Learning in a VUCA environment: don’t confuse passion with outcomes

15:00:00 Learning Boffins 0 Comments


One of the best acronyms I’ve come across in recent years is VUCA, which stands for Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous.  These four words describe very well the environment in which we currently live and work and learn.

The last few weeks has served up a particularly unsettling series of events, which emphasise just how VUCA our world is.  Whether it’s the result of a referendum or a football match, political leadership contests or resignations, attempted coups or the appointment of new leaders, terrorist attack or rail accident, our world is daily shaken by unexpected events.  Even in our personal life and work, we face complicated situations which demand that we solve problems with half the data missing.
Of all the media output that has recently washed over me, a brief excerpt stood out.  I can’t remember verbatim, but from a radio interview I heard something like this:

“it’s fashionable for politicians to say how passionate they are about an issue.  But I don’t want my politicians to be passionate - I want them to do something”.
And here’s the thing.  In all the complexity of life and work, we love to hear people that are passionate: it cuts through the confusion and we rightly recognise it as A Good Thing.  Being passionate may well contribute energy to achieving an outcome.

But being passionate is not the same as getting things done.
The parallel with learning is this.  When evaluating learning I hear much about how learners enjoy learning, how learning is important for their development, and anger when access to learning is restricted.  I also see excitement in the eyes of L&D professionals as they plan new content (particularly when it’s of the digital kind).

However for all these expressions of passion (or as close as learning brings anyone to that emotion), we rarely seem to know what difference learning makes.  Nor, when planning learning, is there a clear view of what difference we expect it to make.
Getting excited about learning is not the same as achieving a learning outcome.

If learning is to achieve anything in this VUCA environment, we absolutely must focus on the outcomes we want learning to achieve.  Being passionate about learning isn’t enough.  Enjoyable learning just helps learners along the journey.  Recognising that learning supports development gives energy but not direction.  Brilliant learning content sows the seed of behavioural change, but real change only occurs if it’s applied in the workplace.  The storms of our VUCA workplaces will too easily blow all this off course.

To stand a chance of learning ever making a difference, we need to focus on the outcomes of learning:

·        Before you do anything, start by describing the tangible outcomes you want by the end.

·        Throughout the learning process, keep on articulating the hoped-for outcomes.  Increasingly my experience indicates a precise learning path is much less important than articulating the endpoint.  If learners can describe a worthwhile endpoint, they will get there regardless of what L&D do (or don’t) do.

·        At the completion of the learning and embedding, ask to what extent you can see the hoped-for outcomes?  I guarantee the answers will give you great insights into the learning process.
Always encourage passion, but never let it be a substitute for actual outcomes.

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How ‘DogFest’ reminded me of learning styles

12:00:00 Learning Boffins 0 Comments


Over the weekend I attended a ‘DogFest’. It is what it says, a festival for dogs. There were stands with different nutrition, bedding, toys, photography and massage and much much more. But the best thing….dogs. 1000s of dogs all over the place, extremely excited to socialise with so many! As a big dog fan I absolutely loved it, seeing tiny Chihuahuas to beautiful Bernese Mountain Dogs was great to see, but especially seeing the puppies of all kinds of breeds ...they got my vote!

What I loved to see was the agility classes. It is incredible to see the relationship between dog and owner and how they work together to go through the course of jumps, ropes, bridges and tunnels. But the interesting thing for me was the different styles and techniques each owner would use to suit their dog, which they had obviously built over time. Plus how they got the dog interested in the first place, either using toys or treats, they knew what worked for their particular pooch. For example, I saw different starting tactics, different command distances away from the dog (some doing a lot of running and keeping close and others not) or a squeaky toy or bone for encouragement. It highlighted that even though they were all there to do the same course at the same event they had all be taught slightly different, taught in way that suited the dog as a learner to get the best result.  

When you think of workplace learning  each learner has a different style and it is sometimes overlooked. On many occasions one course is rolled out to all employees, meaning they are faced with learning in the same way.  In reality each of us learns differently and what works for one doesn’t always work for the other. After seeing all the doggies learning styles, I thought it was a great time to re-visit the typical learning styles of us humans. One of the most widely used models of learning styles is ‘The Index of Learning Styles’ developed by Dr Richard Felder and Barbara Soloman in the late 1980s, and based on a learning styles model developed by Dr Felder and Linda Silverman:


Although some people have a preferred and dominant learning style, many of us actually use a mix of all of these styles. And most commonly people find themselves using different styles to suit different situations, plus people can actually develop ability in less dominant styles so you certainly don’t find yourself in one style, so it certainly isn't the case of always sitting in the same bucket. But when asking most people they have an inclination of what their preferred learning style.  
So with the learning that we deliver to employees can we say that the learning can accommodate or support different learning styles?

As learning professionals  these seem obvious to have covered this right? But when it comes to curriculum design this is something that can be overlooked. In some organisation a 'one-size-fits-all' approach is taken when it comes to learning (granted in terms compliance this may HAVE to be the case, but surely not with other training?). Not recognising different learning needs and styles can be extremely demotivating for some people. Training content should stem from a desire to improve knowledge in any given area and should increase employee's values to the company and increase engagement, so we should think about varying the learning to suit learners needs.

Understanding learning styles are a great tool for us to understand how we can create and support environments in which everyone can learn from. The challenge is to deliver or curate a variety content that helps them learn effectively and to a good standard for the organisation.

Can you be confident that your curriculum supports a number of different learning styles or that your trainers are able to adapt to support different learning styles?
We have experience in curriculum transformation and how to build a curriculum that is aligned and impactful for your organisation. Speak to us or tweet us @LearningBoffins to find out more.

    






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