Build an A-Team

HELPING PEOPLE LEAP TO NEW LEARNING CURVES

You are like this cup; you are full of ideas. You come and ask for teaching, but your cup is full; I can’t put anything in. Before I can teach you, you’ll have to empty your cup.

—Zen teaching, paraphrased, from Zen master Ryutan

A learning curve can be compared to the seasons of the year: a new beginning sprouting in spring, the tipping point reached with rapid growth and productivity for summer, the graceful slowdown of fall, and the inevitable yielding to the frozen winter at the very top of the curve. Without a subsequent spring—a new curve for growth to begin again—employees get stuck in a Groundhog ...