My spoilt past and why I must speak up now

Emma Weber

Before you get overexcited, this article won’t read like a Woman’s Weekly confessional! However, I feel it is time to share my story.

It’s been 17 years since I moved to Australia and started on the journey of learning transfer. In the beginning, I was learning while others learnt around me. Nine years ago, I had the good fortune to start partnering with LIW – Leading Initiatives Worldwide. We always joke that we met at a friend’s wedding… which isn’t really that far off!

I was at a wedding reception, celebrating the newlyweds, chatting away to fellow guests after a few glasses of wine and of course the conversation turned to learning transfer…. isn’t that what everyone talks about at weddings? A random guest who I had never met before (and who I have never been able to thank) started telling me about a leadership program she had recently attended. She described what a great learning experience it was and the profound impact it had had on her life. “You must connect with the facilitator,” she said, and she gave me his number. One conversation led to another and the rest, as they say, is history.

Why do I share this now? Well, working with really great quality learning partners, I realised I have been spoilt.

As I work across learning more broadly, here’s what I discovered:

1. Not all learning initiatives are created equally.

2. Not all learning initiatives are created or designed to deliver business impact.

3. Not all learning initiatives ensure participants commit to what they will do differently in the workplace as a result of the learning.

Without participants deciding what they will use on their return to the workplace, the learning experience isn’t maximised. Even when using a fully blended model with different modalities, if we aren’t linking the learning to behaviours we are missing a trick. I thought that everyone in learning did this automatically as standard practice. What I have discovered in conversation with multiple learning professionals is that this isn’t always the case.

With the holidays almost upon us, let’s finish the year strong as learning professionals. If you are thinking about learning, thinking about behaviours is a must. And understanding that it’s thoughts, feelings, values, beliefs, fears and needs that underpin behaviours will help drive behavioural change, and with the right support will lead to effective learning transfer.

Thanks to Pia Lee and the LIW team for being such great partners. You spoil me with your commitment to learning excellence and impact! Keep up the great work and keep inspiring others in learning too.

 

Feature Image: Photo by Maria Krisanova on Unsplash