If one is open-minded and curious enough, learning can come from anywhere.
It can come from above meaning those who are more experienced and better informed than ourselves. From below from those who are junior, less or even inexperienced, and sometimes laterally from friends and colleagues.
Let me share an important lesson I learnt from our children.
Children have taught me that if they want something, then incessant pleading and nagging parents is an excellent way to get it.
A man will promise anything to a child to get him or her to be quiet. Once a promise is made the parent is trapped, because the child has a firmer grip on the demand. Eventually the parent relents.
Children are just unadulterated adults. They have not yet learnt the sophisticated techniques of manipulation so often it is quite easy to see what they are doing, but we cave in because we love them and are eager to please them.
Success is getting what we want.
In that sense, unless the parents or elders are extremely rigid or obtuse, because of their persistence the success rate of children in getting their way is very high.
Follow up, follow up and follow up and the probability of ensuring success is very high.
The lesson is persistence and determination will ensure that not only do we perform but also get others to act and thus help us achieve success.
Some people may mock the thought that I am learning from children rather than from some hi-fi management Guru. However, if we keep the doors and windows of our minds open, the breeze of learning will waft in allowing us to better ourselves.
Lessons learnt can be applied in other spheres of our existence. Lessons from our personal lives can be applied to our professional lives and vice versa.
Some people have commented adversely that follow-up is demeaning and unprofessional. But follow-up and reviews are meant to make people uncomfortable, even give them a headache if they are not performing as promised or committed by them.
If we are performing as planned the follow-up serves as verification that things are ok.
It is important to remember that, ‘what is not followed up or reviewed is rarely done‘.
