“Remake the world, a little at a time, each in your own corner of the world.” ― Rick Riordan
Throughout our lives, many of us look for ways to improve. There are annual resolutions that come and go, enthusiastic commitments where we bite off more than we can chew, and the all or nothing approach to change that for some becomes nothing.
Big change is needed in certain circumstances. Sometimes, that change needs to come sooner than later because of catastrophic consequences that will happen without the change. Other times, while the big change is the ultimate outcome, tackling it with smaller adjustments makes that change more achievable and sustainable.
I’d like to share two examples of where this applies. Habits are one area where incremental changes are often encouraged. In the book Atomic Habits by James Clear, the author emphasizes the importance of making “tiny changes” to better solidify making changes to either start or stop doing something to better oneself. Clear’s own experience recovering from a serious injury required him to make small changes that eventually brought him to recovery.
I am currently in the middle of incremental change as I work to get back into a consistent exercise routine. Based on past attempts, I knew if I tried to go all in right away I’d have limitations that would become my excuse to not exercise. Instead, I started with five minutes a day of a specific exercise. I am currently 10 days in and have increased from five minutes to 10 minutes. I’ve alternated between a few different types of exercise and am committed to building the right resistance and ability to strive towards better health.
Another area that benefits from incremental change is in workplace learning and development. Even with requirements for a new hire to go through training in a defined timeframe, introducing knowledge and tasks in chunks brings better retention compared to immersing the learner in the entire process right away. In environments where you can build on task learning, this approach is valuable. Many Learning and Development teams, including my own, are moving to microlearning courses and continuous learning models to better integrate employees into the workforce. In a Modern Workplace Learning blog post, Jane Hart argues that continuous learning occurs over time, often as part of on-the-job training, and is an element that companies acknowledge is needed. While there may be some formal training that happens, the employee continues to improve as they apply learning to their day-to-day activities and gain new skills along the way.
As the workplace becomes more agile and fast-paced to keep ahead of the competition, leaders and learning teams need to collectively consider bringing this model into their training plans and pair it with mentors and coaches to help guide employees whether they are new to the organization or are looking to gain new skills for the next step in their career.
Looking at these two examples, how have you seen the benefits of incremental change personally or professionally? I’d love to hear about your experiences!
“Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something.” ~Morihei Ueshiba
I’m sure you’ve read articles that focus on learning from mistakes. Before you say “Thanks, Heidi, I’ve been down this road,” I encourage you to review the topic again.
We are often told we can learn from our mistakes and that they are an essential part of our development. It’s completely true, and your mistakes can help others grow! When mentoring or coaching someone, it’s easy to only share stories where things have gone well for us. While those are important when you want to encourage people to do something similar, it’s just as beneficial to share when things have not gone well in your career and how those experiences have helped you.
During a meeting with a leader, she told me about a time she was coached for a similar struggle I was experiencing. She explained how that conversation opened her eyes and allowed her to make changes to her approach. As a result, she became more successful as a trainer. After she shared the experience, it motivated me to make necessary adjustments to improve my facilitation skills. Telling me what she went through showed me I was not the only person to struggle in this way and that I could overcome it.
As leaders, we have made mistakes. It’s part of being willing to take risks. Dede Henry shared in a Forbes Magazine article that while mistakes happen, how we respond to those mistakes is the key difference. I encourage you to check out the article and the strategies shared to change your mindset towards mistakes and failure. Some of the lessons we learn as leaders when things don’t go right have turn into key steps on our development journey. They may also be the experiences that someone needs to hear at just the right moment to redirect their path and achieve their goals.
How has sharing your mistakes with someone helped them grow? I’d love to hear your examples!
Networking is not about just connecting people. It’s about connecting people with people, people with ideas, and people with opportunities. ~Michele Jennae
An often-shared piece of professional development advice centers around networking. As an introvert-leaning ambivert, I thrive in smaller groups and one on one interactions but am not opposed to being a part of larger group settings. I love to spend time with people, but at the end of day I need time to recharge and am one who often observes and processes new situations before sharing. Because of this, the thought of networking early in my career was daunting. It was more comfortable to mingle with those I knew and not try to meet new people. Once I moved outside my comfort zone, I built relationships and introduced myself to new opportunities to grow in my career. I now have individuals I can reach out to when I need support on a project. For those I mentor, I can connect them with people for additional insight. I also have partners for future collaboration, mentors and peers to go to for guidance, and teachers of skills I’m not as experienced in.
For those of you looking to expand your network, I encourage you to take the next step. Here are some tips to help you.
If you haven’t done much networking, where can you start?
Ask your teammates to introduce you to colleagues.
Make a list of people you have met in professional settings. They might include coworkers, classmates, or other professionals. Pick two and ask if you can set up time to catch up. As you become more comfortable, reach out to more people on your list.
Does your company have resource networks you can join? This is a great opportunity to meet people with common interests. These groups will introduce you to coworkers from other areas of the organization and help you learn what other teams are doing that you may not have discovered otherwise.
Join a professional organization that aligns with your career goals and start attending meetings. Make a goal to meet at least three new people at each event you attend. Don’t forget to ask for contact information so that you can connect after the meeting!
Find connections through LinkedIn. You can start with people you already know, then start looking for contacts from common industries or organizations you have worked at.
If you have established a network, how can you take it to the next level?
Create two or three goals related to insights or opportunities you want to gain through networking. It could be a new career opportunity, professional development, brainstorming new ideas, or another professional focus.
Each month, select three or four people from your network to contact and ask to schedule time to connect to discuss a specific topic.
If you are involved in a resource network or professional organization, offer to help coordinate a networking event to help bring people together to meet others and make new connections.
I hope that these suggestions can move you in the right direction to grow your network and build some amazing business relationships. If you’d like to talk more about networking, reach out to me and I’ll be happy to chat!
The world hates change, yet it is the only thing that has brought progress. ~Charles Kettering
We’ve all faced it. Someone announces a change is going to happen for your team, division or even the entire organization. Or maybe through personal reflection you’ve realized that something needs to be different in your life. When we face change, it’s not always with the most positive of reactions. While the experience may have been difficult, I’m sure some of you are able to reflect on the changes and see the growth you’ve experienced because of the transition to something new.
When I moved to my current role over nine years ago, there were changes on multiple levels. I left a team where I had gained experience and knowledge. Now I was in a leadership position where I would learn new processes, build new relationships, and implement my own changes to the team’s operating structure. As I began asking questions and giving feedback on training projects, I received some resistance. I realized I needed to explain why I was asking the questions and build trust with those I would be working with. Once I made that shift, people were more receptive to my feedback and willing to partner with me on training initiatives. Not only did I experience changes overall by joining a new team, I learned that I also needed to change my approach as a leader.
A few years later, along with the rest of the world, tremendous change came as the pandemic hit and we had to make quick adjustments to daily living. For me that meant leading my team from home, making difficult decisions to ensure my family was supported while I was working, adjusting to mask wearing and social distancing, and even increasing virtual interactions with friends and family. For others it was working on the front lines, adjusting to wearing PPE on a regular basis, dealing with fear, figuring out how to stay connected to loved ones that were isolated, and wondering how we would come out of this. Reflecting on my experience during the pandemic, here are some things that I’ve learned:
Curbside grocery pickups are a timesaver. I still take advantage of this option from time to time.
It’s ok to take a break.
Maintaining relationships is critical, even if you are an introvert.
Some people are kind. Others are not. Either way, only we can control our decision to be kind.
There’s always a way to support others.
People are more creative than they know.
Most recently, I’ve begun exploring the use of AI in my role. I will be the first to admit my skepticism towards this technology. Would it really make a difference? Would it reduce the time it took to complete tasks I had grown to dislike because they slowed up the process? At the same time, I was hearing the benefits and possibilities to do things that I was not as skilled in with the support of AI. In other words, it would help me learn new things.
The company I work for has done an amazing job preparing us to increase the use of AI in our work lives. Through learning, job aids, and hands-on activities with the encouragement to experiment, they have offered numerous ways for employees to discover how AI can become a part of daily work. I began to take some classes and started practicing the art of prompting. I learned how AI could help make some of my email messages more concise, how to create a process map using CoPilot and Excel, and discovered analytics that are beginning to reveal key metrics related to the audience that my team supports training. I am still learning how to further refine prompts and use CoPilot throughout the Microsoft Office Suite. My willingness to give AI a chance is bringing positive change and new opportunities within my work. I know that AI is not perfect, and the human touch is still necessary to ensure anything I ask AI to create is accurate and reflects the goals and message we want to portray to our internal teams and external learners.
In all these times of change, I grew. Was it easy? Absolutely not. But when I took the time to step back and look at the bigger picture, I saw that I embraced the change in many ways and gained insights I will carry with me into the future. These lessons are ones that I often reflect on to remind me that despite it all, growth is still happening and there are things we are constantly learning.
Leaders – Embracing change and not running from it is the most critical thing you can do. Remember the people following you. If they see you avoiding the change, that may influence them to do the same. If they see you leading the way through change, and you remain honest and transparent through the process, it will help your entire team transition and come out on the other side of the change a stronger and more resilient group. How will you lead yourself and others through the next change that’s on the horizon? For those that have recently gone through a change, what have you learned through that experience? Please share in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
One of my grad school projects involved developing and sharing a perspective of how technology promotes engagement and performance by learners in blended and online settings. Below is a focused literature review from the project.
What are apparently effective strategies for motivating learners in online settings?
Whether a learner chooses to enroll in an online course or is required to do so, strategies must be implemented to help sustain motivation throughout the duration of the course. Because learners are motivated to engage in learning for different reasons, educators should consider having multiple strategies in place to address a variety of motivational factors. Studies of motivation strategies in face-to-face environments have examined how learners demonstrate extrinsic and intrinsic motivation and the part that instructors play in implementing motivational strategies in the classroom (Newby, 1991). Keller’s ARCS (Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and Satisfaction) model has also been applied to classroom observations to identify if teachers focus more on specific or various motivation strategies within the classroom setting (Newby, 1991). Educators have also looked for opportunities to improve motivation for non-English speaking students that struggle learning the English language (Alshenqeeti, 2018). It is known that “learners learn differently and are motivated by different things” (Alshenqeeti, 2018) in face-to-face settings, and this thought can also be considered when looking at effective strategies for motivating learners in online settings.
When comparing motivation strategies between face-to-face and online learning environments, studies infer online students appear to be less motivated but are found to achieve higher grades than face-to-face learners (Stark, 2019). These learners often choose to participate in online courses based on increased flexibility and convenience of schedule (Stark, 2019). Though some studies indicate higher dropout rates in online courses, others report high success rates that suggest the ability for online students to acclimate themselves to online learning (Stark, 2019). Stark’s study using the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) identified lower levels of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation for students in online courses (Stark, 2019). Even so, the same learners expressed that they had the ability to succeed in online learning (Stark, 2019). What supported the motivation of online learners in this study was their perceptions of being able to have more control over their learning experience as well as reduced test anxiety (Stark, 2019). In addition, past studies showed that having prior online learning experience could influence motivation and learning approaches for future online courses (Stark, 2019). Tapping into prior experience may be helpful to online instructors to increase motivation and engagement in future learners that enroll in their course.
While over 30 years old, Keller’s model that is “the conceptual foundation of the attention, confidence, satisfaction (ARCS) model of motivation” (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016) is studied in relation to online learning. This model includes four categories with examples of motivation strategies that can be incorporated into online courses. The component of attention looks at provoking as well as continuing to keep learner’s attention (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016). For online learning, this can be done using media such as video, graphic images, and even comic strips to gain attention (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016). The relevance component is one that answers the question “why do I need to learn this topic?” (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016). It looks at finding ways to meet personal and professional goals of learners and can be implemented by incorporating current event topics into learning (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016). As learners navigate through an online course, confidence is the next component to instill to give them the assurance that they can achieve the learning outcomes of an online course (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016). While this can be a challenge in online settings, videos or emails can be developed with encouraging messages to boost learner confidence (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016). Satisfaction, the last component, can be immediately experienced through online learning (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016). The ability to provide prompt feedback in the form of grades and assessment results is one way to provide more timely satisfaction (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016). Another method is offering the opportunity for immediate application of learning using a discussion board or wiki for showcasing student work (Milman & Wessmiller, 2016).
Gamification is another strategy that can be implemented in the context of the flipped classroom, which is a blended learning model (Matsumoto, 2016). Effective gamification continues to be a popular learning tool that includes the following components: a clear and succinct tutorial, tasks that are learner-driven, a well-arranged platform, and motivation-inspiring and prompt feedback (Matsumoto, 2016). By incorporating elements of game design in non-game settings, gamification allows learners to apply game-like actions to real-world scenarios for problem-solving opportunities (Matsumoto, 2016). For example, first year high school English as Foreign Language students participated in an e-Learning course that incorporated gamification (Matsumoto, 2016). During the lecture portions of the course, students watched as in-game characters presented the lesson, then completed a task that was complimented by the character when complete (Matsumoto, 2016). The home page of the course allowed learners to track task completions, open tasks, and achievement rankings (Matsumoto, 2016). Data results showed that students grades improved post-learning (Matsumoto, 2016).
Motivation strategies also aided in boosting learner motivation during the COVID-19 pandemic. While buildings were required to close, it was believed that learning and teaching did not have to cease during the closure (Nguyen, 2021). An example of this occurred at a Vietnamese university using several technology applications to teach remotely (Nguyen, 2021). Researchers acknowledge that barriers that exist in online learning have worried educators and those researching educational technology (Nguyen, 2021). These barriers include lack of technology experience and support as well as preferences and beliefs (Nguyen, 2021). The study sought to initially identify barriers perceived by students that transitioned to online learning because of the pandemic as well as study the effects of implementing motivation-boosting strategies to learning activities including audio and video clips, pointing learners to websites and social media tools, text chat activities, and the use of Zoom or Skype for video calls (Nguyen, 2021). Adding the alternate methods showed in the results to boost motivation and led to higher performance (Nguyen, 2021).
While studies show that online learners tend to be less motivated yet often are still successful in performance, my research will look deeper into the areas of relevance, self-regulation, and how technology can gain and sustain motivation. Studies also show dropout rates are higher among online learners compared to those that opt for face-to-face environments. That means that for some there have been experiences where the learner is no longer motivated to continue in an online course. I would like to further study those reasons to identify if missing motivation strategies would have made a difference in dropout rates for particular courses. With a focus on workplace learning, research can be done on the role of the virtual trainer, a comparison between voluntary and required online learning, and the motivational needs of employees that seek out online training.
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What are your thoughts on online learning? What online courses have you found most engaging and helpful in your development journeys? Where are there still opportunities to improve online learning, whether in academia or the workplace? Is there still a value in live, in-person learning? Why or why not?
References
Alshenqeeti, H. (2018). Motivation and Foreign Language Learning: Exploring the Rise of Motivation Strategies in the EFL Classroom. International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature, 7(7), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.7n.7p.1
Milman, N. B., & Wessmiller, J. (2016). Motivating the online learner using Keller’s ARCS model. (attention, relevance, confidence, satisfaction). Distance Learning (Greenwich, Conn.), 13(2), 67–.
Newby, T. J. (1991). Classroom Motivation: Strategies of First-Year Teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 83(2), 195–200. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.83.2.195
Nguyen, H.-T. T. (2021). Boosting Motivation to Help Students to Overcome Online Learning Barriers in Covid-19 Pandemic: A Case study. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies, 15(10), 4–20. https://doi.org/10.3991/ijim.v15i10.20319 Stark, E. (2019). Examining the Role of Motivation and Learning Strategies in Student Success in Online Versus Face-to-Face Courses. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks JALN, 23(3), 234–. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v23i3.1556
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