1 of 25

Course: Oncology Nursing

Topic: Learning Agility

The Nurses International Community

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

2 of 25

COPYRIGHT

NI Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

3 of 25

Module Goals

Learners will be able to:

Define learning agility.
Describe importance of learning agility in oncology nursing.
Describe the dimensions of learning agility and the practices for assessing learning.
Identify the capabilities needed to perform in new situation.

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

4 of 25

What is Learning Agility?

Lombardo & Eichinger, 2000, as cited in De Meuse et al., 2010

Defined as:

‘the willingness and ability to learn from experience, and subsequently apply that learning to perform successfully under new or first-time conditions’

Image from Clipart Station

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

5 of 25

Learning Agility

Agility is to sense and respond quickly to changes in the environment
Agile person demonstrates:

Flexible behaviours
Responds to change

Proactively
Adaptively
Resiliently

Snyder & Brewer (2019)

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

6 of 25

Learning Agility

According to Lombardo and Eichinger (2000), four factors that describe different aspects of learning agility are:

People Agility
Result Agility
Mental Agility
Change Agility

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

7 of 25

Learning Agility

Lombardo & Eichinger (2000)

People Agility describes people who-

Know themselves well
Learn from experience
Treat others constructively
Are cool and resilient under the pressure of change

Result Agility describes people who-

Gets results under tough conditions
Inspire others to perform beyond normal
Promote confidence in others

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

8 of 25

Learning Agility

Mental Agility describes people who-

Think through problems from a fresh point of view
Are comfortable with complexity and ambiguity
Are comfortable explaining their thinking to others

Change Agility describes people who-

Are curious
Have a passion for ideas
Like to experiment with test cases
Engage in skill-building activities

Lombardo & Eichinger (2000)

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

9 of 25

Take a moment and think…..

Why is learning agility important in Oncology Nursing?

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

10 of 25

Challenges for Oncology Nursing

Cummings et al. (2018)
Challinor et al. (2020)

Roles and responsibilities of oncology nurses have rapidly transformed¹.

From general bedside nurse to advance practice nurse responsible for diagnostics interpretation and screening for cancer prevention.

Cancer care is complex in itself
Oncology patient management and treatments continue to evolve²

Patient’s expectations of nursing care has increased
Cancer care interventions and treatments keep evolving

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

11 of 25

Challenges for Oncology Nursing

Cummings et al. (2018)
Challinor et al. (2020)

Oncology nursing workforce face global challenges

Cancer burden continues to increase¹
Nursing Shortages²
Recruitment barriers²
Burnout²

Oncology nurses need to be agile to provide optimum level of patient care in increasingly complex ever-changing healthcare environment².

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

12 of 25

Learning Agility and Oncology Nursing

Learning agility will enable oncology nurses to:

Anticipate the unexpected
Tolerate ambiguity
Effectively manage stressful situations to moderate the turbulent environment

Agile oncology nurse are not disconcerted by constantly changing healthcare system

Instead they take the initiatives to find solution
View ambiguity or challenges as an opportunity to learn new knowledge
Always looking for ways to promote patient care

Snyder & Brewer (2019)

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

13 of 25

Learning Agility Skills

Center for Creative Leadership provides following tips for learning agility:

Be a Seeker
Hone Your Sense-Making
Internalize Experiences and Lessons Learned
Adapt and Apply

Center for Creative Leadership, n.d., Tips for Improving Your Learning Agility

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

14 of 25

Learning Agility: Be a Seeker

Seek out more and different experiences

Memorable experiences impact the way you lead and manage

Embrace the challenge of the unfamiliar

Don’t just go through the motion

Take on new challenges that scares you

Allows development of new skills and perspectives which may become part of your repertoire
Tell others what you are doing and ask for their help and support

Center for Creative Leadership, n.d., Tips for Improving Your Learning Agility

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

15 of 25

What Would a Nurse Do?

Aaron is a new nurse who is starting his first day on a busy oncology unit. He will spend a week working with a staff nurse who will orient him to the unit and to staffing policies and patient care processes on the unit.

How can Aaron apply the principles of agility during his orientation?

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

16 of 25

Learning Agility: Be a Seeker

Don’t get stuck on first solutions

Challenge yourself to come up with new solution even if seemingly tried and trusted ones exist
Bring in others point of view
Might uncover ways that saves time and energy
Surface new learning that might haven’t been considered

Make it a habit to push for new ideas

What’s holding me back from trying something new and different? If these constraints weren’t in place, how would I approach this situation differently?

Center for Creative Leadership, n.d., Tips for Improving Your Learning Agility

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

17 of 25

Hone Your Sense-Making

Luxury of time does not exist in high-stakes, complex, ambiguous, fast-moving situations

Dive in and start making things happen

Actively listen to understand what others are saying
When you feel stressed, pause

Take a moment to consider what’s really required

Find another way to understand a problem

Utilize multiple techniques and engage different senses
Tap into your emotions to wrest understanding, insight, meaning from the experience

Center for Creative Leadership, n.d., Tips for Improving Your Learning Agility

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

18 of 25

Internalize Experience and Lessons Learned

Internalizing experiences and lessons learned is important

To solidify insights and lessons learned for recall and application later

Learning agile people recognize that

others are essential to their learning performance
others can provide new experiences and opportunities to learn

Ask for feedback and be open to criticism

Find someone who you can trust and give you open and honest feedback

Center for Creative Leadership, n.d., Tips for Improving Your Learning Agility

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

19 of 25

Internalize Experience and Lessons Learned

Don’t defend

Entering a mode of self-preservation and trying to defend what is, you close yourself off to what could be
To practice non-defensiveness, always try to thank others

Reflect, both alone and with others

Shift your thinking beyond merely what happened to ask why things happened the way they did
Reflection helps surface the intuitive and lock it in for future reference

Center for Creative Leadership, n.d., Tips for Improving Your Learning Agility

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

20 of 25

Internalize Experience and Lessons Learned

Step back from the busyness and figure out what you’re learning from a project, from an interaction, from a new experience
Conduct after-action reviews where you /relevant others reflect by asking:

What happened?
Why did it happen that way?
What should we stop/start/continue doing in order to ensure success in the future?
What changes in knowledge, skill level, attitudes, behavior, or values resulted from the experience?

Center for Creative Leadership, n.d., Tips for Improving Your Learning Agility

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

21 of 25

Adapt and Apply

Learn to rely on your intuition

People who rate high on learning agility report on operating largely on feel and flexibility
When faced with something new, draw on the similarities from the past to frame to frame new challenge

Don’t overthink

Inspiration comes from the unconscious, being open to this can spark new ideas and strengthen performance
don’t shy away from experimentation as you venture into new territory

Center for Creative Leadership, n.d., Tips for Improving Your Learning Agility

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

22 of 25

What Would a Nurse Do?

Nurse Nita arrived at work to learn that her shift will be significantly understaffed as a result of sick calls.

What activities would demonstrate qualities of learning agility in Nurse Nita?

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

23 of 25

References

Center for Creative Leadership (2020). Leading Effectively Articles: Tips for Improving Your Learning Agility. Retrieved from: https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/tips-for-improving-your-learning-agility/

Challinor J.M., Alquadimat M.R., Teixeira T.O.A., & Oldenmenger W.H.(2020). Oncology nursing workforce: challenges, solutions, and future strategies. Oncology Nursing, 21 (12): E564-E574. Retrieved from: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanonc/article/PIIS1470-2045(20)30605-7/fulltext�
Cummings, G. G., Lee, S. D., & Tate, K. C. (2018). The evolution of oncology nursing: Leading the path to change. Canadian oncology nursing journal = Revue canadienne de nursing oncologique, 28(4), 314–317. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6516934/

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

24 of 25

References

De Meuse, K.P., Dai, G., & Hallenbeck, G.S. (2010). Learning Agility: A construct whose time has come. Consulting Psychology Journal: Practice and Research, 62 (2): 110-130. © 2010 American Psychological Association. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232583122_Learning_agility_A_construct_whose_time_has_come�
Lombardo, M.M. & Eichinger, R.W. (2000). High potentials as high learners. Human Resource Management, 39 (4): 321 - 329. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/246869384_High_Potentials_as_High_Learners�
Snyder, K. A., & Brewer, B. B (2019). Workforce agility: An answer to turbulence in acute care nursing environments?. Nursing Management, 50 (8): 46-50. Retrieved from: https://journals.lww.com/nursingmanagement/Fulltext/2019/08000/Workforce_agility__An_answer_to_turbulence_in.9.aspx

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org

25 of 25

Please go to

My Learning Experience

to provide feedback on your experience.

Thank you, and come back soon!

Contact info: info@nursesinternational.org