Learning Styles: What's Right for Your Enterprise?

When I was a child, admittedly now a long, long time ago, one of the most favorite games we played in school and in our neighborhood was “Simon Says.” The rules of the game are incredibly simple: Do exactly, but only, what Simon tells you to do. If the game leader were to say, “Simon says…put your finger to your nose,” everyone was supposed to put their fingers to their noses. “Simon says…pull on your ear,” we’d all start pulling our ears until they almost touched our shoulders. But if the instruction was not preceded by the term “Simon Says,” you were to do nothing, standing frozen, right hand on nose, left hand yanking on ear. To win at “Simon Says,” one must be obedient and attentive to the core, always mindful of following the facilitator’s instructions, but only when Simon’s name was invoked as a means of legitimizing the command.

I’m afraid those of us in the learning and development (L&D) function are playing a strikingly similar game, with only a slight change in name. Instead of “Simon Says,” we’re becoming all too skilled at “Guru Says.” Brand-name consultants and business school faculty go out on the speaking circuit, promote their latest ointment on how to build transformational leaders in a one-day workshop, and we can’t seem to run back to our offices fast enough to rub that oil all over our organizations. The inherent problem with this approach is not so much the topical themes being promoted by the consultants or professors. After all, at the end of the day they’re just like the rest of us, trying to make a living. The more disturbing aspect in all of this is the apparent lack of perspective and judgment on the part of those responsible for designing and implementing high-impact learning in their organizations. Guru says, “Action learning is the way to go,” and all of a sudden, every program in your company has to have an action-learning component to it. Guru says, “Leader-led,” and we see nothing but leader-led initiatives. Guru says, “E-learning enables thousands of leaders to be developed more efficiently,” and you find yourself designing a leadership program that has your participants trying to learn leadership by squinting into a computer monitor. It’s scary. Take a deep breath, and rely on what you have learned about how adults learn. Do you honestly believe that the high-potentials in your organization will learn how to lead through an e-learning course? Come on.