Intelligence. Pride. Motivation. By Benedict Jan T. Baloncio

Intelligence. Pride. Motivation.

(An article review on Teaching Smart People How to Learn by Chris Angyris)

The title of the article, Teaching Smart People How to Learn suggests irony. A common knowledge will normally associate smart people as high learners and is expected to show exemplary action in their own respective fields. In the article authored by a Harvard Business School professor, Chris Angyris discussed on the learning dilemma in organizations, the widespread defensive reasoning among professionals, and the suggestion on productive reasoning. In the context of smart people, it connotes Intelligence, Pride, and Motivation, that carries two common meanings or sides: The positive and negative impact of Intelligence, the satisfied sense of attachment toward one's own (or another's choices) or an inflated sense of one’s personal status in relation to pride (Wikipedia), and the favorable and unfavorable motivation of an action.

Intelligence. The article discussed on the learning dilemma as a challenge of becoming a learning organization. He further stressed on the real reason of having such challenge: they misunderstand what learning is and how to bring it about. Hence, a quotation on intelligence, An intelligent person will open your mind, a beautiful person will open your eyes and a loving kind person will open your heart (anonymous) can capitulates the essence of learning. Learning should not be limited to the intellectual ability to acquire, but also the application of knowledge and its favorable implication towards oneself and of the environment. The aspiration of having a learning organization requires the functions of both brains, as we commonly understood (the left side of the brain: words, thinking, logic and deduction and the right side of the brain: understanding, intuition, beliefs et al) and the adoptation of recent study on affective domain of learning (self-concept, locus of control, attitude, expectation and curiosity). A classic example of a former colleague helps illustrate this. She finished her college degree with Latin honors and was automatically hired as an officer with her two previous employers. However, similar issues transpired on her views toward learning. She had hesitations of learning the basics like using a typewriter, for instance and accepting a constructive feedback (least to mention, she reacted negatively). As an officer, it is more desirable to manifest openness to learning and commendable behavior. Though she has the cognitive skills, but her traits and attitude were not consistent with the learning organization she was with. So, she did quit.   

Subsequently, an editorial entitled “Mainstream Science on Intelligence” (Linda Gottfredson, 1997) defined intelligence as a very general mental capability that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, comprehend complex ideas, learn quickly and learn from experiences. It is not merely book learning, narrow academic skill, or test-taking smarts. Rather, it reflects a broader and deeper capability for comprehending surroundings – “catching on,” “making sense” of things, or “figuring out” what to do. Hence, in this light, the latter statement confirms Chris Angyris discussion on effective learning is the product of the way people reason about their behavior, not limited to the right attitudes.

Pride. Pride will make us strong, but one thing for sure, it will never make us happy (anonymous). Indeed, pride can be a double-edged sword; it will either make you or break you. The author discussed on how professionals avoid learning and highlighted that professionals embody the learning dilemma: they are enthusiastic about continuous improvement – and often the biggest obstacle to its success. He then further discussed on the embarrassment and criticisms that may arise which also lead in challenging or questioning their purpose in the organization. In any organization, professionals are expected to manifest ethical standards, integrity and open-mindedness. Hence, professionals should welcome feedback and constructive criticisms with the desire in improving an individual and of the organization. Most organizations now have a well-designed performance evaluation and suggested corrective actions to align personal vis-à-vis organizational objectives.  On the other side, a probable issue may arise if these feedbacks are taken differently, to an extreme point of blaming others for the negligence, instead of accepting and facing it proactively. The latter is more common, it takes so much energy, humility and wisdom to do so. Needless to say, sometimes, professionals with key positions in an organization neglect or refuse to manifest these. More often than not, their positions or ranks lead to an inflated sense of one’s personal status. I have been a witness (at least, not experienced it) to a number of humiliations between a manager and subordinate; and adverse sense of pride rules over them, leading to conflict and misunderstanding.      

Motivation. On the later part of the article, the author suggested on learning how to reason productively which can be emotional or even painful, but he concluded that the payoff is great. These words are true relative to learning: It is not strength but desire that moves us (anonymous).

Furthermore, the article illustrated that individual’s attitude or system can resolve the issue on defensive reasoning with the intention to discontinue on what is the (unhealthy) norm, hence, promoting productive reasoning. Motivation should come collectively, from professionals to each individual involving the team. Illustrating such, a common scenario in an organization such as the failure on hitting the objective that resulted to finger pointing with others, instead of taking the responsibility of an action. By doing so, the situation is suggested to be understood properly, carefully validated and be (re)-acted accordingly. In this way, managers and employees can create an environment for learning.

It is acceptable to be considered as a smart individual in creating a learning organization. Hence, it is suggested to resolve the learning dilemma by maximizing the intelligence for the greater good, to minimize defensive reasoning by taking away our pride and of self-interest by accepting our shortcomings and reversing them to a learning experience, and to practice productive reasoning by inflecting motivation to each individual and in the creation of a learning environment. Furthermore, these will translate to a better understanding of work, encourage a result-oriented organization and promote respect to each individual.