Action learning: prioritize applicability for completion rate wins

Is action learning for everyone? Well, here’s a Monday morning question for you:

Would knowing the science behind psychological heuristics bump up improvement in your coworker interactions?

How about a study group on andragogy – Malcolm Knowles’ model of adult learning? Or a deep dive into John Flavell’s Metacognition (thinking about thinking) theory?

Would such in-depth material fast-track your ability to defuse a stormy team meet? Or handle a distracted coworker? Or connect with a fastidious compliance officer? Or communicate with an intimidating manager?

Short answer? No.

Within the context of today’s burn-out culture, no professional has that kind of time.

Applicability: a catalyst for course completion

And even if they did, it’s unlikely subject mastery would ever deliver that espresso jolt of learner engagement that spikes training completion rates.

Our own methodology is based on getting learners to the applicable stuff… super-fast. The L&D world tends to refer to this as action learning.

We call these teachable short-cuts H.A.C.K.s (aka Habits Anyone Can Keep), and we deploy them in our boot camps, virtual workshops and Smart Courses, to help professionals meet learning goals in a fraction of the time it takes with traditional L&D.

No surprise then that we took the same approach in our latest Smart Course ‘Dealing With People’.

Drip-fed in bites of easy-to-consume video goodness, its five modules are packed with H.A.C.K.s that give users the tools to navigate the world of other working people with empathy and efficiency.

But not just any H.A.C.K.s. Every learner gets the ones pertinent to their behavioral type, based on their pre-course DiSC assessment to determine their unique personality traits.

Easing corporate learners’ cognitive load

Back when our team-mate Deano was studying to be a psychologist, 70 per cent of the books he read were references, dates and names. And since then… let’s just say he’d never want to visit that kind of cognitive overkill on anyone else.

That’s why the instructional design of ‘Dealing With People’ keeps strictly to  action learning via micro-content, consumable on the fly, and delivered by the award-winning Motimate! app.

Because the point is not to overwhelm with theory, but accelerate to application.

It doesn’t hurt that the materials come in a slickly-produced, highly-gamified format, either. We unashamedly preach the gospel of edutainment for professionals.

Ultimately, in the age of the agile workplace, the clock is always ticking, and our aim is always to make training stick, unencumbered and theory-free.

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