Knowledge is only rumor until it lives in the bones.
(attributed to Asaro tribe, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea)
There are plenty of learning opportunities for women leaders of for-impact organizations. There are webinars, live Facebook events, articles, LinkedIn events, books, and podcasts.
But simply becoming aware or developing insight from a learning opportunity doesn’t translate into practice. As the quotation above notes, “Knowledge is only rumor until it lives in the bones.”
So, how do you do that? How do you make sure that your new knowledge infuses your bones, your practice, and doesn’t remain “rumor”?
Here are a few ideas:
Seek out diverse perspectives. Your experience and insights are invaluable. But you’re not alone on the journey. Reach out to other leaders, to your staff, to board members to discuss the new learning. Writing and talking about new ideas or information can raise up questions that you hadn’t considered before. Writing and talking about new ideas or information also helps you integrate the learning into existing knowledge and practice.
Try it out. You won’t know if the new idea works or the new strategy fits your situation unless you try it out. Take the risk and put into practice the concepts you’ve recently learned. You’ll experience the ease or difficulty of that new skill. Your experience will inform how you adapt the learning to your context.
Gather feedback. Trusted individuals can provide feedback to help you hone your new skills. Feedback is like a mirror. You can hold it at different angles to get a better look. Feedback offers points of view that you might not otherwise notice.
Learn with others. Walk the learning path with others to support each other, be feedback partners, and compare your experiences. You can bounce new ideas off of your learning partners. They can help you figure out just how to adapt the new strategy or methods to the home context. After all, learning is a social and constructive process.
Seek accountability. It’s too easy to tell yourself, “I’ll try that out next week,” or, “Maybe I’ll use that outline at our next board meeting.” Seek out someone to help you be accountable to apply the new insight you’ve gained.
Our Insight into Action group coaching program offers these benefits and more. In Insight into Action, you’ll benefit from diverse perspectives and learn with others. You’ll practice new strategies and gather feedback. And you’ll experience the benefit of accountability within a safe, confidential environment.
The knowledge you gain won’t be a rumor. It will live in your bones.