Timestamps

00:00:00: Introduction
00:00:27: Speed learning vs slow learning
00:01:12: Five ideas…
00:01:18: … 1: instant inspiration
00:02:15: … 2: fast feedback
00:02:44: … 3: curious questions
00:03:26: … 4: everyday experiments
00:04:24: … 5: real-time reflection
00:05:45: Final thoughts

Interview Transcription

Helen Tupper: Hey everybody, it is Helen from the Squiggly Careers podcast, and you are listening to another one of our Squiggly Shortcuts, where we take about five minutes of your time to talk through an idea or an insight which we think is going to help you in your Squiggly Career.  And today, I want to talk about speed learning.  Specifically, I have five ideas to talk through in five minutes, it's going to be a challenge, on how you can be a better speed learner at work.  Before I get started, I just want to give you a little talk about the difference between speed learning and slow learning.  And actually, I still think slow learning is really important.  So, let's start there. 

Slow learning for me is when you dive really deep into a topic.  You are spending time with that topic, you are considering it from different perspectives, you are questioning what you are learning, and it's a really important way of acquiring knowledge.  But the reality is, that takes quite a lot of time and most of us struggle with that at work.  So, speed learning is perhaps a little bit more surface level, we're not always diving deep, but you accumulate more of it, more quickly, more often.  And I think it is a reality for most people that we can more easily add speed learning in than we can slow learning. 

So, I'm going to start with five ideas for you to be a better speed learner at work, starting with number one, instant inspiration.  So, what is hard when you're trying to learn is if you spend all of your time procrastinating about what to learn, you're trying to find the perfect book that's going to help you or the perfect podcast, or whatever it is.  So, I would recommend getting some instant inspiration.  The way I do this is I use YouTube, I use Spotify, and I also have some apps that I'll tell you about.  So, what I do on YouTube and Spotify is I have downloaded videos or podcasts that I think, "I want to learn from that".  And so, whenever I've got 15, 20 minutes between meetings or even, to be honest, at the weekend while I'm waiting for my kids to do something, I will go to my instant inspiration and it's already there for me.  I don't have to waste time searching.  I've also got these apps, Inoreader and Feedly, which curate articles and I can just scroll through those and have a quick read.  So, get yourself some instant inspiration; it makes it a lot easier when you want to get some of that speed learning in. 

Second thing, fast feedback.  Feedback is a brilliant way that we can learn at work.  What makes it harder, though, is sometimes we kind of don't quite know how to ask for it and it feels a bit awkward.  Easiest way to get fast feedback, and regular listeners know we love this one, is 'what worked well, even better if'.  If you ask that once or twice a week, you will automatically get more learning about your impact, about where you can improve.  Please add that question into your week to be more of a speed learner at work. 

The third one is curious questions.  So, questions are an amazing way that we open our mind up to knowledge and also, benefit from other people's experience and insights.  So, you just want to have a couple of go-to curious questions, which might be in a team meeting.  A good one could be, "What might I be missing?" or, "How else could we look at this?" or, "Who could we learn from?"  I often find using the what, when, where, who, why, and how, as a question starter, it forces me to think through some curious questions.  But I think the trick is to have two or three in mind before you go into a meeting.  And then it just makes it easier to ask, because you're not having to think about the smart question to ask. 

Idea number four is everyday experiments.  Experiments mean that you are probably being a bit of a beginner, you're opening yourself up to potential failure because with an experiment, to be honest, whether you succeed in what you're experimenting with or whether it doesn't go the way you want it to, what matters most is what you learn from it and what you might do differently next time.  So, experiments could be anything.  It could be from a new way you're running a meeting, or I'm experimenting with new email software at the moment.  And I'm really having to re-learn how I manage my emails.  In case it's useful for you, I'm using this thing called Superhuman AI, and I'm finding it really helpful, but I'm experimenting with it to see, does it make it easier for me to do my work?  And so, finding, I think, one experiment a week, one thing you are doing for the first time, one thing that you're not 100% sure if it will work, but then just keep asking yourself, "And what am I learning?" because learning is the best outcome. 

Then, idea number five is real-time reflection.  So, speed learning isn't all about new, new, new, new knowledge.  I think that's overwhelming if you're, I don't know, only learning by listening, reading, watching.  It's just a lot for you to process.  And so, I think real-time reflection is another good way that you can learn without having to add more stuff into your very busy brain.  So, real-time reflection might be you coming away from a conversation you've had with a colleague and reflecting on what how you showed up in that meeting.  So, Sarah and I often talk about whether you are showing up to support someone, so that's like high listening, whether you are showing up as a solver, so you're solving their problems for them, or whether you're showing up as a sounding board, so you're bouncing ideas between you.  And it's useful for you to reflect on how you showed up in that conversation and whether that was really what that person needed.  I often find that a useful thing to reflect on.  Also, things like your listen-talk ratio.  Come away from a conversation and think, "What percentage of time did I spend listening in that conversation versus talking in it?" because maybe you might want to adjust the ratio next time. 

But these five ideas are quick ways in which you can add more learning in.  It speeds the learning process up and it means that you never stop learning and growing at work, which is what we really need to remain resilient in our Squiggly Careers.  So, I hope you found that helpful.  If you've got any feedback for us, you can always send it to helenandsarah@squigglycareers.com.