Develop a Yearning for Learning

Want to learn something and deepen your relationship with others at the same time? Here’s an easy way to do it:

1. Choose a book or current article you want to read and study.

2. Select the people with whom you’d enjoy discussing this text. This works well with one or two, or with an entire company or department. The dynamics are different, but the benefits can be equally strong.

3. Send copies of the book or article to your chosen ‘learning partners’ with an invitation to read and discuss the text together.

4. Reading a text is already a conversation between you and the author(s), but the conversation can be somewhat one-sided. Reading and discussing with others deepens your learning in very valuable ways.

5. Start with something short and easy to read, one article or chapter at a time. Go slowly enough to get value from your conversations, but quickly enough to keep your learning partners engaged.

6. Before you read, discuss these questions together:

Why did you choose this text? What benefits do you anticipate from your reading and discussions?

Why did you choose these partners? What interests and concerns do you currently have or share in this area?

What do you anticipate the author will say in this text? What do you already know about this area?

What are your current ideas about this area of your life? Are you a beginner looking for a good introduction? Or are you already strong in this domain, and looking to fine-tune your understanding or upgrade your performance?

7. During and after your reading of the text, discuss these questions together:

What opinions did the author express? Remember, just because it is in print doesn’t mean it is necessarily ‘true’.

What distinctions and examples does the author use to make his or her case?

Where do you agree with the author? disagree?

In what way are your current actions consistent with the author’s beliefs? In what ways do they differ?

What new actions can you take that will be useful for you or others? What benefits do you anticipate?

How has your understanding of this area changed? Have you strengthened your opinions? enriched your understanding? changed your position on any important issues?

How will you and your learning partners extend this conversation? What other text would you like to read together?