Learning Generosity

Learning Generosity is a disposition to facilitate, or support, a colleague's professional curiosity and growth. It goes beyond saying ‘yes’ to a request for particular information, or simply sharing something 'known'. To do this type of sharing may massage the ego and can be satisfying in the short term. However, Learning Generosity requires going beyond, to become somewhat vulnerable, but in doing so more substantial breakthroughs can occur. Making a commitment that doesn't have a defined outcome or set timelines, presents uncertainty, something we generally don't like. Doing this deeper sharing, and especially for an 'outsider', has the potential for critique, evaluation and perhaps even judgement, so it can be safer to not take the risk.

However, such generosity is a great gift. I’ve benefited from it on a few occasions in my career, but two such acts of generosity I've received stand out because of the impact on learning beyond what might have been expected, and certainly beyond my individual learning.

The opportunity to visit British Columbia in 2016 and see first-hand the Networks of Inquiry and Innovation, was only possible because Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser said 'yes' to the requests for a meeting, and then extended an invitation to me to attend the NOII symposium in Vancouver.

And the second occasion was a visit to a small rural high school in Oregon in 2019. It was a 'yes' to an email request to an organisation named Innovate Oregon because of a gap in a study tour itinerary during a planned few days in Portland. On a tour that took participants to some of the world's most innovative technology organisations and schools, the resulting short visit to Dayton Junior and High School turned out to be the most important of the tour.

The impacts of these two acts of Learning Generosity were not immediately evident. This is an understanding about Learning Generosity; that there is not necessarily an immediate or obvious outcome. Sometimes you need time to Percolate Ideas, for them to emerge from the noise of day-to-day work into something concrete.

The important point I learned from these two acts of Learning Generosity is that the impact is not dependent on what you know or what you are certain about. It’s not the intellectual property held by an individual or organisation, but what you are prepared to share, to give away. IP in these acts have Infinite Potential because what might emerge from a single act of saying yes can be profound. These acts provide an opportunity to open windows to potential new wisdom, facilitate Colliding Ideas and build high levels of relational trust.

⇒ NOII