Unlearning a vital step in the process of innovation and change
Unlearning - a vital step in the process of innovation and change webinar
Thursday 15 December 2022
a joint The Nuclear Institute: Project Management SIG and APM's three part Nuclear webinar series
Presented by:
Ann Alder
The link to the write up page and resources of this webinar:
https://www.apm.org.uk/news/unlearnin...
Content description:
How can we learn and innovate in a highly regulated and process-driven industry such as Nuclear? The secret may be unlearning, a process for freeing yourself from past assumptions, habits and ‘rules’ to enable you to adapt and change your behaviour for the very different requirements of the future.
Why is it sometimes so difficult to manage change? All change requires new learning and ‘learning to learn’ is a core skill for individuals and teams in modern organisations. In order to learn, we may need to ‘unlearn’ - freeing ourselves from existing constructs in order to be able to move forward.
This webinar presented on Thursday 15 December explored the strength with which we hold on to existing patterns of thought and behaviour and how the concept of coming into a situation with ‘an open mind’ is generally not the case! Life experiences and prior knowledge always colour our perception of new situations. Which assumptions do we carry as a result of these experiences? Which are helpful and positive in facing up to change and which can be limiting? The example was given of a simple, practical task which was observed and discussed the process of unlearning as a prerequisite to successful future learning. As the steps in the activity unfolded, the speaker described how these relate to organisational learning and suggest some ideas for embracing unlearning as part of successful organisational development.