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Mastering new skills quickly is crucial to staying competitive. Industries are changing at a rapid pace due to factors such as digital transformation, globalization and changing consumer expectations. The ability to learn and adapt is not only a competitive advantage, but a necessity to continue climbing the mountain of success and avoid stagnation. In a highly competitive business environment, the key is to learn, apply and adapt quickly.
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The Three Dimensions of Knowledge: Foundations for Developing Hard and Soft Skills
In the business world, constant learning is a necessity. As businesses evolve and become more professional, professionals must acquire new skills (competencies) to keep up with changes in the market, technology and customer demands. However, developing competencies of any type requires covering the three dimensions of knowledge:
The Conceptual Part (Understand): Study and understand the underlying principles of any new skill or task.
The Attitudinal Part (Act): Adopt a proactive, resilient and ethical attitude in the face of challenges, working on personal and professional development.
The Procedural Part (Apply): Put into practice what you have learned by executing specific tasks, adjusting and perfecting skills.
Since growing personally and professionally (DO) is not just about acquiring knowledge (TO KNOW), but to cultivate the motivation to innovate (TO WANT) and to develop the skills necessary to put those ideas into practice effectively (CAN). Thus, the formula for successful growth can be expressed like this:
DO = KNOW + WANT + CAN
However, initial learning is often slow and complicated, but as a skill is repeated and practiced, proficiency improves more rapidly. This concept is applicable both to:
Hard Skills (related to rational): Software management, data analysis, the implementation of new technological systems or agile work methods.
Soft Skills (emotionally related): Communication, the ability to generate synergies in teams and solve complex problems.
In companies, both types of skills are complementary. For example, a software engineer must not only be able to program systems and applications (hard skill), but also needs to collaborate with a team, communicate ideas, and adapt to change (soft skills). In sectors such as technology, consulting and customer service, the balance between hard and soft skills defines competitiveness. A professional who combines both can accelerate their learning curve and contribute significantly to the success of the organization.
What is the Learning Curve?
The learning curve, initially described by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885, is a graphical representation that shows the relationship between the time or effort invested in learning a new skill and the level of proficiency achieved. In its simplest form, it describes how performance improves with experience by identifying four stages:
Unconscious Incompetence: You don't know that you don't know something.
Conscious Incompetence: You know you don't have the knowledge or skill.
Conscious Competition: You have the ability, but it requires conscious effort.
Unconscious Competition: You have mastered the skill to the level that it no longer requires conscious effort.
As we move through these stages, The challenge is to accelerate the learning process. Companies need their teams to be agile, and individuals need to stay ahead, moving quickly from conscious incompetence to unconscious competence.
Strategies to Accelerate the Learning Curve
There are several strategies that both individuals and organizations can implement to accelerate the learning curve and achieve accelerated skill mastery:
Conceptual: Active Learning and Reciprocal Teaching
Active learning is a strategy in which we participate directly in the learning process instead of just being passive recipients of information. By reviewing books, studying cases and reading specialized articles, or participating in formal training programs, we can play an active role in improving knowledge retention and accelerating the learning process.
An effective strategy to learn key concepts progressively without feeling overwhelmed is microlearning that consists of dividing information into small and easily digestible modules. Through this technique, learning time is optimized as we can focus on a single aspect before moving on to the next.
Another effective technique within active learning is reciprocal teaching, where we teach others what we have learned. When we teach a new skill or concept, not only is one's own knowledge reinforced, but a deeper understanding of the subject is also developed.
Attitudinal: Introspection, Mentoring, Coaching and Constant Feedback
A continuous learning mindset is crucial to accelerating the learning curve. Introspection allows us to identify areas for improvement and cultivate motivation to learn..
Having a mentor or coach can have a profound impact on the pace of learning as they offer guidance, share experiences and provide frequent feedback that helps us all adjust our performance in real time:
To Develop Hard Skills, mentors, with expertise in a specific area, can help us overcome common obstacles and accelerate personal and professional growth.
To Develop Soft Skills, the Coaches can help us identify strengths and weaknesses, offering personalized strategies to improve quickly.
The key here is that the feedback is timely and specific, so we can correct errors and improve without wasting time. By openly sharing what works and what doesn't among leaders, subordinates, and colleagues, we can overcome mistrust in the workspace and improve faster than those who don't.
Procedural: Simulations and Practices with Real Cases
Malcolm Gladwell, in his work Outliers, says that to achieve mastery of any skill requires 10,000 hours of deliberate practice. That is why the most important aspect of learning consists of practicing applying the knowledge acquired in real or simulated situations, which reinforces learning and improves the understanding of abstract concepts. However, it is important to take into account some nuances:
It is not just a matter of accumulating hours, but of the quality of the practice. Deliberate practice, that is, practicing with the goal of improvement, with constant feedback and correcting errors, is much more effective than simply repeating a task.
The number of hours required to achieve elite levels may vary. It depends on the complexity of the skill and the environment in which it is applied. Not all disciplines require the same hours of dedication.
Attitudinal aspects have the greatest influence on the learning curve. Motivation, natural predisposition and quality of training are factors that cannot be underestimated.
Learning based on projects, whether real or simulated with software that allows simulating real situations, this is essential for applying what has been learned in specific contexts. e-learning platforms, virtual, augmented and mixed reality simulations, and the online collaboration tools They offer us the possibility of learning at our own pace and from anywhere.
Conclusion: Learning as the Basis of Excellence
Our ability to learn and adapt quickly has become a crucial competitive advantage. The learning curve shows us that Mastering new skills doesn't happen overnight, but By implementing appropriate strategies in the three dimensions of learning, it is possible to significantly accelerate this process.
At the end of the day, both companies and individuals must commit to developing a continuous learning mindset. Those who do not only master skills more quickly, but also position themselves for long-term success, in a business world where the only constant is change.
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About Pablo Tellaeche (Author):
Owner and main consultant of TACs Consultores, Lecturer and University Professor; seeks to bring a true and positive Culture Lean and Digital Transformation to any company with which you have the pleasure of collaborating.
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