By: Arzoo Zaheer
Date: July-13-08
As one matures professionally and gathers new skills, it’s really easy to fall for “I know all about my field” mentality. This mentality leads to a stagnant attitude towards learning. Knowledge never ends so acquiring it should never end. Believe me, arrogance can truly damage your relationships with your colleagues/subordinates who as human nature dictates, respond better to humbleness. Humility is a direct result of open-mindedness. So, professionals, learn to develop that open mind towards learning that you had when you were a child who tried learning A, B, C. Keep that level of inquisitivity and freshness of ideas/learning fully alive. One way of doing this is by reminding yourself of your own weaknesses. Remember, staying humble is the key to continuous learning. Develop your strengths and diminish your weaknesses.
Secondly, many professionals may not be so open towards receiving feedback from their juniors. They might feel offended if someone, who is junior to them in experience, points out a mistake in their management style. For example, a new hire figures out that his Manager’s training strategy has some fundamental flaws. This new employee ventures on to politely point these flaws to the Manager.
Manager may react in two ways based on his/her mentality.
I know it all Mentality: If the Manager possesses this mentality, he/she won’t be able to benefit from the constructive feedback offered by his employee. The result is frustration, lack of positive results from open communication and an unsatisfied employee.
I am Open to Learn more: This mentality is the best. The Manager will modify his learning strategy to get rid of the flaws. Both the Manager and the employee would benefit from the changes and the bond between them would strengthen. This would result in more productivity, increased satisfaction, positive results and development of understanding and trust between the Manager and the employee.
Hence, an open mind towards continuous learning is the key to “improvement in business” and “personal development”. So if your rader is going the other way, adjust it now. 
Later Days
Take Care
Kind Regards
Filed under: Personal Development, Professional Etiquettes | Tagged: continuous learning, managers keep learning
