Learning Task #3 - What are my co-workers seeking? By Susan Jarosak

Our office supports and partially funds professional development opportunities of many kinds. Included are those that are considered transformational in nature i.e., ones that engage participants critical self-reflection and oftentimes "transform" their view of the world. I have always wondered how people make the decision to participate in these types of experiences, as they oftentimes require a certain amount of vulnerability and risk during and after the program. What motivates them? Was it a self-directed decision or were they encouraged by someone to attend? If so, who?

I talked with five people who have all attended what we would consider transformational learning experiences. These included: a National Training Lab (NTL) workshop, an immersion experience for examining system issues, a leadership development program, and an intimate gathering with internationally known authors.

The person who attended the National Training Lab workshop, entitled, Human Interaction, said she chose this session because it is a prerequisite for another workshop on diversity. It was a weeklong experiential experience with a small group of people that focused on underlying causes of behavior that block communication. She said that many of her colleagues had attended this and so she knew it was of high quality. Her passion for self-education in the diversity area motivated her decision. She reported that it was a challenging, intense week, but it was a good experience and she learned some very positive things about herself. Although she made the decision on her own to participate, her supervisor recommended it to her.

A colleague who participated in a yearlong leadership development program shared her reasons for choosing this type of experience. She said it became available at a time that she needed to "use her brain and be stimulated to think about new things." She had attended other one-day workshops and jumped at the chance to try something longer term. Although she did not know what to expect, she felt strongly about trying something new and meeting new people. Her supervisor supported her participation, but coworkers who resented her absence from the office (four two-day retreats) did not support her.

Another colleague I interviewed attended a weeklong immersion experience in another state. This specific experience is very difficult to explain to someone who has not participated in it. (I know, because I attended the same one). All participants are assigned a new status as an "immigrant", a "middle" or an "elite." You are stripped of your identify and possessions and enter into an immersion experience (a "new world") where you experiment with choices based on your new reality and your status role. The purpose is to learn about the possibilities of systems and the barriers we create for ourselves because of our past and/or status roles. People that participate in this experience very often do not know what they are getting themselves into, as specific details are kept secret. The person I interviewed knew some of these details so was not too shocked. She said she has previously participated in deeply personal learning experiences that required her to stretch and was looking for another "learning challenge." She initiated her attending and got approval and support from her supervisor.

Two other people that I interviewed attended the same weeklong gathering described as a collaborative learning process with nationally known authors. Participants were invited to "enter a deep exploration of ideas, venture into new territory and to practice alternative ways to lead." These colleagues had read the works of the authors and said they felt lucky to be able to attend and had both initiated their own participation. I noticed a contrast in these two interviews as one of them said she chose to attend for the intense intellectual conversations and idea sharing and the other said he looked forward to listening to the nationally known authors speak.

The one that looked forward to the intellectual conversations had a great time. The other one who wanted to hear the authors speak did not. He said even though he knew it would be highly participatory, he was not prepared for the intensity of the five days. He would have liked a more practical discussion instead of a theory focus and considered leaving after two days.

Even though this interview involved only a small sample study, it helped me learn what motivated them to attend. Some similarities I observed were that they all seemed to be intrigued with not knowing exactly what to expect, and talked about the excitement and/or anxiety it created. They valued their experiences and believed it was worth their time and effort. Differences I noticed were mainly about how they would integrate their learnings into their work. Three out of five people shared their difficulties with this issue. Others were excited about trying out new things and did not share the same concern. This made me think about what we can do to support our colleagues when they return from these type of experiences to help them integrate their new learning into their work and make meaning of it all.

I look forward to learning more about ways to support and encourage learning across the organization.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 1999

Answers

I am so interested in this too. I learned a lot from your small sample because you were really careful to include all those complex contextual details.

I think it's interesting to think about why people attend...and about how they integrate their learnings into their work.

I guess I believe in my heart and as a result of experience that all people learn most, best, etc. when they WANT to learn. But what about when they don't particularly want to? How can we make it more relevant (or is the subtext, how can we make them realize they need/want to learn it)? In my case, it is the student teachers who think they don't need to learn about diversity! Can you imagine!? I think the intricacies of context, intention, generative meaningful learning will lead us to learn more about transformational experiences....GOOD LUCK!

-- Anonymous, May 07, 1999