I’ve been facilitating quite a few workshops lately related to the concept of strategic review. At each session I’ve had numerous people comment to me that they found the workshop to be amongst the best training experiences of their professional lives. One person commented, “too bad the rest of the training I experience cannot be as practical and applicable to my work world.” I’ve heard comments like this time and again over the years. It is unfortunate that so much money and time is invested in “training” to yield little to nothing in terms of outcomes. An outcome that is readily avoidable when you design training using assumptions about how adults learn.
Research shows that adults in the workplace setting learn best in interactive, problem-based, applied situations that incorporate learning through simulations, case studies, and participant presentations. Adult learners need to see that the professional development learning and their day-to-day activities are related and relevant. New skills and concepts must demonstrate practical value and allow people to alter established work practices. In our training sessions we also center discussions on client documents, workplace situations, and real-life case studies. Adults want to be the origin of their own learning and will resist learning activities they believe are an attack on their competence. Thus, professional development needs to give participants some control over the what, who, how, why, when, and where of their learning.
Originally published on our Knowledge Management blog
