Knowing vs. Learning: Why the Difference Matters More Than You Think
If you think you know something, does it automatically mean you've also learned something?
Say you love pizza and eat it all the time. You just know what 'good' pizza tastes like. And you can correctly guess from just biting into a slice what ingredients were used to make the pizza. Maybe you then decide to read up on how to make pizza or book to attend a live demonstration by an expert who bakes pizzas from every region. Ok, you probably know a lot about pizza now. But can you point to what you've actually learned? And what evidence can you point to that indicates you've learned it?
And crucially, does it matter? Well, yes, if you want to understand the potential of organisational learning.
★ Knowing implies holding or accumulating knowledge of something. This may involve reading or observing, or it could be something you just instinctively have (e.g. knowing what good pizza tastes like)
★ Learning implies change, understanding when to activate something you might know in order to do something or even gain more knowledge of something else. (e.g. learning how and why combining specific ingredients in a certain way results in a particular kind of pizza.)
★ Evidence of learning may be indicated by how you talk about pizza ~ the vocabulary you use combined with the depth of your knowledge and how you mobilise it ~ e.g. can you describe what makes a pizza a 'pizza'? You may also be able to apply some of your knowledge by skilfully making a delicious pizza. Or even teach someone else how to (successfully) make one. Not being able to do any of these things may point to an absence of meaningful learning.
Organisations need to get better at distinguishing between knowledge and learning to recognise what unrealised learning looks like.
As facilitators, we may hear that an organisation is ‘evidently learning all the time', because 'look how much we know!'. The problem an organisation articulates may be one of needing help to ‘consolidate learning’, or ‘make sense of learning to date’.
But when asked what learning means in the organisation, a team member might answer ‘training’, or ‘research’ or maybe ‘evaluations’, and less about change in any recognisable way.
Learning is equated with knowledge and knowing - e.g. being able to verbalise something new in a meeting or presentation, maybe publishing it in a report – features that may indicate steps towards learning, but not necessarily learning in any meaningful sense.
Unlocking learning
Organisations would benefit from learning, not only about their subject matter and themselves, but also about learning itself – such as how to conceptualise or define what learning is, and crucially, what does the act of learning look, sound or feel like in that specific organisation, and how is it different to just knowing stuff? This helps teams to recognise where learning – as distinct to knowledge gathering or knowing – may be happening, in what capacity, and how it can be marshalled for change.
Next time it is assumed that someone or an organisation has learned something, take a moment to consider:
How are knowledge and learning being defined or conceptualised❔
What does knowing look, sound or feel like, as distinct to learning - are there useful differences❔
What difference did knowing something make❔
Are there examples where some learning has led to implicit understandings, tacit assumptions or even unhelpful biases❔
What has shifted or changed as a result of knowing and learning something❔
Are there instances in your context or organisation where there could be untapped learning - where an accumulation of knowledge is possibly being misidentified as evidence of learning❔
