Who hasn’t come across a list of healthy habits, especially when the summer holidays get closer? It’s also a good time to get your mind in shape for when they’re over, so here are some healthy learning habits to implement in your learning strategy!
1. Keep your eyes on the finish line
Most of us go to the gym with set objectives in mind. If you don’t have any, you might want to have a look at some of these.
Let’s assume you decide to go for a 30-minute run coupled with some sprint sessions. You get on the treadmill, choose your programme and press the “start” button. From that moment on, you know exactly how long your pain exercise will last for, what the milestones are, and what your final goal is. You have a defined objective and that’s what will make you carry on.
When it comes to learning, the purpose and what you will achieve is essential. A healthy learning programme should help change behaviours, so building a course without knowing what the desired result is doesn’t make any sense.
2. Find some gym buddies
“Alone we go faster, together we go further”
This sums up the importance of collaboration in the world of fitness, and in general. Even when we’re training alone, having set up a programme with a coach or a friend beforehand has more benefits than self-coaching. You achieve higher levels of motivation, discipline, and the quality of outcome is generally better.
The learning environment is no exception to this.
We live in an individualistic society where we tend to think that we can do a lot alone when in reality, so much more can be achieved as part of a group. Collaborating with a common goal is as critical in the success of any healthy learning programme as it is on the treadmill. That’s why gym buddies were created!
By creating a collaborative, social environment in your organisation, people will learn better, make connections, reflect, have conversations and create a culture where improvement and innovation are present.
3. Keep your motivation levels high
Learners need to be provided with content that engages them enough to act upon it. Would you keep exercising if you didn’t have any motivation at all?
Even if there are over 10 reasons why anyone needs to exercise, it’s even easier to think of more reasons NOT to go to the gym. The challenge isn’t just to fuel motivation enough to finish the training, but also to then apply it in practice.
Only content created with an understanding of how we make decisions can turn learning into action. See how we do this at Saffron on a practical basis in this seminar where our very own James Tyas and Noorie Sazen discuss relevant case studies.
4. Practise, practise, practise
At Saffron, we believe that what we do is more important than what we know. Put it this way: we all know the health benefits of exercise, but how many of us actually do it as much as we should?
Your employees need to be provided with the right tools and environment to practise what they’ve learnt. In its latest simulation for one of the Big Four, Saffron gave the opportunity to learners to sharpen their project management skills by recreating an environment they are familiar with, one where they feel safe to try and fail, to experience what impacts their choices can have on the business in a real-world setting.
Give your learners the chance to practise as they go, and show, don’t tell. Let them make real choices with tangible successes and failures. Transform, not just inform.
When done correctly, a healthy learning programme can make a real difference to the health of your organisation. But just like building a healthy lifestyle, certain habits have to be established for it to do the job properly. Tell us whether these work for you or add a few more in the comments below!
