Training Industry Magazine - Spring 2014 - (Page 55)

LEADERSHIP 2.0 THREE WAYS to MAKE LEARNING MORE ENGAGING - KE N BL A NC H A R D AND S COT T B L A NCH ARD No matter how compelling the topic, research shows that only 20 percent of training sticks without continuous reinforcement. But, if you are going to ask people to stick with a long-term development program, you have to earn the right to keep requesting additional chunks of time. With more than 30 years of consulting, we found three techniques that keep people coming back and working their way through your program: * Connecting training to real-life skills employees need to advance in their careers * Making sure learners can easily track their progress, and * Making learning a social event. CONNECTING TRAINING TO REAL-LIFE OUTCOMES When employees see how training contributes to their future success, they become highly motivated to learn. Learning professionals need to tap into that motivation by finding out what is important to employees and what they believe they need to learn. ACT AS A PARTNER TO HELP EMPLOYEES GET WHERE THEY WANTTO GO. Most people already have a fairly good sense of the skills they need to develop. Incorporating choice and discussion into the instructional design allows employees to decide what they need to learn. Act as a partner to help employees get where they want to go. How can you highlight training to help your employees be more successful? HELPING LEARNERS SEE PROGRESS People not only love to improve, they also love to see they are making progress. Video games are highly successful because players are reinforced with rewards and recognition throughout the game. Game designers build in all sorts of interim milestones so players can feel a sense of progress toward the goal. When a task is complicated or requires a sustained effort over time - like leadership development - you have to create wins so learners recognize and appreciate the progress they are making. Otherwise, learners begin to feel as if they are expending a lot of energy and not getting anywhere. What can you do to create moments where learners recognize and appreciate the progress they've made? MAKING LEARNING A GROUP EXPERIENCE As people in the think tank business know, group environments stimulate learning and creativity. Think about ways to make learning more of a group experience. For example, we created a leadership development program for a major client with offices around the world. Part of our design included an action learning project that brought together executives from different parts of the world. Each executive was assigned to a small group and tasked with bringing T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MA GAZ INE - SPRING20 1 4 I WWW.TRAINI NGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE an innovative new business proposal to the board of directors. One, or possibly more, of the proposals would be funded and moved forward as an initiative in the following year. The executives took the project very seriously. Several winning proposals were funded, which was great for team and company success. The executives also learned a lot about themselves along the way. A valuable side benefit was that long lasting, productive relationships were established among executives from different countries. How can you adapt your training in a way that brings people together to work on a common project? Deepen the impact of your training by fostering valuable group interactions. ADDRESSING THE UNDERLYING MOTIVATORS FOR BEST RESULTS Learners embrace training programs when they can personally connect to it. They need to find meaning in the subject matter, have a sense of mastery over the material and a sense of power and satisfaction gained from group learning and winning together. When you combine all three of these techniques, you have a design that not only motivates people to learn, but also empowers them with lasting knowledge and skills. Scott Blanchard is a principal and executive vice president of The Ken Blanchard Companies. Ken Blanchard is the best-selling co-author of "The One Minute Manager" and 50 other books on leadership. Email Scott and Ken. 55 http://www.trainingindustry.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Magazine - Spring 2014

From Where I Sit
Table of Contents
Contents
Guest Editor: Do You Feel Lucky?
Network Performance: The Power of Social Learning and Behavior
Meaningful Work: Not Just for Millennials
Four Levels of Engagement
What L&D Professionals Need to Know about Gamification
Enhancing Learning with Social Media
Gamification in Sales Training: Seven Critical Considerations Before the Games Begin
Let the Disruption Begin: Social Media and the Great Expansion of Enterprise Learning
Learning Made Fun: Gadgets, Games and a Safe Place to Explore
How Silicon Valley Inspired an Era of Social Learning
How Games Drive Learning
Roll the Dice: Learning with Board Games
Casebook: BAE Systems: Speeding the Business of Learning through Collaboration and Knowledge Management
Salespeople, Coaching and Gamification
Three Ways to Make Learning More Engaging
Stop Creating Dysfunctional Relationships with Employees
What's Online
Company News

Training Industry Magazine - Spring 2014