What types of learning are important for people who manage “permanent white water”? Vaill describes seven interrelated modes of learning that comprise his system (an integrated, day-to-day practice). Below I’ve selected representative quotes that capture an important aspect of each type, but I’m not attempting to encapsulate his complete definitions which are more nuanced than the isolated quotes may suggest.
Self-Directed Learning
What it’s like to turn to experts when you are self-directed “We seek help not from a position of dependency but on our own terms, and we are conscious of our self-directed stance. We have questions to ask the experts, questions that grow out of our experience to date with the material, frustrating as it has been. We have reasons, which remain conscious and clear, for wanting to continue to struggle with the learning. Our questions are particular . . . “ (60)
Creative Learning
While managers aren’t generally engaged in the hands on creating of a thing in itself, they must learn how to manage the process of creating things in new ways: “The creativity of the managerial leader is to shape ways of working, ways of structuring human relationships, ways of focusing and budgeting resources, ways of evaluating progress that do not kill it in the process” (65). While not as glamorous as the creativity of an oil painter or musician, those four tasks cover some of the most difficult learning managers are asked to do.
Expressive Learning
If you consider our perception of time’s forward movement as the essence of consciousness, “learning by doing” is key. “. . . we learn the roles and the timing of the various elements in relation to each other . . . we learn the relationship of the activity to the wider setting in which it occurs, and we learn how the activity is spread out in time as well as in space. That is, since most activities of any complexity occur in a time stream, we learn the pacing they require, their rhythms and durations” (67).
Feeling Learning
If you are trying to learn in an environment where the pace, pressure, and complexity leave you distracted, anxious, and breathless, you’d better have a good sense of what it feels like when the learning process is working. “Self-directed learning, creative learning, and expressive learning all involve a whole range of feelings, among which curiosity, patience, courage, and self-esteem are particularly important. Inevitably, negative feelings arise also . . . we need to develop self-acceptance of the feelings that arise during learning because these feelings are part of the learning. They are not, as institutional learning would have it, annoyances which must be put up with in the learning process” (73-74).
On-line Learning
Vaill means something different than you may assume. Writing in 1996, “Thanks to the computer revolution, the term on-line has come into currency to describe a process that occurs simultaneously with all the other processes of the system in which it is imbedded. Thus, on-line learning is a process that occurs in the midst of work and of life rather than in an artificial, sheltered environment” (76).
Continual Learning
Think of an expression like “We’re rebuilding the airplane while we’re flying it.” Because we are constantly having to adapt to new technology and new circumstances, “We do not need competency skills for this life. We need incompetency skills, the skills of being effective beginners” (81).
Reflexive Learning
To the point that these components must work in harmony to be effective, “once we understand the practical function of reflexive learning, we can see that learning about learning is precisely determining the extent to which any learning activity possesses the first six qualities” (87).
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