It’s an old question. A VERY old question. Older than human beings, even. Before we were teaching each other to read and write, we were teaching each other to fish and plant crops. And before that, we were teaching each other to use sticks to dig for ants in the ground. As long as sentient beings have had the capacity to know things, we’ve wanted to share that knowledge with our tribe. And we continue to ask that question, constantly, every day.
If we have someone that is missing a skill or a piece of knowledge, how do we go about giving them that skill or knowledge?
There is tons of literature on the subject. You can read any number of books, watch any number of Youtube videos, or you can head over to my site and hear me get on several soapboxes. You can study the neuroscience of learning – it’s a fascinating subject, and you can learn where in the brain the learning takes place. You can get to the “who” by looking at the pioneers of learning, and seeing how they’ve added to the field. You can look into our social history, and how our communities have evolved to see the “when,” the “where,” and the “why” of learning.
But as to the “how-” how does learning take place? – ask 10,000 people, you’ll get 10,000 different answers.
Make your learners laugh – they’ll remember the material more.
Use really engaging visuals, like swooping title sequences and frequent cuts to new angles in your videos.
Found out what your learners’ learning styles are! (This has been proven to do nothing for the learner, at best. More on this another time.)
In just about every framework you come across, however, you’re likely to find two universal pieces to the puzzle:
- Figure out what you want your learners to do.
- Give them a safe space to practice.
“But Abbey,” you may be thinking, “that seems awfully simple, doesn’t it?” It absolutely does! There’s a ton to unpack in those two sentences, but at its core, if you want learners to learn something, first, figure out what that is, and second, give them the room to do it until they get it right!
Let’s look closer at each of these:
Figure Out What You Want Your Learners to Do
Notice it doesn’t say, “Figure out what you want your learners to know.” It says “What you want them to DO.” We’re talking action verbs. They need to count a cash drawer correctly. They need to administer an IV. They need to give a speech. Juggle. Perform long division. Change a tire. These are all ACTIVE objectives for a learner.
“But Abbey,” you may find yourself saying, “What if I just need them to know something?” Then my question is this:
Why? Why do they only need to know a thing? If your goal for your learner is, “I need them to know who the first President of the United States was,” my question is “Why do they need to know that?” Most likely you want them to be able to talk about US History at the time the country was founded. You want them to recognize patterns from that part of history to modern day. It’s not enough that we want them to pick up information – we ultimately should want them to DO something with that information, shouldn’t we? Even if that goal is, “I want them to become well-rounded in this so they’re interesting at parties in college,” what we want them to DO is our compass point.
We want to be specific, too. “I want the nursing staff to be more empathetic with patients.” Goals like this are too vague and can be interpreted too many ways. If I have a staff meeting where I say, “All right everyone, let’s be more empathetic out there,” I’m bound to have some hiccups later in the week, because what one person thought was empathetic, another thought was downright mean. I could say something like, “I want my nurses to get to know the patients.” NOW we’re getting somewhere. This is something my folks can really take off to the races. But we can get even MORE specific. “I want nurses to ask questions that help them get to know patients while they’re visiting their rooms.” Not only is this way easier to understand what’s required, but my workers are much more likely to interpret this the same way from one person to the next. If you’re reading this and thinking, “Abbey, I can make this even more specific,” you’re catching on! (There can be a such a thing as TOO specific, but that’s out of the range of this article – whole books have been written on the subject.)
Let’s take a look at the second point:
Give Your Learners a Safe Space to Practice
Once you decide what you want your learners to DO, they need to DO it. And do it again. And again. They need to go through the motions to get used to the new skill.
So we need some things for this. One, we need the tools to perform that skill. If we want them to learn how to change a tire, we need a tire! If we want them to be able to count a cash drawer, they need a cash drawer. And if you want your learners to speak better with patients or customers, you need to provide them with people to talk to in order to practice those skills.
Programs like eLearning are great for introducing skills, and even having pictures and videos that demonstrate good and bad examples of that skill. But the bottom line is, if you want someone to perform a skill well, they need to practice it.
Let’s talk a bit about the word “safe.” We could sit and unpack the word “safe” all day, but what I mean by safe is just, “People are confident that it’s okay to make mistakes.” That’s it. If someone is learning how to use a piece of software, they need an environment where it’s okay if they click on the wrong thing. If you want someone to learn how to talk to customers, role playing can help them hone those skills without damaging a real relationship with a customer. You want your learners making newbie-type mistakes in front of you, where you can correct and explain and give feedback. You don’t want learners making first-time mistakes out in the real world, where mistakes could have real-world consequences.
Helping a learner feel safe making mistakes can take a lot of work, depending on the skill. It takes patience and reassurance. But if a learner feels safe making mistakes, then they’ll learn much faster than if they’re just being told how to do something.
Make a clear goal of what you want them to do, and have learners practice doing it. That’s the clearest path to upskilling your workforce.