Every Room Has Something to Teach You
Surround yourself with people smarter than you. You've probably heard that one (it gets credited to everyone from presidents to CEOs, so I won't guess who said it first).
I agree 100%, and I don't think it stops at your team. The fastest way I know to grow is to keep walking into rooms full of people I can learn from.
The Room That Was Over My Head
I joined AI Power Hour, a weekly group run by Deborah Thackinh at Clever Analytics. I use AI all day, every day, so I figured I'd hold my own. Then the first meeting was SO over my head. People were building whole systems and brand new tools.
I almost didn't go back. Nobody wants to be the one in the room who doesn't know things. That fear is real, and it keeps a lot of us from ever walking in the door a second time.
The next week I showed up anyway. I sat in the background and just listened. The week after that I hesitated again, but I went, and I started making connections. The group was so welcoming. It's a super supportive and collaborative group, and that's what kept me coming back.
Now I look forward to it. I learn something new every time, and I leave every session energized.
The Room Where I Still Took Notes
This month I also joined the book club in The L&D Collective, led by Joseph Diaz. We're reading 7 Steps to Better Learning Engagement: Driving Business Results by Becky Willis, and Becky joined us on the call.
I've been doing this work for over 20 years, so with this group, they were speaking my language. I didn't feel out of my comfort zone like I did with AI. But that doesn't mean I didn't have things to learn.
Easy to Reach Is the Hard Part
One idea from Becky's book stuck with me most: learning has to be easy to reach.
Technology is changing so fast that what people learned last quarter may already be out of date. They can't wait for the next course. They need the answer at the moment they're stuck, inside the work they're already doing.
The teams we work with have struggled with this for years. The information exists, but it's buried in an old course or in someone's head. AI is finally making it possible to put the right answer in front of people when they need it, in plain language, without a scavenger hunt.
Water the Roots
There's a reason we named our company Taproot. A taproot is the main root that grows deep, and it's what lets a tree keep reaching toward the sun.
My dad always says, "The more you know, the more you realize you don't know." He probably picked it up from someone famous, but I heard it from him first, and I'm grateful he taught me that.
Learning is a journey. The more you learn, the more you see there's still to learn, and that's a good thing. It means you can keep growing no matter what room you're in. One room stretched me and the other sharpened me, and I came out of both excited about what I learned and eager to put those gems to work.
Building a Culture of Learning
If you lead a team, here's where I'd start.
Build a learning culture. Growth has to be part of the conversation from the start, not an afterthought once the project is done. Make it OK to be a beginner, and measure whether people perform better, not how many butts were in seats.
Start with the business result. Before you build anything, name the number it should move, like retention or errors on customer calls. Then book the check-in to see if it moved.
Make it easy to reach. Put help where the work happens, so people don't have to stop and go find a course.
Respect your learners. People want to do a good job. They want to succeed. Give them the tools that help them get there, and the company succeeds right along with them. That's where the performance results come from.
A Big Thank You
Thank you to Deborah Thackinh for running AI Power Hour and building a group where it's OK to be the one with the most questions. And thank you to Joseph Diaz and Becky Willis for a great book club conversation.
Let Us Be That Partner
At Taproot, we don't build training to check a box. We partner with organizations to improve performance, starting with the business result you need and building learning your people can reach when they need it.
If that's the kind of partner you're looking for, we'd love to talk.
People First. Growth Always.
