Learning and Development – Fail Until You Succeed

I know this isn’t new

I know this isn’t a new concept, but you really do need to fail so that you can truly succeed. I have put learning programs in place that didn’t work and I will do it again in the future. I don’t say that in a negative way, I mean it in a great way. I know what caused those programs to fail now and all of the future programs will be better for it.

Know your limits or change your limits

To really succeed, you need to know what the limits are and where you can bump up against it and where you need to change them. In car racing it is said that if you haven’t taken the car off the track you don’t know what the limits are of the car. It’s the same with learning. You need to know what the limit of the audience is so that you can provide them the best experience possible. If you exceed the limits of your audience, you will confuse and disorient them. I don’t throw a group of baby boomers into a lengthy eLearning program without acclimation. You don’t start your race car 2 seconds before the race.  You start it early, let it warm up, take a few laps around the track to get the tires to temp, etc. You can change the limits of your audience but they must be acclimated to this new way of learning.

Take the car off the track

All audiences are different just like every race track is different. A 45 degree turn at one track is not the same 45 degree turn at another. The camber might be different, the track surface might be slicker, etc. There are a number of differences with groups of learners and you need to understand what their limit is. Self-paced eLearning is great for some groups, video is great for others, and some just need some good ol’ instructor led training. You must understand what they NEED, not what they are asking for. But don’t be afraid to take the car off the track. Try new things, new delivery techniques, new content creation software, anything. Fail…and learn from that failure. Fail until you succeed.

Reality

Now, let’s talk about reality. You obviously can’t just go around failing at all of your projects and continue to keep your job. Even learning programs that don’t go 100% as expected should still provide knowledge and value. If someone asks for legal information, don’t provide them training on how to trap a honey badger. Find out what they NEED from that legal information. Find out what the desired end state needs to look like and then decide on how to create it and deliver it.

 This quote is always relevant.

"Bad training is a monologue delivered in the presence of hostages." - Sardek Love