Why It’s Important to Learn from Others and How to Do It

As an old boss of mine used to say, borrowing from Ken Blanchard, “None of us is as smart as all of us.” To me, that sums up perfectly one of the reasons that we should try to learn from others, which is the topic of today’s blog post.

I recently read an interesting poem that I would like to share which is a great example of why we should learn from others. The poem is called “Blind Men and an Elephant” by John Godfrey Saxe.

It is a famous Indian fable about 6 blind men who come across various parts of an elephant during their lives. Each man then generates his own picture of reality based upon his limited perspective and experience:

It was six men of Indostan,
To learning much inclined,
Who went to see the Elephant
(Though all of them were blind),
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.

The First approach’d the Elephant,
And happening to fall
Against his broad and sturdy side,
At once began to bawl:
“God bless me! but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!”

The Second, feeling of the tusk,
Cried, -“Ho! what have we here
So very round and smooth and sharp?
To me ’tis mighty clear,
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!”

The Third approach’d the animal,
And happening to take
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Thus boldly up and spake:
“I see,” -quoth he- “the Elephant
Is very like a snake!”

The Fourth reached out an eager hand,
And felt about the knee:
“What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain,” -quoth he,-
“‘Tis clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!”

The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said- “E’en the blindest man
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Is very like a fan!”

The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Then, seizing on the swinging tail
That fell within his scope,
“I see,” -quoth he,- “the Elephant
Is very like a rope!”
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
Exceeding stiff and strong,
Though each was partly in the right,
And all were in the wrong!

The Main Lesson from the Poem…

…at least to me is that oftentimes our limited perspective and experiences can erroneously cause us to interpret something as the one and only version of all reality. This is one of the problems of solo learning and a failure to consider other’s perspectives.

Why We Need to Learn from Others

In previous posts, we have discussed the concept of how to learn better but solely from an individual perspective. But as Bradley R. Staats points out in Never Stop Learning: Stay Relevant, Reinvent Yourself, and Thrive, “Talking only about strategies to learn by ourselves overlooks the important role of others play in our learning success. The people with whom we interact are integral to our eventual success or failure.” ¹   

A Few of the Benefits of Learning from Others

When we learn from others we receive several benefits that cannot be gained from learning alone, some of which are:

(1)  Leveraging prosocial motivation

We have discussed intrinsic and extrinsic motivation ad nauseum in this blog. Learning from others, however, can trigger a third type of motivation known as “prosocial motivation” which is simply a wish to assist and encourage others.

The main benefit of prosocial motivation according to Staats is that “When we hit roadblocks and aren’t sure we can proceed, the relationships around us provide strength and support. This source of motivation is important in the learning journey.” ¹

(2)  They Know and See Stuff We Don’t – Getting Different Perspectives!

This is the most obvious one, so I won’t spend a lot of time on it. Working with others who know stuff you don’t gives you access to learning new things.

(3)  We Process Information Better

When we are surrounded by others, we can combine what we each know to solve problems differently. This also allows us to process information in various new ways and utilize novel approaches to solving problems.

It Ain’t Always Easy!

It isn’t always easy to learn from others as it is often accompanied by numerous challenges, with some of the most common being:

(1)  We don’t appreciate the role of others in our own success

Staats uses an analogy for completing a project whereby we typically underestimate how long it takes to complete a task as the number of participants increases.  In other words, we think that simply by adding manpower it will take less time to do something.

This analogy holds true for learning as Staats explains:

“You can probably discern the challenge for learning. We view work as divisible tasks that can be tackled individually. The same coordination we need to improve efficiency is also necessary to truly understand the complex world we undertake. Yet we tend to neglect them when we focus inwardly.” ¹

(2)  We don’t know what others know

Unfortunately, we don’t have a searchable index on all the stuff other people know or have in their brains. This is problematic as we typically have no idea who knows what or how to ask for it.

This problem is compounded by how we interact with others. Instead of sharing unique information, we tend to focus on what we both know. According to Staats, this happens for two reasons:

“First, we tend to look for information that is consistent with our existing views. We begin by asking questions about what we already know, not what we don’t know.

 Second, it feels good to talk about what we both know. When we already know what someone is telling us, we also know that it’s credible. But that means we may never get to the unshared information that could actually help us learn more effectively.” ¹

(3)  Diversity

While you would think being surrounded by others with different knowledge would give us different perspectives to help us solve problems, that isn’t necessarily the case. The problem according to Staats, is that “…a long line of research reveals that diversity often has a negative impact on learning and performance.” ¹

The reason for this is an egocentric bias that leads us to think we can already see the whole picture, even if we cannot.

How to Learn from Others

Let’s now take a look at several steps that Staats gives to successfully learn from others and leverage their perspectives:

(1)  Build relationships

The first step he recommends is to acknowledge the value of groups in individual learning and to get to know the people you are working with better. Multiple studies have shown that interacting with others makes people happier and at least as productive as working alone.

Staats recommends a proactive approach for being more social in learning:

“Reaching out to others even before you need help builds a foundation for future interactions. Asking other people questions makes them feel knowledgeable and leads them to like you more.” ¹

(2)  Keep Working with Others – Rinse and Repeat!

The idea is to figure out how to work with the same people over and over.  Just as repeating the same task, again and again, moves you down the learning curve faster, as does repeating interactions with others.

There are several benefits for repeating interactions with others:

Better coordination of activities

As Staats points out: “As we work together, we learn basics, such as a common language. Repeated experiences create structure—both in how we talk and in what we talk about—so that we can move forward.” ¹ For example, some people are sticklers for detail and others are not, knowing stuff like this helps us both work and learn better together.

Identifying the right knowledge

This is all about who in a group knows what.  The more we work with people, the more we learn who knows what and who we need to go to for certain information.

We can respond better to change

According to Staats: “If the only constant is change, then we must continually adapt. That means quickly finding and using the right knowledge—which typically comes from other people. When we work with the same people, we’re more likely to build trust and therefore to use the valuable knowledge we’ve found.” ¹

(3)  Switch it up

Another step to improve our learning from others is to change how we interact.  Many times, we take what is known as an advocacy approach to the interaction. In other words, instead of listening to others and seeking new information on a topic we advocate for our own take on the matter.

A better approach is to take an inquiry perspective to seek more information about what is going on.

As Staats recommends:

“Don’t try to win the interaction, look to collaborate. Discuss things not to persuade but, rather to share what you know and critically consider alternatives.” ¹

(4)  Reconceptualize the point of the interaction

The last step to learn from others is to understand that sharing our knowledge with others can also help us understand things better.  The idea, which we have discussed previously, is that of teaching to learn.

To quote Seneca the Younger, “Docendo discimus” which means “By teaching we are learning”. By teaching something to someone else, it forces us to better understand the subject matter ourselves.

Many of us think of individual learning as having only one person involved…us!  But as you have seen in this blog post, that notion is incomplete.  Of course, learning depends on us, but we must also acknowledge the fact it depends on others as well.

And if we just build relationships, repeat our interactions with others, collaborate rather than compete, and teach others, we can stop wasting energy and instead learn better.

Speaking of Elephants

Here’s one for you:

An elephant was drinking out of the river one day when he spotted a turtle lying fast asleep on a log.

The elephant walked over and kicked the unsuspecting turtle clear across the river.

A passing giraffe who happened to see this happen asked the elephant, “Why did you do that?”

The elephant replied, “Because I recognized it as the same turtle that bit my trunk 38 years ago.”

The giraffe said, “Wow, what a memory you’ve got!”  ²

“Yes,” said the elephant, proudly. “Turtle recall.”

There you have it, Prime Your Pump – your source for how to learn from others and lame elephant jokes!

Until next time, keep learning from others, and as always…PYMFP!
–Rick

P.S. Wanna know more? Check out the entire book.

Use it Or Lose It – Learning from Others!

The 4 steps we discussed above on learning from others were:

(1)  Build relationships
(2)  Keep Working with Others – Rinse and Repeat!
(3)  Switch it up
(4) Reconceptualize the point of the interaction – teach to learn!

When to Use It

Learning from others is something we should be doing every day as much as we can!

What Do You Think?

Are you adept at learning from others? What’s the last thing you learned from someone else? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!

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References

¹ Never Stop Learning: Stay Relevant, Reinvent Yourself, and Thrive by Bradley R. Staats

² http://laffgaff.com/funny-elephant-puns/