July 2008: ‘Ike loa, the Hawaiian Value of Learning

This month is somewhat of a first for us

After publishing online for four full years, this will be the first time that ‘Ike loa [literal translation: long or lengthy (loa) knowledge (‘ike)] serves as the value of the month for our Ho‘ohana Community. ‘Ike loa is very well known to MWA readers and practitioners as the Hawaiian knowledge of learning and the seeking of wisdom.

ALOHA ~ ~ ~ Have you newly arrived here at Managing with Aloha Coaching? Each month, we adopt a Hawaiian value to study together in a universal way, thus the tagline you see up top: Value Your Month, Value Your Life. I publish a new essay here every Tuesday. This is my Day One Essay for July 2008. 4 additional articles will follow this month about ‘Ike loa, the Hawaiian value of Learning. Welcome! ~ Rosa Say

There are two reasons it has taken me this long. As a value and not a simple verb, learning is deeply woven into my psyche; it’s one of those things I just do implicitly versus explicitly talk about. On the other hand, some would say I talk about it pretty incessantly. As I had written in Managing with Aloha;

“‘Ike loa is the value that my managers have told me “turns you into an absolute fanatic” and I suppose that’s true. It is one of my favorites, for it is all about learning and seeking more knowledge, something I am very passionate about. Gaining more knowledge equates to having more confidence and belief in one’s ability and capacity to learn, and having more of that self-belief empowers you, liberates you and releases a creativity you may not have even realized you possessed. You constantly give birth to new possibilities in this creative process; you create your own destiny [seeking your best possible life] (‘Imi ola).

You are sure to feed your body each day, aren’t you? Well, new knowledge is the food for mind, heart and soul. Without it, you are not providing nourishment for your overall well-being. We grow as we learn.

To a business, knowledge is the asset of intellectual capital. Great managers have intellectual capital in good supply, and they work at refreshing it and keeping it well-stocked.

I stand firm and unmoving in my belief that someone who calls themselves a manager of people must be a learner, and they must dedicate themselves to non-stop, sequential and consequential learning. Sequential in that it builds upon previous lessons learned, and it takes you through a process where you question instruction and do not always accept what you are taught at face value; you polish it like a gem in your mind until something about it rings true for you. Consequential in that it is worthwhile stuff; it makes a difference for you, and you aren’t simply collecting lessons on some scorecard. There’s some personal take-away in it for you. Now that you know it, you’re going to use it.”

‘Ike loa is Chapter 11 in Managing with Aloha, and it spans pages 135 through 148.

The second reason ‘Ike loa has not yet made its own Ho‘ohana appearance, is that we have had an entirely separate website dedicated to learning, another neighborhood of our Ho‘ohana Community if you will: Joyful Jubilant Learning.

About JJL:
If you are new to the Ho‘ohana Community, every month there is a new theme on www.JoyfulJubilantLearning.com which is connected to ‘Ike loa, learning, and to Kākou [togetherness and inclusiveness as a value]. Together, these two values merge within the power and “Language of We” and collaborative learning. Therefore, you will want to check with JJL on the 1st day of the month to find out what the learning theme there will be as well. For July 2008 our theme is Learning from Pictures.

So why did ‘Ike loa rear its head now, saying, “It is my turn to be the month’s Ho‘ohana [purposeful value-alignment work we concentrate on] Rosa, pay attention!”

The magic of questions and dialog

It happened the way that so much good happens within our community: You asked me questions about it! Specific Managing With Aloha questions.

Learning is a HUGE topic, and until your questions about ‘Ike loa were presented to me specifically, I have eagerly added learning of all kinds onto my publishing dance card: It is my by-nature default to do so, for I already know MWA and am now personally within its learning tangents.

So the questions, your questions, have had to do with adopting and integrating an MWA organizational culture with ‘Ike loa value-alignment. To lump them into just one, the questions have come to what my entire consulting business is constructed of:

How do I suggest people approach learning strictly from the standpoint of MWA?

A month is relatively short, and we will not go as far as I go with my consulting clients, which is constructing a program built on their organizational values. In these programs, learning is essential: Learning is the flexibility, open-mindedness (and humility) and hunger for growth that essentially makes the entire project succeed or fail (for that is what SLC consulting programs are; projects about reshaping organizational culture so that workplaces can be easily and dynamically reconstructed.)

This is what we will cover this month, within our every-Tuesday publishing schedule:

• 7/8 = Tuesday 1 Learning as a process: Beginning, Middle, and End

I will be the first to chime in with the opinion that we should all be lifelong learners, and that as adults, we should define tertiary learning for ourselves, however first it may be useful to think of ‘Ike loa as a process in and of itself before you jump into a program for it, whether that program is about MWA or something else.

• 7/15 = Tuesday 2 The Learning Process of MWA

This was part of the MWA snippet I shared above: “…someone who calls themselves a manager of people must be a learner, and they must dedicate themselves to non-stop, sequential and consequential learning.” What do I mean? That’s what we’ll cover.

• 7/22 = Tuesday 3 Learning from other People

This is absolutely crucial understanding about MWA: We learn best from other people. However people are way too easy for us to take for granted, especially those we work with (and live with) every single day. By nature of the mo‘o ōlelo [succession of talk, wherein all stories were oral and not written] those of old Hawai‘i didn’t do this as much as we tend to in everyday conversations, not just story-telling, and we can learn from them.

• 7/29 = Tuesday 4 Explorations in Tertiary Learning: Developing your ‘Ike loa Habit

What is Tertiary Learning, and why is it so important to the workplace? With our last Tuesday essay I will bring us back to a MWA Key Concept: The Role of the Manager.

I am very excited about this month, and now that you know of my plans for it, I hope that you are too. We Ho‘ohana together. Please plan on being here every Tuesday with me, and with your Ho‘ohana Community.

Here is your assignment for the coming week until next Tuesday:

Now that you know of my outline, Ho‘ohana: Become intentional with the learning you will do with me this month:

a) Begin your month with me, with YOUR end result in mind.

Copy and paste my outline in a Word Doc. Write a sentence or two of your own thoughts about each Tuesday’s agenda in regard to what you hope to get out of the discussion within your own personal working situation. For instance, would an ultimate goal be to come up with your own ‘Ike loa-driven and aligned Learning Goals from now to yearend? (July 1 is only the mid-year point!)

b) Enroll others in your goals.

For the best use of what I offer you here, decide how you will involve the rest of your team in this month’s coaching. Will you be reading my Tuesday Essays together and discussing them? Will you be concentrating on specific ones in light of the rest of your current efforts? How would you like ‘Ike loa to be woven into your team dynamics this month, whether with the D5M, D15M, or other forums?

FLAGRANT SUGGESTION: 7/22 = Tuesday 3 Learning from other People is the PERFECT time to introduce the Daily 5 Minutes and get started with it, if you have not done so already.

c) Click on the links and read them.

Got a note from a reader this past month which made my heart sing, but also was so helpful to me; she wrote; “Rosa, know what I like about the new every Tuesday schedule on MWAC? Now I have time to follow your links into the older articles you reference; before it was too hard to keep up.”

That was good feedback to get, and her comment has made me practice more discernment with the links that are here: If it is here, it is connected to the subject at hand, or it gives attribution to someone I mention. I am using [these brackets] for definitions instead of linking to them.

Integrate, integrate, integrate. Plan to have Managing with Aloha Coaching blend in with what you do, and not kept separate… starting today, think of ‘Ike loa as your value of the month too, not just new learning or weekly reading.

See you here again next Tuesday,
Rosa

Comments

[dave]

You know what is so ironic Rosa?

I was reading through the piece this morning thinking "how do you remember your old essays to the point that you are able to link back to them?"

Then I read the comment that was made about keeping up with your old essays. I only have one word for you my Hawaiian sister...VALUE!!

[Rosa Say]

I do understand what you mean about remembering the older stuff though Dave. Thank goodness for keywords and search... sometimes the results can be surprising, and I find I did forget, but it all comes back so quickly :)