Questions to ask as we introduce new ideas to someone

When you design learning what comes first in your design process?
Where do you seek inspiration from?
How do you check that what you are doing is pushing the right buttons for learners and the organisation?

Let's focus on getting learner buy in here.

Before people are prepared to take action, they will ask certain questions so make sure you have answers for all of these and share these answers as a way of getting learners on-board with learning.

·         Why should I listen to you?

·         Do I trust you?

·         Am I afraid of it?

·         Will this work for me?

·         Who says it's important?

·         What will my peers think?

These are all variations of one complicated thread: how will this process make me feel?

 

I had a maths lesson at my son's primary school today. The headteacher teacher started by explaining that the way we teach maths has changed, it's important not just to learn tricks of the trade like maybe you did but now they realise that children need to gain a deeper understanding and whilst we don't expect you to teach your children; we know that you'll want to support them in practice. So today is all about helping you to have fun with your children whilst they deepen their understanding.

Now what do you think of that? What a great expression of switching a group of adults on in a topic they were anxious about. She could have just gone straight into policy and what they do but this short introduction answered many of the concerns that parents had and you could see the group physically relax once this had been stated... and in doing so, making them ready to learn, to challenge, to question and to put it into practice.

Even though these questions are what leaners care about, i still see L&D practitioners often launch in to new ideas without ensuring that people are bought in – make sure you don’t make this mistake. Take time in your positioning and remember that this often comes even before learners have started their learning process.