Learning Insights

The thing about our brains is that they’re really good at forgetting. In fact, they are extraordinarily good: Research suggests that most of us forget up to 70% of what we learn after 24 hours.

Pretty shocking right?

It’s even more shocking when you consider that learning on the job has never been more important. A recent report from LinkedIn revealed that 50% of today’s most in-demand skills weren’t even on the list 3 years ago and a Gartner report revealed that 36% of managers think that employees will not keep pace with future skill needs.

What drives sticky learning experiences? In a word, repetition.

This isn’t to say that we need to get our learners to attend the same courses again and again or read the same books. At BLT we’re experts at supporting our learners to embed what they are learning in their long-term memory. This is the key to delivering a measurable impact on your company’s bottom line.  

Our three top tips:

• Layer your learning: It’s not enough to just offer one learning experience. At BLT, we see our face-to-face workshops as one layer in the learning experience. Every BLT program is carefully designed to have multiple horizontal and vertical layers including regular monthly discussions with managers, peer coaching, self-directed study, coaching, virtual kick-offs and virtual wrap ups.

• Teach what you learn: The gold standard for learning is to learn a new skill well enough to be able to teach it to others. Research reveals that it leads to up to 90% retention. At BLT we’ve designed Train the Trainer programs as well as integrating opportunities for participants to share what they are learning as part of the learning journey.

• Self-reflection: At every stage of the learning journey we give our participants the opportunity to reflect on what they are learning and consider what actions they are planning to take as a result.

As humans we “copy and paste” our way through life. We observe the behaviour of people around us; our peers, our team members, our managers and we imitate the behaviour that inspires us.

Nowhere is this more relevant than with soft skills like communication, influence, leadership style and empathy.

You can try learning these skills via the written word, but the real catalyst for acquiring soft skills lies in tapping into our instinct to observe, imitate and model the behaviour of the people around us.

That is why social learning plays such a pivotal role in what we do at BLT. We know that our expert training design and our highly-skilled trainers provide the foundation for learning. But we also know that creating an environment in which our participants can give their opinion, talk through their ideas, listen to one another and share insights is the secret ingredient that will drive the acquisition and retention of new skills.

Three top tips:

• Spark conversations: In L&D it’s so easy to get wrapped up in targets, models and budgets. Remember that learning is about sparking conversations so that people can observe, imitate and model one another

• Get the atmosphere right: Much as we’d love it to be, social learning isn’t a switch that can be turned on and off at will. Learners can be reluctant to give their opinion or share their ideas. But every good trainer knows that getting the atmosphere right is the key that opens the floodgates to social learning.

• Make it fun: There’s a quote from the American writer, Maya Angelou, which is a bit of a company mantra for us at BLT: “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.” How your participants feel will influence how effectively they learn. We believe passionately in making the learning fun.