TLB #37🧠 Is your learning journey missing this crucial step?
A bi-weekly inside scoop on all the hottest events, juicy discussions, and oh-so-many other exciting things happening in our dynamic L&D community. 🧡
Hello Shaker,
Here’s all that you’ll experience in today’s issue:
💡Learning Bites: The Seven-Step Learning Journey
🗓️ Community Calendar: Be a part of the Make it Stick: The Science of Successful book club event and many more cool events.
🔖 Resource Reel: A collection of resources on Facilitative Leadership, Virtual Gathering, Building Better Managers and many more.
🎤 Shaker's Stage: This week’s stage is taken by Samantha Mueller.
Learning Bites 💡
Do you design learning journeys? What makes the journey transformative? Are you curious about how you can make it transformative? This week, I delved into fascinating research that explores exactly that—the art of crafting learning experiences that lead to profound shifts in understanding and perspective.
The research, titled The Seven-Step Learning Journey: A Learning Cycle Supporting Design, Facilitation, and Assessment of Transformative Learning by Annick De Witt, Margien Bootsma, Brian J. Dermody, and Karin Rebel dives into a structured process aimed at fostering transformative learning. While the research was conducted in a higher education setting, its insights are highly relevant for anyone working in corporate L&D. After all, the learners in the study were adults, just like the ones we work with every day.
Here’s how this seven-step learning cycle unfolds:
Excavate: Students reflect on their existing knowledge and learning goals.
Absorb: They engage with new content through videos and readings, organizing their thoughts through notes and mind maps.
Experience: Students take a worldview test to explore and reflect on their existential beliefs.
Observe: Through journaling, they reflect on their experiences and worldviews.
Deepen: In small groups, students discuss and listen deeply to each other's perspectives.
Exchange: The entire class shares insights from these small group discussions.
Consolidate: Finally, students reflect on how their understanding has evolved throughout the process.
Here are my top three takeaways:
Connect learning to personal experience: The journey starts with students reflecting on their existing knowledge and goals, which significantly boosts engagement. This aligns with the idea that if learners’ prior knowledge and experiences are not engaged, new concepts might be grasped superficially and may not transfer to real-world application.
Structure supports transformative learning: The structured nature of this seven-step cycle ensures that learners engage deeply with new knowledge, reflect on their experiences, and participate in meaningful dialogues. This creates a rich environment for transformative learning, where learners can question their assumptions and expand their perspectives.
The power of reflection and dialogue: Transformative learning is not just about acquiring new knowledge; it's about changing how we make sense of the world. This cycle emphasizes reflection and dialogue at every step, helping learners process their experiences and articulate their evolving understanding.
What this means for practice:
For those of us designing learning experiences in corporate L&D, this research offers a clear, practical framework to support transformative learning. Here are some practical ways you can incorporate elements of the Seven-Step Learning Journey into your L&D programs:
1. Excavate: Connect Learning to Personal Experience
Kickoff with Reflection Questions: Start your learning sessions by asking participants to reflect on their prior experiences related to the topic. Use questions like, “What do you already know about this subject?” or “What challenges have you faced in this area?”
Personalized Learning Goals: Encourage learners to set their own goals for the session or course. This can be done through a short survey or using some interactive tools in the session.
2. Absorb: Introduce and Contextualize New Knowledge
Interactive Content Delivery: Instead of just lecturing, use multimedia such as videos, infographics, and interactive presentations to introduce new concepts. Incorporate real-world scenarios that relate directly to the participants' roles and responsibilities.
Mind Mapping: Encourage learners to create mind maps or concept maps as they take in new information. This helps them organize their thoughts and see how new knowledge connects to what they already know.
3. Experience: Engage in Active Learning
Role-Playing and Simulations: Design activities where learners can step into scenarios that mirror real challenges they face at work. For example, simulate a difficult client meeting or a crisis management situation.
Self-Assessment Tools: Use tools like skills assessments, or self-assessments that allow learners to explore and reflect on their skills and behaviours.
4. Observe: Reflect on Learning Experiences
Journaling Prompts: After each major activity, provide journaling prompts that encourage learners to reflect on what they experienced. Questions like, “What surprised you during this activity?” or “How did this change your perspective?” can deepen introspection.
Reflection Circles: Create small groups where participants can share their reflections with peers. This could be a quick debrief or a more formalized “reflection circle” where each person shares their insights.
5. Deepen: Facilitate Small Group Discussions
Structured Dialogues: Facilitate small group discussions with clear roles or formats—one person talks while others listen deeply, without interruptions. This can be guided by specific prompts or questions to ensure the conversation stays focused.
Peer Coaching: Pair participants up and have them coach each other on specific challenges. This not only deepens understanding but also builds a sense of community and support.
6. Exchange: Share Insights in a Larger Group
Session Debriefs: After small group sessions, bring everyone together to share key takeaways. Use techniques like “fishbowl discussions” where a few people discuss while others listen, then switch.
Collaborative Learning Boards: Create a shared online space where participants can post their insights, questions, and reflections. This could be a shared document or a virtual whiteboard.
7. Consolidate: Encourage Reflection and Application
Action Planning: End the learning experience with action planning where participants outline specific steps they will take to apply what they’ve learned in their work. Provide templates or guides to help structure these plans.
By integrating these tips into your L&D programs, you create a learning environment that not only imparts knowledge but also transforms how your learners think and act.
That’s all Shakers! This week reflect on how you ensure that learners have the space to explore and articulate their perspectives in a safe environment.
Coming Up Next
Community Calendar 🗓️
Our upcoming events are just around the corner, designed to inspire and inform. Make sure you're on the list—register using the link given below!
Cool Stuff You Don’t Wanna Miss Out
Resource Reel 🔖
Dare to Master-Facilitative Leadership by Jenny Theolin if you are looking to see how can you include facilitation in the way you lead your team. It comes with a video library and a toolkit.
Virtual Gathering Guide by Priya Parker offers seven steps to make your video calls effective and enjoyable and bring in the element of intention.
When Resentment Is Building on Your Team by Rebecca Knight in HBR where the author shared practical tips that you can implement or adopt if you’re worried about resentment building on your team.
A Manager’s Guide to Holding Your Team Accountable by Dave Bailey talks about accountability in detail and gives you a quick primer on driving it in your teams.
Building Better Managers by MindTools talks about what it means to be a good manager in 2024. Based on a review of scientific studies and industry reports, they have identified 12 capabilities essential for modern managers. The report also explores these capabilities in the context of organizational
support and business success.
Behaviours that Foster Psychological Safety by Iterum lists behaviours that build psychological safety and enhance group performance, inclusion, resilience and happiness.
Community Corner:
Shaker's Stage 🎤
Let’s welcome Samantha Mueller, Head of Learning & Capability at Temple & Webster to take the stage.
If you were to pick a different profession, who would you become?
-If I were to pick a different profession, I would become an animal activist. My passion for helping others extends beyond people to animals. I've always found animals a source of inspiration and learning. I had a recent experience on Christmas day when a little toy poodle ran onto the road in front of my car. We now have a new addition to the family - Lucky the Toy Poodle, along with my two kids and Muchacha, the rescue cat, who isn't too thrilled about our new furry friend.
What’s the biggest challenge you’re facing in your role/business/project right now and how are you tackling it?
-Juggling L+D solo while the world & tech keeps evolving can feel like running on a treadmill! But, I'm not backing down I love a challenge. I'm leveraging our learning system, AI and creating spaces for collective learning and experimentation. We're all about DIY learning—empowering our team with tools and freedom to learn their way. Some strategies we're rolling out include a peer-to-peer skill swap, where everyone brings something to the table. We're planning a career festival where our team will take the lead in, showcasing the diverse roles and career paths in our business. And, we're flipping our approach to leadership development transitioning from an annual program to a more dynamic blended pathway, tailored to different levels of leadership that will include leveraging our seasoned leaders to host leadership labs and mentor up-and-coming leaders. In a nutshell, I'm spreading out the L+D load, getting everyone involved in shaping learning at Temple & Webster.
A book that left an impression on you:
-A book that left a lasting impression on me is "Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business." Reading about Dolly Parton when I was younger sparked a fascination that has stayed with me ever since. Dolly's determination, talent, authenticity and resilience enabled her to overcome obstacles and achieve worldwide success. Some fun facts about Dolly: 1. She has composed over 3,000 songs. 2. She founded the Imagination Library in 1995, a book gifting program that mails free, high-quality books to children from birth until they begin school. The program has distributed over 172 million books worldwide. 3. She is skilled at playing multiple musical instruments, including the guitar, banjo, autoharp, piano, and dulcimer. 4. She is a Guinness World Record Holder (10 Times Over!) Dolly is the definition of a leader and lifelong learner.
What does being an L&D Shaker look and feel like for you?
-As an L&D Shaker, you become part of a global L&D family. It's a connection to a community that generously shares, learns, and supports each other. It such a diverse and engaged network who share a common goal of driving the advancement of our profession. I'm continually inspired by the collective wisdom and creativity of the community. Working solo in an L&D function can feel isolating, but knowing I can turn to fellow L&D Shakers for help, ideas, and inspiration is awesome. Through L&D Shakers, I've formed some fantastic connections that have supported my professional journey.
〜See you soon
Till then, keep spicing up your learning! 🧠🧂
Sejaal