Thursday, The Learning Principle

Week 11
April 2nd, 2009
Kelly Jones

Winning with People
Book by Dr. John C. Maxwell

The Learning Principle

The Learning Principle states that we can learn something from every person that we come into contact with and every place we go. As Maxwell puts it, “Each person we meet has the potential to teach us something.” Yet, we can only learn depending on our attitude. If you go into situations with the mentality of a know-it-all, you will not learn a thing from another person or place. But if you go into situations with the belief that you learn from any person or situation, then you will. Maxwell says there are three types of attitudes:
Arrogant (no one can teach me anything), Naïve (someone can teach me everything), and Teachable (everyone can teach me something)
Maxwell states, “The only time people can’t us things is when we are unwilling to learn.”
So how do we go about learning from others? Maxwell provides five steps:
1.Make Learning Your Passion
2.Value People
3.Develop Relationships with Growth potential
4.Identify People’s Uniqueness and Strengths
5.Ask Questions

How this principle helps me learn how to work with others…

I am going to be working with people for the rest of my life. I am in the people business—ministering to souls. I admit that I do not know all there is to know about ministering to others. I do not know all there is to know about God and life. I guarantee that the majority of the people I minister to will be ministering to me. If I come into ministry with an arrogant attitude, not only will I learn nothing, but I will teach others nothing because they will not want to learn from me.

Apply the five steps…
Ministering to people requires having a passion and desire to learn from them. Ministering to people requires valuing them—knowing their worth and what they have to offer. Ministering to people requires the ability to identity their strengths and uniqueness. Ministering also requires me to develop relationships with people that have gone before me—that are experts in ministry. Ministering requires that I ask questions.

People want to be valued, understood, and encouraged—especially when you are working alongside of them. The Learning Principle helps one to just those things.