One of the three essential factors for successful learning and adaptive management is a supportive learning environment in an organization and a recognition that it is "ok" to take time to learn. I set up an hourly "reading corner" twice a week on my calendar. It lets me focus on the long-term items, free online seminars, like “Model Thinking” from Coursera or GIS from ESRI, and it serves as an example to my colleagues.

In development, we have a particular imperative to learn, to promote learning, and to apply what we learn for greatest impact. Whether it is learning for continuous improvement towards the best possible stewardship of the resources entrusted to us, collaborating enthusiastically to enable the best ideas to surface for program success, or because learning can be life-saving or life changing, it is a critical factor shaping the way we work and how we organize ourselves to do this work.

I use the current Learning Lab to access a broad range of tools, resources and experience from the Learning community. In some cases, I am seeking ideas for a specific need or activity we have coming up; in others, I trust Learning Lab as a place that I can keep abreast of emerging areas of interest, discussion and learning (about learning) in the field. In the future, I look forward to using Learning Lab to engage more actively with others moving this work forward in the international

We need to learn from what’s working in international development, and build on that. We also need to learn what’s not working and why. Most of all, we need to look beyond our own learning to see how we can play a catalytic role in facilitating learning and action on the part of those we seek to help so that, through learning and acting, they become effective and empowered agents of their own development agendas.