Communications of the ACM

and the practice necessary to reach your objective of learning to delegate.

Conclusion

When we are blocked from learning, the chances are the blockage comes from hidden internal assessments and standards, not from external factors in the environment. Learning to learn is a skill with which we recognize our prevailing unproductive moods and shift to productive moods. The shift frequently involves retraining our automatic responses to learning situations.

Perhaps the most fundamental aspect of learning to learn is learning to be open to learning. As beginners we are more likely to learn if we are open, curious, and in a mood of wonder about what we do not know. Instead, beginners frequently experience frustration, insecurity, confusion, anxiety, and resignation—which block learning. In those moments, it is important to reflect on what may be provoking those moods so that we can see what actions will shift our moods and allow us to continue learning. Part of the learning process requires that we develop emotional fortitude to tolerate discomforts that come from mistakes and from changing our habitual patterns. If we do this, we will be much more likely to reach our final learning objectives.

References

1. Denning, P. Moods. Commun. ACM 55, 12 (Dec. 2012),

33–35.

2. Denning, P. Moods, wicked problems, and learning.

Commun. 56, 3 (Mar. 2013), 30–32.

3. Dreyfus, H. On the Internet. (2nd ed. 2008), Routledge, 2003.

4. Dreyfus, S.E. and Drefus, H.L. A five-stage model of the mental activities involved in directed skill acquisition. Storming Media, 1980; http://www. stormingmedia.us/15/1554/A155480.html

5. Flores, G. Learning to Learn and the Navigation of Moods. Pluralistic Networks Publishing, 2016.

6. Flores, F. and Flores Letelier, M. Conversations for Action and Collected Essays. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2013.

7. Friedman, T. The World Is Flat. (3rd ed.), Picador, 2007.

8. Spear, S. The High-Velocity Edge. McGraw-Hill Education, 2010.

Peter J. Denning ( pjd@nps.edu) is Distinguished Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Cebrowski Institute for information innovation at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA, is Editor of ACM Ubiquity, and is a past president of ACM.

The author’s views expressed here are not necessarily those of his employer or the U.S. federal government.

Gloria Flores ( gloria@pluralisticnetworks.com) is co-founder and President of Pluralistic Networks, and co-designer of Working Effectively in Small Teams ( WES T), a four-month immersive course designed to enable participants to develop skills that will enable them to work more effectively in teams, such as coordination of action, listening, building trust, and managing morale.

Copyright held by authors.

Having become aware of these standards and the habits that you have acquired to support them, how do you change them? Begin by focusing on Question 4 in the list of four questions we presented earlier. Why is reaching your learning objective important to you? If you delegate more will you have a stronger team? Will you have more time to focus on strategic issues that benefit your team over time? Will people want to join your team because of their potential for growth? The answers to these questions will help you to cultivate a mood of ambition about the benefits of delegating more effectively. Supported by your ambition, you can resolve to embark on a process for learning to delegate. You start delegating and sharing your expectations for your team members’ successes. You will need to cultivate some emotional fortitude during this learning period because it will not be comfortable for you—but you are confident that learning to delegate more effectively and have others grow in their responsibilities is good for you, your team, and your company. If a particular delegation does not work, you take time to evaluate why it did not work, talk to the person about it, and try again until it produces successful results. In other words, by cultivating moods of ambition and resolution you begin to shift away from moods that block you from learning to delegate and you give yourself the time

Shifting moods
requires
reflection and
practice because
you may have
to unlearn
some habits
that you formed
for coping with
different situations.

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