Executive Learning for Success

You won't be alone if you thought learning styles were important only for the academic world. It's obvious to see how: the learner has to plough through loads of material, within a limited time, and finally, there's lots of other tasks that require the learner's attention.

In fact, the same situation faces the corporate learner - bottomline considerations weigh heavily on performance and work seems never-ending. Training opportunities are regarded as giant, unproductive 'time-stealers', taking the executive away from more pressing, 'important' work. When training sessions are conducted without mindful application of learning styles, it is no wonder that retention of learning declines and returns from the investment in training is limited.

In fact, corporate learning can take a leaf from the emphasis on learning styles in the academic world. While several well-known models exist, we use the Kolb Learning Styles and the Whole Brain models in our work. Knowing one's learning style offers several advantages:

Firstly, the busy executive can anchor his learning experience on his preferred learning style, to maximise the returns from time spent in the training room. He recognises how he can access the information that is instinctively relevant to him.

Secondly, by being aware of styles that he does not prefer, training time can lead to individual development as the learner expands his information-gathering and processing repertoire. The executive is alert to situations when he may need to concentrate a little more to get meaningful information from learning situations that his learning style may not prefer.

Thirdly, for the corporate trainer, knowledge of participants' learning styles provides specific information to customise material and create meaningful learning experiences for the variety of learners in the session. This ultimately leads to satisfied learners and of course, rave reviews for the trainer.

Fourthly, as more and more organisations take to e-learning platforms for their in-house training, content developers would do well to recognise the challenge of creating sufficiently varied material to meet the different needs of learners. Learning material, no matter how interactive, catering to only a segment of the full spectrum of learners will not be well-received.

Noel
Resident Philosopher

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