For many years learning and development professionals have lived by the mantra that employees and leaders should be responsible for their own development. But for most clients I talk to, this has not happened.
Many say employees feel that unless they are put on a workshop they feel they are being cheated. HR should be providing the training together with the hotel, the expense account and the day off!
Attempts at engaging employees in e-learning have been equally difficult – although, in this, I am somewhat sympathetic, given that most e-learning is little more than an online workbook.
The other issue with many e-learning programmes is that they have been used to cover regulatory type learning where people have to get through a certain amount of information and where the organisation needs to prove that its employees are competent.
This has led to a tick-box type approach.
The technology allows the organisation to prove that the employee has done the programme and through a quiz at the end can prove that they understand the content. Nothing proves they will apply the learning on the job.
But this is not real learning and development.
It is not likely to change an employee’s behaviour, motivate learning or encourage people to use their own time to learn more. We need something more than a workbook on the web.
For an example of self-learning through online resources, see this inspirational TED video from Shimon Schocken called ‘The self organising computer course’.
There are other resources that employ a different philosophy. They provide just-in-time learning – allowing people to find the information or tools they need when they need them.
Organisations such as People Alchemy are examples of this type of just-in-time learning. We have a similar online resource created for HR people called theSuccess Kit Bag.
What can science tell us about how best to deliver material for learning and, better still, behavioural change?
Neuroscience, the science of how the brain works, tells us the brain learns best when:
- People bond and achieve things together because the brain then has a reward response. Therefore learning programmes work best when you create a community of learners. This is the purpose of face-to-face workshops but a couple of days are not enough to sustain the learning. Creating online learning communities is a way of continuing the relationships and the learning, as are projects and action-learning activities.
- People remember and make connections when they have mild stress, a positive mood and sleep. Delivering learning in small chunks, in a fun and relaxed manner and giving breaks for reflection overnight works best.
In this video on ‘Mild stress or Flow’ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi explains ‘flow’ is created when learners are stretched and there is a balance between the challenge of the learning and their perceived ability to apply their skills and knowledge. Getting the balance between fear and challenge is the role of a skilled facilitator.
- Learning is enhanced when the design creates attention, the generation of ideas, emotion and space between learning events. Design learning to maximise these elements. In practice, this means a design that:
- Engages the participants
- Identifies what they can personally gain from adopting the learning
- Requires them to apply the tools and knowledge or new skills and to have a felt sense of the new behaviour
- Creates new neural pathways when information is used in multiple ways. Programmes that provide several channels for learning and applying material work best.
We have been using social learning to provide clients with a platform to post materials, encourage communities of learners who can exchange ideas, add content and ask questions.
Learners love the freedom this gives and the opportunity not only to learn from each other but to improve their personal status through sharing their experiences.
Reviewing your learning programmes against the points above can help you to enhance the return on investment and provide a better chance of changing behaviour, rather than just knowledge (also see this fun video summary).