In this second episode of the series, Stella Collins takes the world of L&D into superhero territory to try and solve the most common problems facing industry professionals.
Michael and the Forgetting Fog
Our hero Michael works in a higly technical role for a large government department and has discovered Forgetting Fog is threatening his colleagues’ memories. They are young, enthusiastic and healthy but a scarily high percentage of technical information they need to know is being forgotten - regularly, frequently and consistently!
Michael knows he must fight back but first of all he wants to check the extent of the damage. He goes on the offensive to measure what’s happening and the statistics frighten him. 40% of of their technical training is forgotten as soon as it’s been given, 50% is forgotten in a week. Seven out of 10 people have forgotten half of their training after 90 days and one in five has forgotten 90% of their training after 90 days.
Michael knows the technical information is vital for his specialist colleagues, but at the moment there is something wrong with their training. He searches high and low for an antidote to the Forgetting Fog until eventually, he comes across what seems to be the best candidate - Brain-Friendly Learning, and he taps into a source...
Listen in to this eye witness account from Michael’s boss:
“On the back of the work Michael's been doing with you, a couple of months ago he ran a one-day event for some of our technical specialists to introduce them to some of the techniques he's learnt from you about making difficult things understandable. The event got really positive feedback, with many of the attendees saying that it was the most useful event they had ever been on (and these are really hard-nosed legislative experts with huge brains who hate anything they suspect is 'pink and fluffy'),
Roll forward to last week, when there was a two-day training event on a significant new piece of legislation, some of the hardest stuff imaginable. Michael is a student on the course and the trainer is one of the folk who’s been exposed to his FOG antidote – Brain-Friendly Learning.
Instead of the normal launch straight in to deep references to all the legislation, section this and para that, there’s a big obstacle course. There are kids' toys, including an inflatable dinosaur, representing the various 'hurdles' of the legislation that need to be negotiated or passed through before the next sub element can be considered. The trainer walked an example over the obstacle course - and at the end got a spontaneous round of applause! I can't tell you how very unusual this is; Michael was delighted that not only had he understood the principles of the legislation, but that the trainer had really taken on board the methods and used them to great effect.”
Now, Michael, being a true superhero, goes back to his measurements and finds with the antidote in place 90% of technical content is retained after 30 days, 100% of attendees would recommend the course to other technical specialists and 100% of attendees think this course will help them in their role as a technical specialist.
Michael has beaten the Forgetting Fog but always makes sure he has access to fresh sources of antidote!
Find out where to get your antidote at www.howtobeabrainfriendlytrainer.com on 5,6,7th Nov
