Learning Journeys at Mondragon Team Academy
Learning Journeys at Mondragon Team Academy
Learning Journeys at Mondragon Team Academy
More than 40 Team Companies have been able to travel and experience new cultures and develop projects in new places around the world
Mondragon Team Academy's Learning Journeys (LJ) are an essential ingredient of our learning process. These trips are an experience based on sharing, interacting and experiencing another culture, to learn and grow together.
These last 2 years, developing the Learning Journeys with total normality has been challenging, to keep traveling and learning with closed or blocked countries has forced us to reinvent ourselves. Thanks to the teamwork and the great network we have achieved it, making all the Learning Journeys successful in all the Mondragon Team Academy Labs.
You may be wondering why we have fought so hard to keep traveling, or why LJs are so important in our entrepreneurship programs. During all these years of experience we have seen that each person is unique and we want to embrace that diversity, too, from our learning process. Cultural, economic, social or gender diversity. In fact, in the Falkon Model, unlike the previous Rocket Model, we have included "Empathy and Diversity" as a basic learning process. In this framework, the learning trips become a space where to know and experience some of these diversities, but, above all, the flame of wanting to know other cultures, to develop an empathic attitude or to realize our privileges.
The process is not always easy, but understanding that these misunderstandings are part of the journey gives us meaning. We learn to listen with the intention of learning, empathizing and understanding. We travel with an open mind, heart and will. But above all we dream, imagine, challenge ourselves and create in other languages, cultures and forms.
All this under this learning model:
All in all, the LJ experience activates the following levers:
Team learning:
Analyzing and sharing learning experiences from different perspectives.
The exchange of knowledge multiplies knowledge.
Cultural immersion:
Explore a deep understanding of the country's current market situation and emerging opportunities. Unlearn our cultural and economic vision.
Experimenting outside the comfort zone:
Allowing ourselves to not know in new scenarios.
High-performance teams:
Work as a team, project and individuals. Share a common vision, goals and metrics and collaborate and hold each other accountable to achieve extraordinary results.
In addition, we cannot forget other objectives that are developed before or during the journey:
-Reinforcement of English and/or local language skills.
-Experience of living together
-Collaborative projects between different laboratories.
-Contact with the local entrepreneurship ecosystem.
This year, from the laboratories of the MTA network, and within the LEINN program, we have traveled to different corners of the world: Germany, Korea, Costa Rica, Euskal Herria, or Finland.
More than 40 Team Companies have been able to travel and experience new cultures and develop projects in new places around the world. This is how we could summarize all the learning trips made this year:
+ 500,000 KILOMETERS TRAVELED
5 COUNTRIES VISITED
+ 50 TEAM COMPANIES IN LEARNING JOURNEY
+ 300 COMPANIES VISITED
+ 2,000 HOURS OF DIALOGUE
+ 1,000 CUSTOMER VISITS
But among all the Learning Journeys, the most special was the one in Korea. For the first time in the history of MTA, all the labs have been together enjoying and learning in Seoul. This was partly thanks to the agreement between MTA and SKHU (Sungkonghoe University).
More than 180 LEINNers from 15 different Team Companies have been on a Learning Journey at the Seoul Lab. Together with all these people there were also two generations of LEINNers from the MTA Korea Lab, which already has 2 generations, and a team from LEINN International.
The LEINNers have been developing in the Korean city all kinds of projects, especially in areas that are booming or in which Korea stands out for its advanced knowledge.
On the one hand, some of the projects have been based on analyzing and distilling trends and success stories in the Smart Cities sector. Both for Spanish companies and to support and promote Korean companies looking for new partners or opportunities in Hackathons or events.
Team Companies have also developed projects related to art, where they have made known their way of doing while creating bridges between countries. This has been done through projects such as Skink, with products for training and professionalization of tattooing; Zure Aukera, with workshops in sustainable fashion that connect Korea, Spain and Mexico; K-Entertainment - as a new distributor of K-Pop licenses or Bayadare, a talent management project in hospitality specialized in the Asian market that seeks Sushi kitchen staff for the Spanish market and European talent for European restaurants in Seoul.
During the trip they have not forgotten Blockchain technology and all the new opportunities it offers. In up to 3 projects (Kanda, Reaktion, FTR) they have worked to meet companies in the sector, meet with their CEOs and be able to initiate co-creation projects. They have also opened opportunities with the Non-Fungible-Tolens so widespread and developed in Korea for Spanish companies.
Finally, LEINNers have been able to experiment with new sectors such as voice technology (Voice), Big Data in the food sector (Entrii) or Smart Farming, where they seek to respond to the challenges of the first sector and nature through this technology.
All these projects demonstrate the great work and action that is done in the LEINN Degree Learning Journeys. In the MTA methodology, together with action, there is always reflection and learning, because we learn by creating as a team, also in the LJs.
During this trip to Seoul they have had spaces to continue learning and immersing themselves in Korean culture, which has led them from learning Korean to locking themselves in a Buddhist temple.
The union of all these experiences, have left us the following testimonies:
Carmen Lorea and Aitor San Blas (Avalon):
''The best thing has been to discover and be part of a new culture so different from ours. A very interesting experience in terms of reflections and learning about oneself and the team, as well as total open-mindedness with Korean culture.''
Alpea team company:
"It has helped us in the creation and foundation of our company realizing that we are part of a big family which is MTA. We learned to have dynamics as a team and to face the challenges that we face".
Adrián Pacín (TeamLabs)
"The LJ has been a festival of sensations and emotions. I have been surprised by both the culture and the potential of the business opportunities created by the LEINNers".
Alain Madina (Travelling U)
"The pandemic has made us have to pivot. Korea has been a great opportunity thanks to the collaboration that emerged in 2016 from the hand of Travelling U, Mondragon Unibertsitatea and HBM. The personal and professional development of LEINNers is exponential. And seeing this live is a gift for the team coaches. In the end, we are all part of a team."
Travelling is a path that you take outwardly but mostly inwardly.