Defining the competencies of leadership

The Founding Principle

Of everything we teach, the competency Manager of Learning is fundamental. Without it, little else has real meaning. A grasp of its basic concepts leads to an understanding of the entire White Stag program's operating thesis.

Manager of Learning Concepts

An effective Manager of Learning first writes down specific, measurable objectives that define what he will teach. He tells the participants what these objectives are so they know what he is expected to learn during the session.

The Manager of Learning then creates a need to learn in the participants with a pre-planned situation, what we call a guided discovery. It is designed to make a demand on the learner so that he can internalize the need for new principles, concepts, skills and techniques and/or improvement of those existing. The learner and the manager of learning will understand what the learner's current knowledge is relative to the manager of learner's stated objectives.

Once a need to learn has been established, the Manager of Learning proceeds, teaching from the known to the unknown. He employs a variety of preferably hands-on teach/learn methods that actively engage the participant in practicing the attitudes, skills, and knowledge being introduced. 

Having effectively transmitted the information and raised the participants' level of knowledge, the Manager of Learning gives them an opportunity to practice their new attitudes, skills and knowledge in the form of an application. This hands-on practice session gives the learners a chance to put their newly acquired knowledge to work. Research confirms that individuals who practice -- vs. those who just listen, read, or recite -- remember considerably more. 

Lastly, the Manager of Learning asks the participants to evaluate their learning. He revisits the originally stated objectives and helps the participants to compare what the information they started with to the information they gained. Furthermore, he asks them to evaluate the session itself -- its strengths and weakness and areas for improvement.

Operating Principles

White Stag describes group development as having four maturity levels:

Manager of Learning begins with an assessment of what the learner’s know in the form of a Guided Discovery. The staff then proceeds from that point forward, utilizing the expertise of more knowledgeable participants to facilitate the learning of others. A variety of teaching methods are employed, including games, assigned projects, buzz groups, exhibits, simulations, games, role plays, and more. Among those is one method that closely resembles the Leading EDGE technique. We call it the Introduction, Explanation, Demonstration, Application, and Summary (IEDAS). These are steps utilized within the Teach/Learn phase of a leadership training session.

"The Manager of Learning process is not lock-step but at the learner's own pace of discovery. It is open ended, not confined to one 'right way,' and cyclical — new learning is based on old learning plateaus. It is a design for producing in-depth learning. The emphasis is on learning, not on what the instructor teaches.

Learning situations are designed that hopefully are directly relevant to the content of the training. For example, in the session about communication, the learners are first put in a situation where they must use their communication skills to relay essential information, such as the destination for that day’s hike, or the location of their next meal. If the session is about teaching, the learners are given an opportunity to practice teaching.

Manager of Learning "... is much more than merely the key instructional method we use, but explains the philosophy of perception/exposure/application as our dominant philosophy." Read more about Manager of Learning.