Helen Tupper: Hi, I’m Helen.
Sarah Ellis: And I’m Sarah.
Helen Tupper: And this is the final day of our squiggly skills sprint. And before we dive into our topic for today, which is leading your own learning, we just wanted to say a massive thank you for being involved in the sprint. We have had thousands and thousands of people who have got involved in learning like lobsters. And we are really, really grateful and also just want to recognise that it’s a big commitment that you have made to your development too. So thank you for joining us and well done for making the commitment.
Sarah Ellis: And as a reminder, just in case you missed day four, you’ve still got that one to catch up on. Final, fascinating fact about lobsters. They eat the old shells that they get rid of as part of being an incredible self sustaining growth system. They’re actually packed full of calcium. So really good for helping them to grow and means they’re not reliant on, I don’t know, some passing crab or fish that they want to eat. Whatever it is, lobsters love to eat that actually they, they can almost sort of guarantee their growth. And that’s what we’re really trying to help you to do, to be able to be lobster, like with your learning.
Helen Tupper: So yesterday when we talked about lead your own learning, we talked about adapting and today we want to talk about sharing because sharing is such an effective way in which you can lead your own learning. And I think it’s got a bit of a double win really for learning because not only when you share does your learning last longer because you have to reflect on what you know. You have to articulate it in a way that it makes it clear to other people. You have to, you spot what gaps that you’ve got. It’s a really effective process for going through what you know. But also you’re sharing that with someone else, so it helps them too. And I think when we have more teams that are sharing learning together, learning is much more likely to become part of our culture as a team and as a company as well.
Sarah Ellis: And there’s some interesting research and expert insights around sharing learning. Firstly, most organisations don’t do it very well. So people keep a lot of what they’re learning to themselves. A of lot. My hypothesis on this is you could argue, well that’s because it’s people are like, I don’t want to share, it’s my competitive advantage. But actually when I talk to people about this, I think it is more. There’s just not the opportunity, there’s not the when. Well, when, when would I Share what I know and kind of what I’m learning. I think that’s really interesting for teams in particular to think about. We also know that when you share what you’re learning, you will, you do spot the gaps you’ve got. And there’s this really interesting expert insight around rubber duck debugging. So this is people who work in code. So people who write code will often explain that code out loud to a rubber duck that sits on their desk. I’m guessing. Obviously we want it to be a lobster.
Helen Tupper: I’m totally thinking about rubber duck lobsters now.
Sarah Ellis: Yes, we sort of want a lobster to kind of talk to the lobster. And the reason that still works even though you’re talking to an object rather than a person. Also you could talk to an AI, that would also work is again, you’re just having to explained, you know, it’s like a sense making process. And I often think when you do say something out loud, you know, it’s always when you realise, oh, that sounds a bit rubbish. I half understand that. And I was thinking, actually, when you and I chat, sometimes I will have read a book or I’ve read something and because you’re always really curious, you will ask me questions and sometimes there’s a point where sort of I run out, I’m like, oh, I can answer that question, I can answer that. I’m a bit stuck now because I’ve either forgotten that or I obviously didn’t understand that properly, which always feels a bit uncomfortable. But it’s actually really, really useful. So we definitely don’t want to keep learning to ourselves. I think almost like the more generous we are with our learning, the better it is for us and also obviously, the better it is for everybody’s growth.
Helen Tupper: I think the other thing that we know that gets in the way of people sharing is not that they don’t want to do it, but sometimes confidence gremlins get in the way because they think, well, in order to share it, I need to be the expert. And I think we don’t want that fear of expertise to get in the way of people shar sharing what they know. So the more fun ways that you can find so that people can share their learning, the easier this is. And we think we found a way and we’ve practised it quite a lot and it’s fun, it’s really fun. And we wanted to end the sprint with something that feels fun for everyone to do. So the idea that we would like to talk about and we would love you to try out is helpful how to’s. We thought we would talk about it in the way that our team did it together to show you how it works. And then Sarah and I thought we would live do one of our helpful how to’s. Do you want to talk about how we did it as a team? Because you led that.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah. So as a team, we did a lobster lucky dip half day.
Helen Tupper: Yeah.
Sarah Ellis: And we picked out just loads of exercises from the book and to try them out. And this was one of them. So people had about five minutes to create a helpful how to on anything. So it didn’t have to be a work thing. It could be absolutely anything. And then you just have to present that to everybody else. But when I say present, no one’s presenting with slides. You’re just talking. People had maybe got a kind of few notes, but I wrote down some of the things that people were doing helpful how to’s on. We got how to make a pour over coffee from someone in our team who takes her coffee more seriously than I do. You know when you think, I’m quite into this and you meet someone, you’re like, no, next level into it. Next level into it. So she talked about pour over coffee. We had someone talk about how to poach an egg perfectly, which is a.
Helen Tupper: Skill that you need to know.
Sarah Ellis: Yeah. And I’m still not that good at actually. We had Vivi in our team. How to learn a language. I talked about like a really like worky one. I was like, here’s how to get better at writing copy. So like writing skills, creating your first G. So sort of everybody just did something, I suppose that they felt comfortable sharing. It was fun, it was fast. Also, everyone was laughing. You know, that’s always a good sign when there’s like high energy. And it felt really buzzy. And it also felt universally like someone everyone could just have a go at. It was quite low pressure play. Actually. It’s one of the other things we talk about in how to lead your own learning. Like playing is a really good way to learn. And I feel like it sort of combines a couple of those ideas.
Helen Tupper: And I think you can start with like, you can do a help how to on anything that you want to. And then once people have got over the fear of sharing it and it’s become fun, you could then potentially like create some categories. So you could do let’s do a helpful how to on processes that we’re all working with. Or let’s have a do a helpful how to on some projects that you’re working on. So you can take that energy and turn it into something that might be more directly rated as a day job. But I would start with the fun.
Sarah Ellis: And you could even. We’ve not tried this yet, but, you know, sometimes you’ve probably got skills and strengths that as a team, other people see in you and you don’t always realise how useful or valuable they are. So also, I’ve seen this with you. The reason that kind of sprung to mind is people asking you because you built a GPT. Oh, Helen, I’d. I’d love a Helen. Helpful how to on how to build a GPT. And almost people are proactively asking you now and you’re like, oh, okay, well, I hadn’t realised that would be that useful. But by you sharing it, you’ll get even better at it. And then also it’s really helpful for the team too. So I think it’s one of those things where once everyone starts practising it, you’ll just get a bit more confident giving it a go. Yeah. Should we do one live?
Helen Tupper: Okay, yeah.
Sarah Ellis: So we have picked the same situation and then we’re going to do our versions of a helpful how to from sort of two different perspectives. So the situation is how to go to an event if you feel nervous. So Helen’s going to do the extroverts for you, the helpful how to from an extrovert. And I’m going to do the helpful how to from an introvert.
Helen Tupper: Okay, so my helpful how to, first of all, intro if you can look up who’s going to be at the event beforehand, I think that’s really, really helpful because it can help you to make some quick connections. I think you just feel a bit less nervous. Also, I really look forward to it, so I sort of reframe my mind. So look at people first and second enter the room with energy. So I think there’s lots of people that are nervous when they’re doing new events they’ve not been to. But if you can be the person that gives energy, I think you. You kind of becomes a bit of a magnet. I feel like energy attracts other people and then my third is to take control. So if I’m. If I’m. In a new situation and I meet one person, then someone comes into the room, I will kind of say, oh, hi, how are you doing? Have you met the person that I’ve just met? But I will start to be an introducer and a connector in the room and so I feel like I’m making other people feel more comfortable Together and I just kind, I just get a bit more confident. It’s like I’ve given myself a role that I feel comfortable in.
Sarah Ellis: So here’s the introvert of you. Completely different to what you just said. So my Sarah helpful how to on going to an event when you feel nervous, number one, and I don’t know whether people will feel this is cheating, but I don’t think it is. If you’re nervous and introverted, go with someone, don’t go by yourself. Number two, meeting one new person is a win. I think there’s sometimes a lot of pressure to be like, I go to an event and I need to make 10 connections and I don’t know, become best friends with everyone. I would just think if my, if I have made one meaningful connection then that that’s actually really useful. Especially you know, with someone I don’t know with like a new, a new person. And then my third one is to follow up thoughtfully. So I think that might actually be where I’m at my best. So not at the actual event. I’m okay at an event and I like, I will, I do like meeting new people. I think often it’s after the fact where I can send a thoughtful email. I’m good at reading things and thinking, oh, that would be actually be useful for that person I’ve just met. And then in my ideal world I get to know that person one to one and then that’s how I kind of build those relationships. But I still think as an introvert you have to watch out for not giving yourself an excuse to not go to those events. It’s not top of my list of things that I really enjoy or really want to do, but it is always worth it.
Helen Tupper: So we wanted to end today in the same way that we have ended all the other days of the sprint. So we’re going to share a bit of inspiring advice that’s included in our book in the fourth part of the book to help you keep growing. And then we’ve also got a final action and it’s a really fun action to help you to keep going.
Sarah Ellis: So very fittingly for the final day of our sprint, the advice today comes from Dr. Carly Daniels and Carly is a scientist. And are you ready for this?
Helen Tupper: I’m ready.
Sarah Ellis: 25 year lobster expert.
Helen Tupper: Amazing.
Sarah Ellis: So I have met Carly and she’s coming to our book launch to talk about lobsters. So she says my advice would be to dive into everything you can at work, even those jobs you think will be hard or you’re not sure, if you know how to do it. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and have confidence in yourself as learning often hides in the places we least expect. Like a lobster tossed into the big blue marine world, I discovered my strengths and passions not by knowing, but by doing, volunteering, and giving it all a go. Remember that everyone started somewhere and had to learn to get where they are in life.
Helen Tupper: Oh, it’s amazing wisdom.
Sarah Ellis: She’s like a lobster learner who also loves actual lobsters. She’s like the dream combination.
Helen Tupper: It’s such a nice way to end the Sprint as well. So our final action for you to take off the Sprint is we would like you to share your helpful how to and it can be on anything. It can be on something related to work which you know about and enjoy. It can be something to do outside of work, but we would love you in whatever format you want to share it with the Sprint community. So put it on LinkedIn. Tag us in the post like squiggly sprint and amazingif because if we get enough helpful how to’s, we will create a helpful how to handbook. It may be the most random learning document we have ever created, but I think it could be fun and it will be created basically by the Squiggly Career community. So please share with us on LinkedIn. Tag us in the post and if we get enough, we’ll create that and share it out after the Sprint finishes. So everyone, that is the end of the Sprint. Well done for committing to your learning and growing with us. Don’t forget to subscribe to Squiggly Careers wherever you listen and watch. It means that you won’t miss out on any of our upcoming episodes or the next Sprints that we share.