Learning Velocity. Why Learning Fast Isn’t Enough
Learning velocity is a term we’re hearing more and more in leadership conversations. But what does it actually mean, and why does it matter?
Rather than simply adding another phrase to the leadership dictionary, we sat down with leadership and learning expert Sarah Helm, Founder of Talent by Design and Co-Founder AIplusMe, to find out.
From skiing down a mountain without knowing how to stop, to navigating AI, Sarah explains why learning velocity matters and how leaders can put it into practice. Thanks Sarah for sharing these fabulous insights.
Sarah, what does the phrase ‘Learning velocity’ actually mean?
We have a whole host of fancy words and models in the world of learning and development. When I first heard the phrase ‘learning velocity’ my own translation made me picture myself on an early childhood ski trip with my sister. We got taken up to the top of a mountain with a ski instructor we could barely understand, who showed us how to bend our knees and hold our poles and told us to “have a go at pushing off”. In her excitement to get started my sister pushed off with great determination and speed and veered off down the mountain, shouting out behind her “But how do I stop???” Thankfully she survived to tell the tale and the learning was quick, but it did put her off re-attempting to learn how to ski again for a number of years after.
For me the term ‘learning velocity’ isn’t just about speed, it’s speed with direction. Learning velocity is the same idea applied to how fast you acquire, apply, and adapt new knowledge or skills, and crucially, whether that learning is actually pointed somewhere useful.
Most people talk about “learning agility” or “being a fast learner,” but velocity is sharper than that. It’s not just “can you learn quickly,” it’s “how quickly can you go from not knowing something to using it well, in a way that moves you or your team forward.” Speed without direction is just flailing enthusiastically.
Why should leaders care about learning velocity when they already have enough acronyms (and tasks) to worry about.
One of the very first subjects we cover in any leadership development programme is that leaders are there not just for what they already know, but more importantly (especially in our current economic climate) for how they handle what they don’t know yet. Markets shift, teams restructure, technology upends the org chart every eighteen months. The leaders who thrive aren’t the ones with the most existing expertise. They’re the ones who close the gap between “We have no idea how to do this” and “We’re now competent at this” the fastest.
I’ve watched many brilliant, experienced leaders get stuck because their operating model was “I already know how leadership works.” Meanwhile someone with half their experience but triple their learning velocity just… overtakes them. Quietly. Then not so quietly.
What are the benefits of learning velocity for individuals?
Confidence – deep, inner, self-confidence. A performative kind of confidence. When you know you can pick up new skills quickly, uncertainty stops being terrifying and keeping you in your ‘comfort zone’ and starts being interesting, allowing you to move with purpose into your learning zone. You stop avoiding that unfamiliar project and start volunteering for it, because you trust your own ability to learn fast.
There are also career benefits to be had. So much has changed in the employment market. Skills become quickly outdated, job titles that seemed unshakeable ten years ago barely exist now. The people who stay employable and relevant aren’t the ones who mastered one thing brilliantly in 2015. They are the ones who kept rebuilding their toolkit. Learning velocity is basically investing in an insurance policy for your career.
How does learning velocity benefit organisations?
The organisations I work with that have a proactive and collective approach to learning velocity adapt without falling apart. Long gone are the solid and dependable businesses that have an impressive five year plan. The organisations that have the ability to pivot their strategy, embrace new systems, teams that can absorb new ways of working within weeks, are the ones that are succeeding.
Organisations that embrace learning velocity can also go a long way to cure the ‘we can’t find the talent’ problem. If your organisation is good at developing capability fast, you worry a lot less about recruiting those hard to find fully-formed people. That’s a huge competitive advantage in this day and age. Plus we all know, and may have experienced ourselves, that when you are part of an organisation or team that invests and develops in you, you feel recognised and will stay to grow and evolve with that organisation.
Why does learning velocity matter right now?
If you’ve worked with me recently, either through Talent by Design or AIplusMe , you will most definitely have caught me banging on about the importance of learning velocity right now. We are in a moment where the tools, expectations, and even definitions of ‘good work’ are shifting under everyone’s feet, largely because of AI. The half-life of technical knowledge has gone from years to months in some fields. What was cutting-edge practice in January might be baseline expected by autumn.
The organisations panicking about this are asking me “what do we need to know about AI?” That’s the wrong question, or at least an incomplete one. The better question is “how do we get good at learning things we don’t yet know we’ll need to know?” Because whatever AI does next, the answer won’t be a static skill you learn once. It’ll be an ongoing relationship with uncertainty. Learning velocity is the muscle that makes that survivable even enjoyable. Going back to the question of ‘why does learning velocity benefit organisations?’, a specific example that we at AIplusMe are delivering at the moment is our programme for senior leadership teams, which focuses on understanding where AI is already being used in their organisation, how they ensure governance, how leaders have conversations and coach around AI driven solutions, how they lead the way in their field between flexing human skill and the ethical use of AI. Organisations that are embracing this and applying learning velocity are the ones that will be ahead of the curve
What are your top tips for leaders to embrace and adopt learning velocity?
- “I don’t know yet”. Get comfortable with making “I don’t know yet” a normal sentence in your team, starting with you. Leaders who maintain they know everything train their teams to hide gaps instead of closing them. Say “I don’t know, let’s find out” out loud, often, visibly.
- “Feedback is the breakfast of champions”. One of my fave (and slightly cheesy!) quotes of all time. Shrink the feedback loop. Fast learners are the ones that are given timely feedback. Build in short review cycles (weekly, not every six months or at annual review time) so mistakes get caught and adjusted while they’re still easy to fix.
- Reward the experimentation, not just the outcome. If the only thing that gets praised is getting it right first time, people stop experimenting. Experimentation is where learning velocity actually lives. Another personal favourite learning model of mine is Carol Dweck’s ‘Growth Mindset’ which also encourages us to learn from trying things out, making mistakes. It’s where the true and sustainable learning happens.
- Quiet time. Protect time for “unproductive” tinkering. Downtime, chill time, day dreaming… sounds counterintuitive, but the fastest learners I’ve coached all carve out time to poke at things with no immediate deliverable attached. That’s where the pattern-recognition that speeds up everything else gets built. Most of us are terrible at taking time out these days and we’re missing a trick by not doing this, as well as running the risk of burning out.
- Don’t just ask “Did you learn the new tool?” Ask “What did you learn about learning, that you can apply to the next new tool? How can we share that with the team?” Teach transfer, not just content. Those questions, asked consistently, are basically what separates a team that’s fast once from a team that’s fast forever.
Last question… ‘What’s the whole point of learning velocity?’
It’s the difference between being caught out by the future and being ready for it. And it’s built in small, repeatable habits, that we adopt into our everyday.
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