Learning From Peers, Teammates, and Co-Workers

There are a wealth of teachers in our professional community.  I have found the most common contributor to my success is learning from peers.  The people around us that we include in our daily interactions are also factors in how we learn or solve problems.  Let's look at how to make the most of this prevalent resource.

Everyone Brings Value

The most significant factor in know-it-all being a bad attitude is the impact it has on our ability to learn.  Yes, you may be considered gruff or even a jerk, but that may be due to other than your lack of humility.  When this approach is taken, there is a tendency to jump to conclusions or even solutions that are entirely incorrect.  That keeps us from learning a correct answer and learning something rather than a point of ignorance.  When we shut out others, we increase the odds that our blind spots will remain so.

This axiom holds even for people that do not have applicable domain knowledge.  For example, your database problem may require insight that is related to an accounting problem.  Therefore, a non-technical accountant can provide you the key to the best solution.  We all have different experiences and approaches to life.  Thus learning from peers taps into this reservoir.  This experiential diversity offers a broader range of views than relying only on ourselves.

Be Active

I have mentioned that knowledge by osmosis is more common than we may think.  While being a passive listener can achieve this, we will see more benefit when we actively participate in discussions.  These situations are opportunities to test out theories and learn more about ourselves as well as the topic at hand.  Become a part of the solution.  As with so many things in life, practice makes perfect.  Well, not perfect, but at least better.

We Are In This Together

One of the common reasons for avoiding discussions like mentioned above is a desire to avoid looking foolish.  Likewise, there may be a fear of giving up knowledge that provides job security.  I guess you have to trust me on this but contributing always makes you look more valuable than being a wizard in an ivory tower.  It happens to make you a bit more likable as well.  With that in mind, who do you think has greater job security?

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