Teaching and learning
Flash Interview with Isabel Chambel
C — In your opinion, what characterizes a learning organization? What hinders this progress the most?
IC — A learning organization is an institution that is continually modernizing, with a competitive vision, focusing on innovation, quality, and a process of continuous improvement where people are continuously stimulated and allowed to grow and broaden their horizons and objectives.
A people-centered leadership that involves them to achieve the company's mission and objectives.
What makes progress more complicated can be the organization of the structure itself (internally and externally), a communication that is not very focused/centered on people and the company's strategies and objectives.
C — Tell us about something new you'd like to learn but haven't had time to start studying yet.
IC — At this stage of my professional career, I would like to acquire more tools to improve my skills in the communication area, training and trainer techniques and management/leadership.
My short/medium-term goals are a higher and more comprehensive standard of performance based on these areas.
C — Tell us about a guru you admire and how this person has influenced your learning?
IC — I don't have just one, but a few. Throughout my life, I have been lucky enough to come across some gurus who have greatly influenced my learning and helped me become the professional I am today. I admire and thank them for their substantial contribution to me; it would be unfair to name and mention just one.
C — Do you think that anyone can be proficient in any subject, or is it necessary to have a gift or vocation? Why?
IC — Anyone with work, effort and dedication can be proficient in whatever they want. There are people gifted in certain areas, which is a good advantage, but that doesn't mean they will be the best. It just gives them a slight edge. Anyone with less vocation who commits themselves and dedicates their heart and soul can achieve more and better results.
The sports culture is an excellent example of this. Since I was young and for several years, high competition sport played a fundamental role in my life. I grew up with the principals that it is not enough to have a vocation; it takes rigor, dedication, a lot of work, demand, and respect for others. To write a success story, I would have to apply these learnings in my daily life, so I would be able to achieve my goals. The truth is that when used in sports, IT or any other area, these values motivate successful cases.
As a professional, I bring with me all these learnings, which I share and transmit with everyone I come across, and the truth is that they have become valuable tools for my day-to-day and that I do not give up.
C — Tell us about the "Peter principle" and how, in your opinion, should we deal with it in our industry?
IC — Peter's principle is the opposite of learning, developing, and improving the quality of people/organizations' skills. Unfortunately, our industry is in a phase of little supply and high demand, which can generate the Peter principle due to the lack of quality in the results obtained and expectations below the intended.
How to deal with it? We can start by defining the profile and minimum skills for the role, socializing the person with the company so they can give more of themselves, improve their performance and achieve the goals defined for a given stage. It is crucial to train, evaluate, determine points for improvement and continually repeat this process with progressively more demanding objectives.
C — Tell us about something very important to you that you learned in the last year?
IC — I learned abruptly and painfully that what doesn't destroy us makes us stronger. I learned to value and take advantage of irreversible situations in life and transform this into positive processes, channeling energies to improve my abilities as a human being.