Make no mistake.
Skills are a tool for a better life. To play in the career game, you have to offer something to the market. Skills are the currency you exchange.
Improving your skills doesn’t have to be complicated.
Yet, a lot of organisations and educational institutions make it seem like rocket science. I’m not talking about getting into the depths of learning science. I’m no learning scientist and I’m not pretending to be one on the internet.
After two decades as a L&D pro, I have a simpler, some might say common sense approach, to skill-building.
Why school lied to you about learning
Most educational systems with their delivery methods do three things:
- Bore the hell out of people to the extent they’re turned off learning anything.
- Don’t share any lessons on how to navigate real life – when’s the last time you used Pythagoras?
- Share too much theory that is outdated and thus obsolete to the modern world.
For whatever reason, many workplace learning teams decide to continue with this broken education approach.
Why organisations are using a broken model for learning and performance
In many ways, workplace learning teams already have an up-hill task once people enter the workforce.
Most experience of education has involved spending countless hours being lectured to in a 4 walled environment (also known as a classroom) and copious amounts of focus on theory.
Some people love this whilst many don’t.
The challenge is that each of us are programmed to think that they only learn when in a classroom or by a person who is given the title ‘Teacher’.
So, the concept of watching a 5 minute YouTube video to learn strategies on prioritising work is a form of heresy to these people.
But, it’s not their fault.
It’s the way they’ve been programmed by experience.
How to build a simple approach to skill-building
Two things I love to do in my personal time.
- Throwing around kettlebells (iron cannonballs with horns – google it)
- Muay Thai/Boxing
I’ve been crafting my skills in both of these disciplines for years.
Why am I telling you this?
Simple. My craft of theses skills is part of the in-built learning system we each share. I’m not doing anything revolutionary. I’m doing what we’re all capable of doing.
Surfacing the right knowledge
I can easily break down how I’ve acquired skills in both domains:
- 90% via Youtube videos
- 10% with in-person experiences
Here’s an example of what I do with all that knowledge.
Let’s say I want to improve my jab in boxing. I can speak with an experienced professional to absorb the mechanics of the movement and assess my current skill level. I can do this in-person in a gym.
But, I can do this digitally with YouTube too.
Now I’ve got the know-how, I need to apply it.
If I want the theory to turn into action, I need to use it quickly.
I do this by creating an immediate space of time post acquisition to practice this movement. This enables the opportunity to not just absorb theory but to immediately try it out for myself.
This is what’s missing in how we craft skills in the workplace – the application of doing and being able to practice this in a safe space.
I’ll be practicing my movement of the jab behind closed doors continuously, in fact, I’ve been doing just that for the last 14 years.
I didn’t just absorb the theory of the technique and walk into a live environment of the ring to fight the next day (Spoiler: You’ll never find this pretty face in a ring!).
That would be madness! Yet, it’s exactly what many workplaces ask their people to do everyday.
The importance of applying skills safely
Most workplace learning teams provide platforms full of theory or classroom sessions where someone talks at you about what you should do.
Yet, very few provide the safe spaces to actually practice these techniques. This is where skill application falls apart.
We expect people to attend a full day classroom course and be able to apply that in a live environment days, weeks or months from now.
Am I the only one that sees the madness here?
Sharing a bunch of theories and recommendations doesn’t mean you actually know what to do.
It’s a disservice to people if they aren’t allowed the spaces to practice their new found skills. In a workplace context, deploying these types of skills in a live environment in the wrong way can be disastrous for all.
You might say that we learn the most on the job by doing it day in and day out.
With this I cannot disagree. But we can do more to set people up for success in doing the right things and avoiding pitfalls.
Steal this skill-building formula
Theory + Practice + Repeat
If you want to get better at any skill or behaviour, you need to embed the formula of theory + practice + repeat.
Build experiences that allow people not only to absorb theory but to practice, and let them repeat this again and again. Creating safe spaces is so powerful for people to connect with others at different skill levels so they can practice together.
Iron sharpens Iron, as some medieval knight once said.
Some of this will happen in a live environment on the job. No doubt. Yet, you can help people do the right things sooner if they’re allowed to practice.
It’s no different to skill acquisition in many areas.
Just like my own examples. I don’t absorb theory and then walk out immediately to compete.
I learn, practice and repeat – over and over again. It’s not a sexy sounding process. I get that. But it’s one that leads to mastery over a lifetime.
As an L&D pro, I’ve seen this often. The programming we all receive from educational system carries with us into our careers.
We expect the same model when we first land into business life. Many workplaces deliver this model to us, but it doesn’t seem to quite work in the real world.
We have no exam to study for, no dissertation to write.
Instead, we have real life situations to navigate, full of emotions and the need to constantly adapt. The harsh truth is being good at retaining knowledge that you don’t understand how to apply is not useful in the real world.
Take the modern approach to skill-building for work
It was Apples worshipped CEO, Steve Jobs who famously said:
“Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do”
Steve Jobs
You don’t have to be crazy do take a different approach. But ya gotta think different. That’s for sure.
So, I invite you to think about the process of learning differently.
If you’re in workplace L&D:
- How can you build an environment for people to absorb theory and practice immediately
- What safe spaces can you create to allow practice?
Even if you’re not in the corp L&D game, this approach can work for you too. It’s probably going to be even easier as you’re in control of what you design.
In sum: Create learning moments that enable you to absorb what is useful, practice and repeat this over and over again.
Before you go… 👋
If you like my writing and think “Hey, I’d like to hear more of what this guy has to say” then you’re in luck.
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