Design people managers into your organisational learning
As learning designers, we know that learning for behaviour change doesn’t just happen in a one-off learning event. What happens before and after is just as, if not more, important than the learning event itself.
Changing behaviour takes time and practice.
The problem is that:
Learners often don't take action to retain and apply what they've learnt. They attend the learning event but then return to their desks to face the work that's piled up in their absence while the new information they received fades away.
People managers often don't have a plan or the tools to support their team members to take the extra steps for retention and application.
‘70% of what people learn is forgotten within the first 24 hours.’(Why We Forget, and What We Can Do About It. )
Organisations invest in learning and development to improve performance, which means that it’s all about transferring and embedding the learning into the work.
As learning designers, we start with the end in mind – what will the people be able to do as a result of this learning event we’re designing? How will it improve their performance? How will it make it easier for them to do their work? Our focus is on what the learner will be to do due to the learning, and how how they can bridge the gap between the learning event and their work. This is learning transfer.
Planning for learning transfer is a vital part of any learning design, so that the learning isn't lost or wasted. How do we design to bridge the gap between learning and doing?
‘Learning transfer can be defined as the sustained behavioural change that happens after learning, truning a cost into an investment. Learning Transfer is important, because it’s what helps organsiations actually get real business results from training’ (Emma Weber).
People managers are the unsung heroes of organisational learning.
49% of L&D pros are working with managers to drive learner engagement and skill-building.
40% of learners said that their managers are challenging them to learn a new skill.
53% of learners report that their bus supports their career goals.
(LinkedIn Learning Workplace Learning Report 2021)
People managers are often underutilised in learning design. And yet they are key influencers for whether a workplace learning initiative thrives or fails. People managers are in the box seat to:
Drive learner engagement and skill-building.
Create real-time connections between the learning event and the workplace.
Encourage and empower their team to use what they’ve learnt.
Turn learning into action.
Make the learning stick.
‘Learners change their behavior when their direct managers and leaders provide continual reinforcement through a series of communications and activities before, during and after the program takes place.’ (The managers role in reinforcing learning)
Bring your people managers into the learning design tent – early.
People managers can help learning designers understand:
The context and culture of the organisation and their teams' learning.
What's happening on the ground, how their people are feeling, and operational pressures.
Potential behavioural change and application challenges.
What kind of learning design will resonate for the learners.
Their learning mindset and attitude.
Get to know your people managers.
What do the people managers know about the learning event you're designing? Was it their decision, or were they at least involved in the decision? Or has the decision been decided further up the organisation? If so, what information have the people managers been given? (better not to assume they’ve been fully briefed).
Getting to know your learners' people managers helps us find out how they think about learning – do they see it as an investment or a cost? Do they think of learning as part of their teams work, or an inconvenient bolt-on that they send their people to? Are they active or passive in their teams' learning?
As learning designers, involving the people managers in the learning design process allows us to build their understanding that:
Learning is active - learners need to take an active role in absorbing content, engaging with it and applying it to their work.
They have a highly influential role in the success (or failure) of their teams' learning and ability to apply it on the job.
Promoting and facilitating the process for their team to use and retain what they’ve learnt doesn’t have to take a lot of time, but it does make a significant difference.
‘When both the team leader and their staff are committed to an ongoing focus and development, they reach the winning combination.’ (3 L&D Best Practices to Better Engage Leaders and Learners)
Don't let the learning go to waste; create a People Manager action plan.
Action plans are a key strategic tool for supporting and encouraging learners to actively work out how they will use what they’ve learnt on the job and the support they may need. Action plans help to create ownership of the learning.
Action plans are also a great tool for People Managers to plan a practical approach for embedding their learning leader role in their day-to-day work. Action plans help personalise the people managers role in their teams' learning experiences and take an active role in connecting the learning to day-to-day work.
When managers help employees own improvement, there is a greater chance for it to stick long term. (3 L&D Best Practices to Better Engage Leaders and Learners).
Work with the people managers to co-create a practical action plan for how they will support and embed their teams learning into their daily work.
Keep it simple
People managers are busy people. They usually work in dynamic environments full of priorities, targets and accountabilities. Even with the best intentions, people managers can be overtaken by the reality of their daily work pressures and not provide the learning support their teams need to make the learning stick.
Make sure their action plan is practical, realistic, and easy to implement. Focus on creating a plan that people managers can build into their day-to-day leadership responsibilities so they don’t feel that L&D has loaded them up with a whole lot of extra tasks.
Leading up to the event - prepare staff for learning
Bringing your people managers into the learning design tent early gives them skin in the game. Being involved in the learning design process will put the people managers in a much better position to build a sense of urgency and excitement, show why the new skills and knowledge are important, how the learning will improve performance and what they will do to help their people shine.
After the event – support staff to use what they've learnt.
Once the learning has been delivered, and the team member is back at work, action is needed.
Even if things seem fine, regular check-ins by the people manager are a must.
Check-ins:
Provide ongoing affirmation and support, opportunities to demonstrate the new skills being applied, and timely and targeted feedback.
Support retrieval practice, an important part of embedding learning.
Demonstrate the people manager is watching and supporting their efforts.
Promote accountability.
Help maintain the energy and commitment needed for behaviour change
Should start as soon as the learning event is over, ensure 'first contact' happens the following day (remember, up to 70% of learning is lost in the first 24 hours).
There are many things people managers can do to help embed their teams learning, and some examples are included below. Rather than creating a long list of possibilities - encourage them to keep it simple by identifying three actions they will take to get started; including how, when, and under what circumstances. Remember, the aim is to keep it practical and simple, not create cognitive overload by offering a smorgasbord of possibilities that end up causing paralysis and inaction.
Be curious and show a genuine interest in the teams' learning experiences.
Add the learning event to the team members development plan, promote prioritisation and accountability for the people manager and the learner by identifying specific expectations, actions, goals and timing.
Include ‘team learning’ as a standing agenda item at team meetings.
Encourage knowledge sharing - plan for sharing back, arrange for the team member to pass that knowledge on, share what they've learned, e.g. at the next team meeting, or train other team members (teaching is a great way to learn).
Organise a buddy, coach, peer mentor (a potential development opportunity for someone in the team).
Be a coaching manager.
Awareness, people manager involvement and learner ownership are key ingredients for successful organisational learning. Focusing on specific efforts that involve the right players stops retention loss and can significantly increase the learning effectiveness long after the learning event.
For help with your course designs, reach out to me - jane@jbasslearning.com.au - I’m always happy to talk all things learning and development :)
References
Emma Weber, Lever-Transfer of Learning, https://transferorlearning.com
LinkedIn Learning Workplace Learning Report 2021, https://learning.linkedin.com/resources/workplace-learning-report
The Forgetting Curve, Why We Forget, and What We Can Do About It, https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/forgetting-curve.htm
The Managers Role in Reinforcing Learning, https://trainingindustry.com/magazine/mar-apr-2018/the-managers-role-in-reinforcing-learning-cptm/
3 L&D Best Practices to Better Engage Leaders and Learners, https://www.cornerstoneondemand.com/resources/blogs/3-ld-best-practices-better-engage-leaders-and-learners/