Adult Learning There Have Been Occasions During

Adult Learning

There have been occasions during my career that required cultural unlearning and building cross-cultural relationships, although I was unfamiliar with the concepts at the time. I was still inclined to accept the institutional learning that I had been programmed with. One such occasion happened on the job when I found out that I would be reporting to a new supervisor. It turned out there was a need for cultural unlearning on my part to make our work relationship successful.

My new boss' sexual orientation initially appeared to me to be out of the norm. My need for unlearning was not especially deep, lucky for me, but there was some mental adjustment required. My preconceptions involved judgments about who would be an appropriate partner. Before our first meeting, it occurred to me that my boss might wonder if I had any such preconceptions, which were after all, fairly common from what I saw all around me. I guessed he was probably used to it, so would he be looking for signs of intolerance on my part?

I had unknowingly begun the process of unlearning, by "developing awareness & #8230; how our unique common psychology has been developed by the dominant culture of our lives" (Vail, 1996, p.160). That willingness on my part to try to look at things from his point-of-view was the start of our successful workplace relationship.

I didn't know it at the time, but I had taken the first steps toward phenomenal reduction. As Vail describes it, I had decided "to try to let the thing we encounter be what it is, separate from our perception of it" (1996, p. 161). I was motivated primarily by self-interest; I wanted to have a good workplace relationship with my boss, who could affect my chances for promotion. So I approached our first meeting with a somewhat open mind. Specifically I was looking for common ground, for areas of agreement that we could build on. I had no idea I had stumbled upon another element of what Vail describes as Keen's approach to unlearning, imaginative variation, "combining and recombining of the various modes of the situation's being" (1996, pp.161-162).

I didn't know what to expect from my first meeting with him. Some people described him as ambitious and driven, others said he tended to display favoritism toward some of the people who reported to him. I just decided to make up my mind for myself. He may have sensed that openness on my part, that along with my pondering whether he expected rejection or disapproval. In any case our meeting went well. I think it was finding that we shared something in common, a desire to advance our careers, that helped us click. I tried to understand what his goals were as a manager, and he asked about mine as well. Without knowing it we had progressed to interpreting the likelihood and desirability of the various scenarios, the next step in learning as a way of being (Vail, 1996, p.162).

The outcome of the meeting was that I looked for ways to perform at a higher level, I became an "engaged" employee as Deane and Stringer would describe it (2009, p.1). My boss did his part by looking for ways to promote my active engagement; he gave me several high-profile assignments that I executed well (or well enough), and we both looked good as a result. We both felt that I was "doing meaningful work…exerting extra effort and acting in ways that contribute to business success" (Deane and Stringer, 2009, p. 1).