LEARNING TO BE AN ENTREPRENEUR

Accelerate your business with these expert tips on "Entrepreneurial Learning". Analyse and discover this TIP!

"Learning is the process through which skills, abilities, knowledge, knowledge, behaviour and values are acquired. This is the result of study, experience, instruction, reasoning and observation". 

(Wikipedia) 

Starting with a definition of learning from Wikipedia is the best way to show that nowadays information is available to everyone, or almost everyone. Therefore, learning is no longer related to it, but what we do with it. There are many theories of learning, and it is responsibility of the trainer/mentor/coachee to provide the entrepreneur with the one that best corresponds to his/her innate way of taking in information and internalising it. However, It seems that for the most part all studies agree that experience is the noun that most rapidly generates learning.  

From Latin "expeientia - experiri", the word refers to verification; it is clear then that the best form of learning is through the The individual's own experience and internalisation through his or her own deductions and events that corroborate or refute the theory being explained. In this TIP we will provide useful steps that do not guarantee, but do help to foster responsible and autonomous learning in our entrepreneurs, as well as observing what we are doing with regard to this stage of the process, as we ourselves may need to reinforce some aspects that we find more complicated in some area of this part of the joint journey. 

A widely accepted rule is the 70-20-10 rule where we are exposed to our most effective learning procedure.  Corresponding to the 70% to the experiential part, This means that anything that is not experienced first-hand by the entrepreneur will have less impact in terms of learning. The 20% would be dedicated to learning from others as peers, team members, mentors or other professionals (social learning). This model is in line with more recent theories of perception that have studied the level of knowledge retention according to the type of learning: 30% retention at 24h: listening, reading, watching audiovisuals. 90% retention at 24h:  argue, do, work with others.  

Here it is good use a pre-prepared questionnairewhere the following are collected essential points that qualify and quantify progress The entrepreneur is thus indirectly forced to reflect, to spend time and to recognise behaviours and/or results obtained with these behaviours generated either by modification or by implementation. ¡¡People can change, learn and improve! The mentor must show a high degree of commitment to achieve self-development. If the mentor at sample closed to the possibility of learning, of changing the way they see things, it is difficult to drive the entrepreneur's desire to learn. We often hear "I am like this". as an excuse for not changing, or "people don't change". as a rejection of the suggestion to give someone another chance.

Do we have evidence to support the opposite thesis?

There is growing evidence that emotional intelligence skills can be developed. There are many studies that show that people improve your emotional intelligence over the years, as they acquire personal maturity and social skills. Learning is about improving our emotional intelligence and, for that, we have to undertake a continuous process that starts from within ourselves.

To achieve deep learning we have to follow this four-phase cycle:

Phase 1: "Awareness of an opportunity for improvement".

To be aware that we have shortcomings, gaps that we need to improve. There is no biggest barrier to the learning that the arrogance. In order to change, it is essential to know ourselves, to understand ourselves, to identify our resources and our shortcomings, to know what motivates us, what keys we need to play in order to achieve a harmonious melody. To this end, can help us, the various self-diagnostic tools can help us. (personality, motives, styles) and competence assessment (behaviours), as well as feedback from a coach or from our work environment; the most comprehensive tool is the 360 (+) feedback, where bosses, colleagues and collaborators give us their perception. Among other suggestions for the treatment and learning of people a good advice is to videotape themselves. 

"I had a strange lack of awareness of my oddities of language and attitudes until I saw myself on video".

Phase 2: "Desire to change

How many mentors (or psychologists or coaches) does it take to change a light bulb?

Only one, but the light bulb has to want to change". 

Sometimes, we learn the most profound and impactful messages in our lives from humour, when we stop taking ourselves seriously and relax with a joke. This is a lesson that can be learned by those of us who seek to change or help others to change, learn or develop their talents: change only comes from within.We cannot change others! We can only act as catalysts to awaken their motivation to change and their confidence that they have the capacity to do so.

Phase 3: "Learning experiences

Once we become aware of what we are doing to ourselves, we can we have yet to learn and recognise the need for change is when we are in conditions to use the various tools to facilitate learning, depending on the styles and preferences. Readings, videos, group training events, development guided by a mentor (within the organisation) or an external coach and other resources for broaden our field of reflection or action. 

Phase 4: "Practising new thoughts and behaviours".

The profound change involves the transformation of our habitual ways of perceiving and thinking, the generation of new convictions that will bring us a new more useful look at reality and open up to us new horizons for action. From there, the following come into play emotional competencies important, such as the persistence and frustration tolerancethat enable us to insisting on practising the new behaviours and thoughts until they are incorporated into the new behaviours and thoughts in our repertoire of habits, which allows us to manifest them spontaneously and so we close the circle of deep learning.

"We are what we constantly do. Excellence, then, is not an action, it is a habit".

Aristotle

• LEARNING FROM EXPERIENCE (+)

• DOUBLE LOOP LEARNING. FIRST AND SECOND LOOP LEARNING. ARGYRIS AND SCHÖN (+)

• LEARNING FROM MISTAKES AND FAILURES (+)

• VAK (VISUAL, AUDITORY AND KINAESTHETIC) LEARNING MODEL FOR ENTREPRENEURS (+)