leads to greater engagement and self-efficacy. In other words, the Best Boss shows the employee how to constructively think about and respond to what has gone wrong, instead of shutting down that resilient response by shaming him or her for making an error. This finding is consistent with the research being conducted by Carol Dweck on Growth Mindsets, previously discussed in Chapter 5 on activating potential: People with a growth mindset think of their talents and abilities as things they can develop through effort, practice, and instruction. Their trajectory is forward, not backward.

To understand the importance of this dimension and other learning-oriented dimensions of the Best Boss model, it is important to note that advances in neuroscience have shown the human brain to be plastic throughout life. Plasticity refers to the ability of the brain to change with learning and experience. This burgeoning field of study is in great contrast to the now-obsolete idea that as we age, the connections in the brain become fixed and then simply fade away. In essence, we are capable of learning throughout life. Organizations and other institutions not availing themselves of this human capacity are literally limiting themselves for positive change.

All of a sudden, we can begin to embrace the value of a boss, who, through shared philosophy and supportive behavior, cultivates a functional belief system and positive response to making mistakes on the job. And, the aspect of working through mistakes is pivotal. Stanford Graduate School professor and promoter of mathematics education reform, Dr. Jo Boaler, challenges outdated beliefs about how human beings learn and applies her research to the ways in which parents and others can promote learning in their children’s lives.

Dr. Boaler suggests that people learn how to embrace struggle, mistakes, and failure because it fosters learning. As of January 26, 2021, The Stanford News, a publication of Stanford University Communications quoted Dr. Boaler:

This perspective is consistent with our observation that a Best Boss inspires learning by sharing with a direct report that mistakes are understandable, and by coaching the employee through them, they are perhaps hard-wiring an approach to learning that can last a lifetime.

Author Experience With Inspires Continuous Learning

From Toni

I was lucky to have a boss who was really great in many dimensions of the Best Boss model, but in particular in “Inspires Continuous Learning.” He was a fearless change agent and director of an internal consulting group with a strong vision. He empowered me and my team members in common pursuit by promoting continuous learning.

One way I continuously learned was by engaging with my boss in countless conversations of considerable depth regarding the company’s history, strengths, business, and leadership challenges. He would describe this information in relationship to the strategy and direction of our internal group and with respect to my specific role and responsibilities.

Understanding that the currency of effective change management lies in the strength of relationships, this boss made it easy for me to learn about key individuals and networks throughout the organization. I will never forget the time he had an appointment with the Chairman of our Fortune 50 organization when he said, “you’re coming with me.” When we entered Chairman’s office, the executive quickly removed his feet from the top of his desk upon seeing me with my boss. I was somewhat embarrassed, but at the same time, delighted and empowered—the leader whose support we would need most to effect change now knew my name.

Most importantly, my boss taught me how to take calculated risks, simply by unabashedly trying new approaches in change management without falling apart if they happened to turn out less than perfect. For example, we were signed up to support a reorganization in one of the operating companies as experts in transition management. We carefully identified key metrics for tracking the transition and displaying them for all to see. We had invented an enormous “metrics board” to bring to our initial client meeting, only to acknowledge its total obsolescence as we struggled to get it through the conference room door. Our facilitation of the meeting did not go much better, due to the fact that our industry knowledge was not up to par at the time.

Subsequently, the perfectionist in me was all too ready for a disparaging self-critique. Instead, my boss insisted on what he called a “structured debrief”: What went right at the meeting, what went wrong, and how can we improve for next time? I found this incredibly helpful, and it promoted learning in real-time. Before long, we even found ourselves laughing at the absurdity of our metrics board.

For all the projects we worked on together, he shared credit in any outcome we achieved, whether it was failure or success. And every outcome, regardless of success or failure, was always followed by the debrief. Thus, we continuously learned from experience, which in turn fueled our confidence in trying innovative approaches to promote change in our company—which readily fed our appetite for further learning!

Immediate Implications for the Workplace

Much is lost to employee and organizational potential when leaders are not focused on inspiring continuous learning within their people. Without support when mistakes are made, an employee’s focus is on avoiding mistakes rather than taking the types of risks that lead to creative and innovative outcomes. The reason for leaders not to provide support, in part, can be structural in nature. As an example, large spans of control and management jobs are often so densely designed with enough responsibilities for two positions, that even the most willing leader would find it hard to slow down to help an employee learn. Yet, slowing down to go fast is often precisely what is necessary for employee growth and organizational effectiveness. Other sources of “structural” interference could include lack of leadership development focused on helping managers cultivate a learning orientation in themselves and their people, or lack of reward systems that support managers who allocate time to promote continuous learning.

In any case, the consequences of failing to inspire continuous learning in employees is substantial. In fact, we believe the inspiration of continuous learning, activating potential, engagement, and retention go hand in hand, as discussed in earlier chapters. The leader who is unable to facilitate continuous learning—whether due to lack of time, interest, or competence—will impede the development of their reports, reducing engagement and decreasing the retention of a company’s best talent, not to mention, the broader impact on the organization as a learning entity.

In summary, we may be likely to see more people leaders inspire continuous learning when:

When these areas are addressed from a leadership development perspective, benefits to organizational culture and business impact will undoubtedly follow.

Self-Reflection

Please take a moment and reflect on the extent to which “Inspires Continuous Learning” is part of your philosophical and behavioral repertoire.

Instructions: Using the scale above, write the number in the space to the left of each survey item that best represents your current use of the behavior. Next, calculate the average score and fill in the result in the space provided. At your option, you may use this information in Chapter 9 (“How to Become a Better Boss”).