Module 2 – Part 4

Exercise 1

Note: You can download and Print a Complete Booklet of Exercises for this Module
at the End of this Module.

Developing the Learner Mindset

(10 Minutes)

Part 1: Pick a conflict you recently experienced—maybe with boss, a peer, with a friend or your
spouse.

1. Reflect about the conflict. Where have you or the other person taken the Knower perspective?

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2. What did you - or they - say in that situation?

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3. How did this impact the conversation? Did it open or close the discussion?

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4. What would you have said from a Learner perspective?

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5. How might the conversation or conflict have changed if you (or the other person) would have taken
the Learner perspective?

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6. After having applied the Learner perspective, how could you have stated your point without
creating a conflict? (This is a challenging one… We’ll look at this in more detail later in this module).

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Part 2: Go into meetings and observe the following:

1. Who in the meeting acts with a Knower mindset? How do others respond this behavior?

2. Who in the meeting acts with a Learner mindset? How do others respond this behavior?

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Module 2 – Part 4

Exercise 1

Part 2: Developing your Learner mindset

1. Becoming conscious of your intention to act with a Learner mindset.

Before entering meetings, set your intention to learn about others. Make it a point to enter the
meeting with the following questions:
 What do they think?
 Why do they think that?
 What do they want from this meeting that I could help facilitate?
 What can I learn from them?

2. Ask for their perspective with genuine interest

Everyone can sense if you are truly interested in what others are saying – or if you are just asking a
question to later tell them the CORRECT answer – according to what you think is “right”!
So, make sure you don’t ask questions until you have developed the mindset of being genuinely
interested in learning from the other person’s viewpoint. Approach the conversation as an exercise to
strengthen your ability to deeply listen.
To do this you must approach the conversation with no intent to actually change the other’s position or
state your own. Simply listen and ask questions to understand their perspective: “I would like to
understand what you think about this issue? How would you approach solving it?”

3. If there is something you have learned from listening to them, try ACKNOWLEDGING it, and THANK
the other person .

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