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5 Ways To Put What You've Learned Into Practice
Ross Stevenson
July 2nd, 2024
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Today’s Thoughts ☠️
Ahoy there 👋,
As you read this I’m ‘off the grid’ staying in a cabin in a middle of a forest.
Yes, I know that sounds like a horror film. I’m hoping it doesn’t turn into one. I like to take an annual reset every year so I’m not staring at screens 24/7 for 365 days.
Today’s chat will be a bit shorter than usual as again I’m praying the Wi-Fi gods look favourably upon me.
Over the last nearly 20 years (shit, I’m getting old), I’ve seen good, great and crap L&D experiences. No matter the category they fall into, I’ve always noticed one ingredient that makes or breaks each.
Does the individual put what they’ve learnt into practice?
If they don’t, it defeats the point of doing the thing in the first place. Not paying enough attention to this is why I see so many L&D teams get driven through the 9 levels of Dantes inferno with “We already did this every 6 months over the last 3 years. How do they still not get it?”.
I’ve been there and feel that pain.
The reality is that you can’t control what happens post a learning experience. You can influence it though!
Let’s explore how to craft the art of action among your teams so they apply what they’ve learned.
Get your tea or beverage of choice ready, 🍵.
We've got lots to discuss!
→ Much love to today’s sponsor, Sana ❤️
In today’s chat:
THE BIG THOUGHT
5 Ways To Help Teams Put What They’ve Learned Into Practice
How much content do you consume every day?
The University of California discovered the average American consumes 35 gigabytes of content daily. That roughly represents 100,000 words a day. We can safely assume similar behaviour can be found across cultures.
We live in the greatest time in history for access to any information we want. But, what do we do with all this information?
The master of nothing
You may have heard the saying “paralysis by analysis” and I feel a lot of us experience this.
With so much knowledge at our fingertips, it’s easy to become overwhelmed. I feel we have too much knowledge and not enough action.
We can all be guilty of not taking action on the things we keep saying we’ll do.
Even though we’ve read hundreds of articles, books and YouTube videos, which would probably equate to a PHD level of understanding in most cases. We fail to take the ultimate step – ACTION!
Some of us spend our lives amassing a wealth of knowledge.
In fact, amongst my generation (the millennials) it’s become somewhat of a trend. The “I’ve read 100 books this year” post is often a badge of honour on social media, yet it feels like the opposite of what we want to celebrate.
Would you rather read 100 books and still be in the same position you’re now 12 months later, or read 5 books, apply what you’ve learnt and advance in your life?
Hopefully, this is an easy answer!
More is not always better, as the old saying goes. If it was, then data suggests we should all be living our best lives with the knowledge we’re hoarding in that brain of ours.
You either do or you don’t
The focal message of this piece is those who do something vs those who consume the content of those who’ve done something. A cycle of content madness, if you will.
It’s an odd behavioural black hole we all fall into.
We want to learn x and do z, but we often get so absorbed by the gathering of information, we don’t make the time or put a plan in place to take action.
I’ve worked to combat this in my learning practice.
Last year, I limited myself to reading 3 books specifically focused on one area I wanted to improve my skills to improve. I would spend the year digesting the most valuable points for me and apply these in my work. I was inspired by a post-learning note taking system from Matt D’Avella.
My approach doesn’t involve cards.
I open up a doc and convert all the highlighted parts of a book, podcast or experience into a set of notes I’ll categorise for future use.
A lot of my writing comes through small insights I’ve noted and categorised from years gone by. The action might not always be immediate in some cases, but it’s still here to help me.
How to consume less and practice more
For this section, I wanted to reference some really smart people giving some equally smart advice. Sadly, there was none!
So, what did I do? I asked ChatGPT instead.
Here’s what the almighty digital hive mind recommends in the pursuit of more action with knowledge and learning:
Set specific learning goals
Have a clear idea of what you want to learn and why. It’ll help you focus on relevant content and avoid getting sidetracked (hopefully).Limit your sources
Don’t try to learn everything from everyone – this is madness. Choose a few trusted sources which are relevant to your goals and stick to them.Take notes
This feels obvious to say, yet I’m still surprised at how many believe they’ll just remember that ‘thing’.Practice what you learn
If you do nothing else than this after reading these words, you’ve won, my friend. Put what you’ve learned into practice. Otherwise, what the hell did you invest all that time for?Reflect on your progress
Reflect on how you’re applying what you’ve learned often. Be flexible in how you deploy your insights. There is no one way to do it.
That’s not bad, right? It had some finessing from me, of course. But I give it a B+ at least.
Your ultimate reflection question is this: Are you just consuming lots of knowledge to no end or are you applying it towards something meaningful?
As the wise Bruce Lee said “Knowing is not enough. We must apply. Willing is not enough. We must do.”
Final Thoughts
Let’s keep it simple
Help your teams put what they learn into practice
Use simple tactics and share success stories
Don’t get trapped in the L&D version of Dante’s inferno
Till next time.
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SMART THOUGHTS
🤔 How to avoid mediocre AI-generated content in L&D
It’s safe to say the world is already awash with subpar AI generated content.
It’s coming for your local LMS and LXP too! But, you can change that. This article from Degreed explores how companies can navigate this coming tsunami.
💡 3 key insights from Gallups global workplace report
Research powerhouse Gallup released the 2024 edition of their annual ‘State of the global Workplace’ report.
This article picks out 3 key insights for HR and L&D teams. What stood out for me was the huge level of people actively looking to leave their job and the creeping rise of loneliness at work.
🔥 Record number of leaders and managers burning out at speed with constant change
I’ve always said that being a manager is a lot harder then you think.
I wasn’t cut out for it, so I decided to become a specialist. This article from Gallup reveals how the burden of so much stress and constant change is affecting people in managerial positions the most.
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