Many of us have experienced unlearning after buying a different automobile. The new key works differently, the gearshift is now on the column or the windows are controlled by a button not a crank handle. Mark Bonchek suggests that learning organizations have focused incorrectly. The problem isn’t learning: it’s unlearning. In every aspect of business, we are operating with mental models that are outdated or obsolete, from strategy to marketing to organization to leadership.
Source: Harvard Business Review, November 3, 2016.
The process of unlearning has three parts.
- First, you have to recognize that the old mental model is no longer relevant or effective.
- Second, you need to find or create a new model that can better achieve your goals.
- Third, you need to ingrain the new mental habits.
Also see: Learning to Learn, Animal Health Digest, April 21, 2016
INSIGHTS: Unlearning is not about forgetting. It’s about the ability to choose an alternative mental model or way of thinking. It’s not easy to unlearn mental habits that no longer serve us. Much of what we learned in school and built our careers on is either incomplete or ineffective.