Why are we still ignoring individual learning needs and expectations?
In this article, I am going to expose a fundamental flaw with organised, structured, group-based learning and development activity from a rather unusual angle. Stay with me on this.
Consider the following scenario: You have been looking forward to a rare opportunity to eat out, in a brand new establishment, and have a clear idea of what you want. This is a chance to savour your favourite food in the company of people doing the same.
This has been on your mind a lot recently, and you want it to be a memorable, enjoyable experience, something of an indulgence – a treat that happens too infrequently.
When you arrive, everything looks as it should, except that there is no one else in the place, which seems strange. A welcoming waiter checks your reservation and shows you a perfectly acceptable table, and you do indeed seem to be the only diner.
Feeling all will become normal – the buzz of arrivals imminent – you reach for the menu, knowing your eagerly anticipated meal awaits…and you are astonished to see that there is just one item listed, which is not what you are there for at all.
You call the waiter over and ask: ‘Is this all you are offering?’. The answer is illogical, ‘Oh yes it is, we totally disregard what people want when they come here, everyone gets the same, irrespective of their expectations’.
You leave immediately, the restaurant is now empty, and likely to remain so until it closes down very soon. What a ridiculous way to treat customers with very different needs. Who would ever put up with being told they will get the same as everyone else, and that no effort is being made to accept or accommodate differing needs and expectations?
If you are still with me, I am sure you see where I am going with this.
An elephant in the learning room
Let’s be really honest about a seriously large and ever-present elephant in the learning room. Is this story so very different from how training courses are run?
Apart from the walking out, that is. People are conditioned to put up with being sat in rows, or around tables, and being given the ‘set menu’ of content. Usually this is paired with little or no consideration of the unique and contextual individual learning needs.
This is, and always has been the thoroughly unacceptable norm. ‘Training’ that has very little developmental value dictates the learning agenda. Delivering shiny experiences in expensive venues in popular locations with good food is often the trade off for disregarding the needs of each learner, and what would make a real, sustainable difference within workplaces.
How can this be? There is an apparent understanding that the greatest learning value results from a focus on the needs, issues, and context of each individual. Yet we are still defaulting to a lazy, administratively convenient ‘sheep dip’ approach of tick box, job done.
Meeting individual learning needs: Two formulas
Let’s get into the maths on this. If a non-needs based group event is divided by the number of attendees, then as an average, the potential learning value in terms of meeting individual learning needs can be calculated.
Learning event
----------------- = potential learning value per person of 5%
Twenty people
While this is no hard and fast rule, it is possible that no one's needs are met, so this could be a generous formula. I feel comfortable asserting that any experience or event with more than one learner splits the potential value each person gains from the experience – because the focus on unique individual learning needs is lessened.
There is a better, higher value way to help people learn, which many view as too expensive. Yet it offers a high return on investment when you consider the enhanced performance resulting from the application of learning focused on real needs.
One to one coaching, done well, creates a very different equation:
Coaching contact
--------------------- = potential learning value per person of 100%
One person
In this scenario, a 100% focus on the needs and issues of one person provides a high return on investment value.
Of course, there are other valuable learning experiences beyond coaching. A skilfully facilitated small group of engaged and mutually supportive people can enhance learning value beyond the one-to-ones. This is not an exact science; there are many variables.
Final takeaway: Show respect for your learners
Whether we run a restaurant or are delivering a learning event, surely the needs and expectations of our clients should be our foremost considerations? This means not inflicting a one-size-fits-all, one-item-on-the-menu approach. Instead, we should show true respect to each individual with whom we work.
