Learning by Osmosis

I’ve led a number of different creative teams over the years, and one of the things I’ve come to notice is that the folks that really thrive on teams and in larger organizations have a common characteristic—the ability to learn multidimensionally.

Unlike many of their peers, who tend to learn by absorbing information in linear, sequential steps, multidimensional learners are able to naturally gather information from multiple sources and synthesize this information with what they learn through formal training. This ability to absorb and process information in a more exponential fashion enables these high performers to offer immediate value to their team and accelerate their career growth.

I call this trait learning by osmosis, and I often see evidence of it shortly after someone joins my team. The new staffer will attend formal training sessions, but will be listening simultaneously to conversations, reading company communications and generally being open to and interested in other information sources. Within a day or two, the trainee will begin piecing together disparate bits of information and will begin asking questions to verify the connections he or she has drawn. The process accelerates from there, and shortly the new person is contributing to the group in unique and valuable ways.

Of course, I’ve also experienced situations when this trait is absent, and this too has a way of surfacing early in someone’s tenure on the team. The learning process only seems to happen at the rate at which formal training is provided. Compared to the high performer, the linear learner’s growth curve remains fairly flat. Sadly, these situations don’t usually end well.

Given how important high performers are to the success of a team, I’ve often wondered 1) how best to identify osmosis learners in the interview process and 2) whether it’s possible to train people to better learn multidimensionally. My success rate isn’t perfect on either. All I know for certain is that, when I’m successful at finding and retaining people with these traits, it’s a magical thing.