Monday Memo #11
Create a learning block.
The Monday memo is food for thought to fuel your week.
Hi everyone,
Today I want to share something you can do that will help you create new possibilities for yourself and for others. It’s a simple step towards thought leadership that’s much easier and simpler than writing a book. A small experiment in packaging up your ideas in a way that will be useful for others.
I call it a learning block: a building block for learning, and a powerful way to share your ideas.
I’m going to start with some theory about how people learn. Then I will give you a simple recipe and share a few thoughts about why it works. And then I will give you your exercise for the week.
How people learn.
There are three concepts that are useful in learning design. Attention, retention, and transfer.
First, attention. People won’t learn if you don’t have their attention. Bored people don’t pay attention and they don’t learn. Generally people will pay attention if you can show them why your idea is relevant to them, and find ways to make it entertaining and engaging.
Second, retention. People aren’t learning if they don’t remember. Things are memorable when they are packaged neatly, so they are easy to remember. For example, can you show your idea in a memorable diagram, a short poem or story, a joke, a memorable phrase, a rhyme, an acronym? People also remember things that are associated with strong emotion. So it can also help to think about how you can create a strong emotional connection.
Third, transfer. Remembering is necessary for learning, but there’s a next step that’s equally important. A new idea only becomes useful to people, and only creates real change, when they can apply it to their daily life. So if you want to change the world with your idea, you’ll need to make room for people to figure out how your it applies to them personally.
Attention: Are people paying attention?
Retention: Will they remember?
Transfer: How can they use it?
A recipe for learning blocks.
Over time I’ve come to rely on a simple format that breaks down group learning into simple building blocks that take 45 minutes to an hour. This is the format I’ve been using in the Collaboratories so far this year.
The recipe for a learning block is pretty simple and it goes something like this.
Introduce the topic.
Introduce an activity.
Run the activity (if there are more than five people, use breakout groups).
Reflect on the learning.
Introduce the topic.
First, spend 10-15 minutes giving people a reason to pay attention. Start with a provocation or idea that is interesting, and then flesh out the basics. Explain why it matters, why you care about it, and establish how and why it’s relevant to them. People’s attention will start to wander after 15 minutes, so keep it brief and keep your focus on one key concept you want people to learn.
Introduce an activity.
Next, introduce an exercise or activity that will give people a chance to experience the idea personally and process how they might apply that idea in their daily lives. I call this introduction the setup.
It’s very easy to make your exercise too complex. A good exercise is clear and simple. It should be easy to hold in short-term memory. If the exercise has two or three steps, it’s usually better to break it down into three separate breakout groups, introducing each topic in turn.
A good, simple introduction should only take 2 or 3 minutes. But it is the most critical part of the session and the most important to practice and get it right. It should be simple, clear, and unambiguous. Write yourself a script on an index card if that helps.
Run the activity.
A good activity leaves space for both internal reflection and socialization with the group. For some topics, it can be helpful to provide a template or worksheet. Generally, I try to design an exercise that four or five people can do in about 20 minutes.
Reflect on the learning.
After people have had a chance to experience the activity, give them a chance to make sense of it, to talk about the experience with each other. Ask them questions like, “How did that feel?” Ask people to share their takeaways, thoughts, or reflections. I like to ask if there is anyone who feels, based on their experience, that they will do anything different in the future.
I try to leave 10 to 15 minutes for reflection.
Why it works.
Like I said, this is a pretty simple recipe. It’s like a blank canvas: there are infinite ways to improvise and innovate within this simple structure, and many different ways to make this your own.
This approach works because it allows people to learn and absorb new information at a reasonable pace. It gives them an opportunity to figure out how it fits in their life, and allows them to reflect with others about why it matters and how they might use it.
It’s like the difference between free climbing without ropes (faster but very risky) vs climbing as a group, with anchors, carabiners and ropes, establishing footholds and creating a path as you go.
This week’s exercise.
So here’s your exercise for the week: Think about a topic that matters to you, an idea that is important to share and that would be interesting for others to learn. Just one idea. And design a simple, 45-minute learning block — a core provocation/concept, a setup, a activity, and reflection questions — that will allow people to truly understand and absorb that idea, and apply it to their daily life.
Updates.
So far this year we have had four Collaboratories, and in a couple of weeks we will have our first Open House, where we will learn more about some courses that are in development, and meet the people who are leading those explorations.
The Open House Collaboratory is Wednesday, March 6th, from 9-10:30 AM Pacific (Noon-1:30 PM Eastern, 5-6:30 PM GMT). This Collaboratory is free and open to all, members and non-members, but you will need to register in order to join. Once you have registered you will see a link to add this to your calendar.
Register here for the Open House Collaboratory.
Our Friday Campfire calls are also free to join, anyone is welcome, and we talk about things that are fueling our creative energy and inspiring us. The energy is infectious. Even if you’re stuck, or don’t feel like you have anything interesting to add, if you have the time, join anyway. I promise you’ll enjoy it.
Instructions to join the Friday Campfire and/or add it to your calendar.
Collaboratories are held on the first and third Wednesdays of every month. They are free for members. Members also get access to recordings of previous collaboratories and the full email archive. Become a member by upgrading your subscription.
As of this week we have 48 members. The first 100 members will lock in the $20/month, $200/year rate.
If you’re already a member, thank you. You’re making this possible.