Learning Isn't What You Think It Is

And It's More Important Than You Know

If you're in any kind of learning, training, or development space, you will want to understand this completely.

Look, I'm no scholar. I've conducted zero research on this other than what I've picked up along the way. I haven't even cross-referenced before publishing it (so feel free to critique). But as I work with client partners over and over again, and reflecting on my 20 years in a variety of learning spaces, I'm convinced of something that might shock you:

Learning does not exist like you probably think it does.

Think about it.

When people say;

• "I want them to learn this"
• "Learning's so hard"
• "I don't want to learn that"
• "We value learning here"
• "I learned from the school of hard knocks"

I've found they are thinking of learning as a thing. It's not. Learning is not a static thing.

It's more like learning is a phenomenon. It's literally what happens when some other thing occurs. And that other thing is state-change.

In other words, learning is the phenomenon of state change.

Let that sink in for a second.

In my former career, when I taught senior high school students, many hated me at first because I challenged them to work so hard. I set the bar high. I was relentless with reading and open-book quizzes, and my projects and exams were challenging. The students who hated and resisted the workload were actually hating and resisting state change.

They liked what they knew.

They liked how they viewed the world.

They liked their habits.

They didn't want to change. Why? Because not changing is easy. There's no effort required.

But year after year, those same hating and resisting students, when the high-stakes final exam came, and they rocked it, those students were the most shocked and excited.

They realized they had changed.

They realized that their previous versions of themselves could not have done so well on that exam.

But this new version of them -- from all the hard work they did to change their state -- nailed it! In fact, the best part was so many students were most surprised by how easy the exam was.

These students realized they could learn.

They realized could change themselves!

They realized that cramming the night before wasn't true learning because they hardly retained any of it. And that's because their state didn't change. Their minds, brains, behaviors, or whatever you want to focus on didn't change.

The process of state change -- i.e. learning -- has a physical basis. Neuropsychologists have helped us understand that when you learn something new (like really learn it), a state change occurs in your brain. Attention and concentrating literally create new neural pathways, and those new neural pathways allow you to value, appreciate, understand, or do things that you didn't before.

So What of It?

I challenge you to think how this idea of "learning-is-what-occurs-in-order-to-make-state-change-happen" applies to your business.

This is what I help client/partners with every day:

Your team (etc) is here in state A.

You want them there, in state B.

What do we need to provide them with in order to change their state?

When you view learning as state change -- and not as an activity that needs to be done for the sake of doing it (and blindly hoping it works) -- everything about your approach to learning, training, and development becomes more focused.

Orientation and onboarding isn't just beginner training. It now becomes a matter of identifying what the state of self-sufficiency in that role is, and determining how you will get them there.

Safety and compliance training isn't that stuff they have to do because they're legally required to. It becomes a matter of identifying what a safety and compliance state of being is, and then figuring out how you will get them there.

Soft-skill training stops being an esoteric hope. Now you develop a concrete, identifiable state of being (e.g. respectful, persuasive, attentive, etc), and then you map out how you will get them there.

There are myriad kinds of state changes (see below for a comprehensive list). And if you successfully learn anyone of them (as they apply to anything), you will literally have changed yourself from a previous state A, to new state B.

In state A, you didn’t appreciate, value, understand, or could perform something. In state B you do or can.

So What's the Point?

The reason I opened with people in the learning, training, and development spaces need to understand this is simple: When viewing learning as the phenomenon of state change, it means your job as a learning facilitator is of the utmost importance.

The only constant in the universe is change. Businesses and organizations exist and must provide value in ever-changing landscapes. That means they are literally in the business of never-ending state change. Never-ending learning.

You, as learning professionals, are the architects, creators, and supporters of this organizational state change.

There is nothing more important!

How could there be?

This is the lens you need to view learning from.

When advocating for your learning goals, I encourage you to think of them this way as you engage your leaders:

We are in current state A.

We want to get to current state B.

Doing X will get us there, it will realize all of benefits, and this is why we need to invest heavily into it.

Learning professionals have the potential to be the true leaders of any business or organization. At minimum, great leaders should view their learning professionals as the most important agents of state change.

Don't sell yourself, your role, and your importance short to your leaders.

First think of learning in terms of state change.

Then figure out what you need to do to make that stage change possible.

Then give that experience to your team... whether its digital, in-person, on-site, whatever.

When you do, everyone will have changed... because they learned.

Everyone will share the benefits.

And they'll have you to thank.