What is Learnability and LQ?
Learnability is “the innate and deep desire, attitude and perseverance to continuously commit to learn & grow and adapt, evolve or change our skills to meet our work, personal and social needs”. Today given the constant changes in the environment around us, we are often forced to learn on a regular basis mostly on the go and stay up to date.
Learnability Quotient (LQ) is a structured way to assess and baseline our learning styles and adapt our learning methods and behaviours so that we can create an individual specific developmental road map with desired levels of personal excellence. If we think more intuitively, it is our ability to continuously reflect on our skills and ability, unlearn what is not relevant anymore and learn what will help improve our skill, potential and results.
Measuring LQ – formal vs. informal
LQ can be measured in many ways – it depends on whether we base our learning decision on logic, instinct or intuition. Logic requires that we assess ourselves formally using assessment tools for specific skill or ability areas. Some of us target professional courses and certifications mostly from a career orientation and not just for the sake of learning.
From an instinctive space, we seek feedback or other anecdotal evidence and raise our awareness to be sensitive to work on the feedback and align our learning needs and habits. When we work with our inner intuitive self, we are really working with our inner being which is often more a calling from our inner self which creates the urge to learn.
LQ and our Autotelic self – learning clarity
Autotelic is described as “having a purpose in and not apart from itself”. Researchers who have studied people who are highly successful often found that such people are ‘internally driven’ by a sense of purpose, curiosity and commitment – such people immerse themselves in learning as they have such high levels of inner clarity on what they want to learn even if there exists no ready frame of reference or learning artifacts for them.
Scientists, Poets, Writers, Painters and Philosophers often demonstrate this autotelic trait as do evolved Practitioners in any professional field such as musicians, sports persons and doctors who learn and refine their talent every day through extensive skill sharpening.
LQ and our motivation to learn
Many of us would have heard about our friends or experienced our own levels of learning motivation – simple examples could include going to a gym, learning an instrument, a vocational skill or developing a new product – all of these often test our levels of motivation and commitment.
Once the goal is fully aligned and accepted internally, the motivation to learn and progress comes naturally – however, if the goal is more externalized (peer pressure, doing it at someone else’s behest etc.), we do not feel as motivated to learn and hence view learning as a burden instead of a passion.
LQ and our learning style
LQ is also determined by how we like to learn. From an individual preference, we are visual, auditory or kinesthetic in how we process information. We could also be visual – auditory or visual – kinaesthetic individuals when we have a combination of preferences.
Some of us could be passive or active learners depending on our levels of curiosity, interest and ability to experiment with various learning tools and pick those which help us learn efficiently. Our learning style therefore, is very unique and the more we discover our personal learning method, the better it will be for us to achieve our learning outcomes.
LQ and learning choices – learn & grow mode
Some of the recent research on the ‘power of subconscious learning’ also gives us clue on how to powerfully orient or connect our thoughts which activate neurochemical signals that generate emotions and actions which in turn enable learning and change. This process in turn leads to creation or formation of new habits and behaviours.
The ‘learn and grow’ mode can be activated as a specific and focused intent. Follow up actions could include feeling fully responsible for one’s results; to be fully ‘present’ in the learning and change process; to reach inward and tap into our deep personal insights; to stay grounded when the change is happening; to live life in the learn and change mode and face any fears & limitations of getting out of old habits or comfort zones.
Bringing it together – Commit to learn everyday
Developing our Learnability Quotient is one of the best examples of personal change that is relevant throughout our lives. With a constant shift in behaviours across generations and an even faster obsolescence rate of technology, we are left with no choice but to work on creating a learning space for ourselves everyday.
However, the commitment needs to come from within starting with an intent and thought and holding that thought as a dominant one until it becomes an everyday passion for us. The tools, methods and content are situational and transactional and many choices are available. The binding anchor to our learning process is a deep emotional commitment which drives us through the learning and change to be more alive to the changes life presents around us. So go ahead, learn everyday, stay connected and relevant to today’s world and enjoy the change!
