I saw my son walking out to the garage one evening. I said, “Hey, where you going?” He replied, “I’m going to change out the distributor on my car.” Just so you know, it was obvious he didn’t learn that skill from me! I’m good to change your oil, but anything involving a wrench on the car involves me calling my friend, Mark. So, I inquired, “Where did you learn how to do that?” His response was one word… “YouTube.” My final question to him was, “Can you show me how?” A new term used today is called micro-learning. It is most easily explained as the “YouTube Generation” style of learning. Short bursts of learning that are immediately accessible upon demand.

Last week we explored how to initiate change by communicating three things for your team:

1. Attention – If you don’t get their attention, they won’t be listening!
2. Comprehension – Teach them so they understand the plan
3. Motivation – Inspiration and encouragement so they feel the need to change!

If they don’t use it, they’ll lose it

Now, what’s the next step? In many cases, the next step can take longer than the first three combined. This next phase is about maintaining your course and momentum until the change is frozen in place. This all begins with maximizing the retention of everything you accomplished in the first three steps!

According to research done by John F. Kihlstrom at UC Berkeley, if people don’t use what they’ve learned, they will begin to lose that working knowledge. One method for reinforcing the new skills is by using frequent recall and testing. He also states how experiential application helps to reinforce the new knowledge or skills by helping the brain create a schema (template) that can be applied to similar situations in the future. In other words, get them to apply whatever they learned to a real-world situation.

Three ways to reinforce the learning:

Just like my son with the YouTube video for his car, Micro-Learning is a great method for reinforcement and it doesn’t have to be in video format. If you have weekly team meetings, you can take 10 minutes in a meeting to reinforce the change they have recently learned. If you’d like to know a few methods for doing that, here are some suggestions based on a research study done by Michael Prince at Bucknell University.

1.  Give them a problem to solve

Making the learning more experiential helps make it more permanent. This can be done by giving people an applied problem to solve. If you recently implemented a new procedure for the sales team to get complex quotes completed through engineering, finance, and legal, you could give them a scenario and have them come up with the first 5 steps for completing this complex quote.

2. Have them work in groups

According to Michael Prince’s research, when people worked on problems together they were able to collaborate on solutions. The opportunity to explore different ideas and build upon each others’ work created a stronger reinforcement of their learning. This can also lead to better solutions when synergy sets in. This is when the team becomes more than just the sum of its parts.

3. Assign co-operative roles within the group

If you’d also like to reinforce teamwork with the learning, you could assign unique roles to each person on the team. Using the complex quote example from above, one person on the team could play the role of the salesperson, someone else the legal contact, another person the finance representative, and one more to be the engineer. In this type of group solution, each person needs to rely upon the other to complete the entire project on time.

What have you seen used to help change “stick?”

Still looking for ways to educate better,
Russ

p.s. If you like these messages, please invite your friends to join us! They can sign up and receive these weekly posts via email.

My books on communication:

Corporate Ovations: Your Roadmap to More Effective Presentations, by Russ Peterson Jr. and Kevin Karschnik

Cut the C.R.A.P. and Make the Sale, by Russ Peterson Jr.

Claim your copy of my new FREE eBook on Sales and Leadership Inspiration.

Russ Peterson Jr. is the co-founder and Managing Director of iSpeak, Inc. – An award-winning professional development training company. Russ is a published author on Professional Sales Communication and Business Communication. He delivers workshops, keynotes, and personal communication coaching services to business professionals in the US and around the world. You can connect with Russ directly through Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.