Is your team hungry to learn? Feed them!

At a recent L&D Leadership conference I had the chance to talk and listen to a lot of people leading and implementing the L&D strategies for their organisations. There were some familiar themes among the (very interesting) chatter. The challenges facing them were universal – and seemed to apply whether the learning was delivered in-house, externally, online, in-person, or via a hybrid experience.

The lack of engagement from their team members was the biggest hurdle.

People didn’t want to turn up to face to face sessions, or turned up and sat passively (or worse, disruptively). When the learning was online it was often not completed at all or was skimmed through quickly with little to no interest or discernible learning achieved. I didn’t need to tell these professionals what the potential solutions were – many of them are leaders in their field! But for those starting out in the area of learning and development – or who have fallen into the role accidentally, it can be useful to think about some ways to best ensure engagement from everyone in the team.

At the risk of starting off on a negative note, I know (from experience) that some people will never want to learn – or at least not want to learn what you want (or need) them to learn! As a curious person, I find this extraordinary but while you may find it frustrating, it’s not really surprising, and it’s often completely understandable. What is considered a wonderful learning opportunity for some, is a mental and physical drain to others. There are a myriad of things at play in our learners’ lives – individual barriers to learning itself, the struggle of inside and outside noise in their lives, the simple fact that they may not even be interested in what they do at work, so why burden themselves with more time-consuming tasks?

I was an intercultural communication trainer across a range of industries and sectors for a number of years. I loved it – the topic was super interesting and important in our increasingly multi-cultural country; the learnings were life-changing for many and 95% of those in front of me were highly engaged. But I learnt to not be discouraged by the 5% that didn’t actively engage in the workshops. It took my ego a while to accept it but I learnt that it generally fell into the following areas: interest (or lack of), relevance (or perceived lack of), and simply overload (cognitive or physical).

Interest

What do your team want to learn, and why? Is it a topic that they have to learn? Fair enough, we all know that importance of health & safety, policies & procedures etc. There’s no getting away from some compulsory training (although there are always ways to make even them entertaining with compelling case studies and activities!) If it is a topic that you think they all want to learn what is this based on? Managers and leaders perceived-value to the organisation? Or is it drawn from feedback from those in the team? Team-led topics (within reason) will always have a better response and higher engagement. Don’t know what they want to learn? Ask them.

Think carefully about how to offer the upskilling. Is it best done face-to-face - 1:1, or in groups? Is online the best fit for this topic? Or maybe a mix. I personally love online learning (check out where I work and what I do!) but I’m also a huge advocate of in-person training for some subjects. My personal preference for almost all upskilling I’ve done is to learn online at my own pace and place – then meet with others that have done the same (often over kai and coffee) to discuss the learnings and critically evaluate how we can apply it to the workplace.

Relevance

What’s in it for your team? Do they get real value for the learning? How can they apply it in their role at work? Does it have benefits for them personally? All questions to be asked before rolling out any new training. Listing off bullet points (particularly dry ones) of how it will benefit them and the organisation may not be enough – find creative ways to demonstrate real value.

Relevance is also about context – is it a course created and delivered from offshore? The content and delivery method may be excellent but are you missing the cultural context that comes from homemade courses and programmes that include a truly Aotearoa Te Ao Māori perspective? Don’t underestimate that value to your organisation or your people.

Overload

This one is huge. It seems we are all battling through tough times and we have to recognise that loading more pressure (mental and/or physical) onto our people is a risk. Upskilling can relieve or add to pressure in a job. Will it make someone’s role easier if they can learn a range of new, relevant skills? If so, then it’s a great gift. If, however, the training is the last straw for an emotionally and physically stressed workforce then finding ways to ease that pressure is essential. Balance is best – identity and focus the training on the skills and knowledge that will make their day-to-day work more productive and meaningful, while establishing a bank of less-essential learning opportunities they can dive into when the pressure eases.

With all of this in mind, can your organisation effectively deliver all the learning needs of your team? If so, excellent! If you can provide the platform and courses, but not necessarily the learner support and community of learning then be brave enough to look outside and invest in your people from external sources. New Zealand has a range of excellent education providers that can offer a wide variety of topics and training delivery methods to feed your team. Go investigate!

Looking for advice? Lisa would love to buy you a coffee and chat about what might be right for your team!