Lifelong Learning - What it is and Why it is Important
There is a lot of discussion about the need for all organisations to equip managers and staff at all levels to be able to continue to learn and develop throughout their careers and lives. Here Clive Lewis, Director of the training and consultancy company, Illumine Limited, which specialises in learning, thinking and creativity, explains why many organisations are taking the subject very seriously…
Being able to think, learn and work effectively used to be regarded as ‘nice to haves’. This perspective was often combined with the view that our ability to learn, be creative, solve problems, read quickly etc is fixed. These perspectives are no longer accepted. The rate of change in all areas of life continues to accelerate. The strengths, skills and qualifications with which we enter employment are extremely unlikely to remain sufficient for a whole career. The need to constantly refresh our skills and knowledge is greater now than ever before. Many organisations recognise this and put in place a range of training and open learning facilities for managers and staff at all levels. This often represents an enormous investment. Unfortunately, what many organisations fail to do is address the woefully low levels of understanding about how the brain works and how it can be made to work so much better. Failure to address this is akin to giving someone the most powerful computer in the world and not showing them how to turn it on!
Unfortunately, what many organisations fail to do is address the woefully low levels of understanding about how the brain works and how it can be made to work so much better
The Problems
Ask people around the world whether they are happy with the performance of their brains and you will hear a resounding NO! Far from being excited at being part of the so-called information age, they feel threatened by the enormous volumes of information available and the expectation that they will keep abreast of it. Most managers and staff admit that they are not nearly as creative as they would like to be and do not devote enough time to thinking and problem solving. Confessions of poor memory and slow reading speeds are commonplace. Other problems from time management and planning, to concentration and studying, abound.
…numerous studies have shown that when we use both sides of our brains together, the whole brain performs significantly better…
Is any of this surprising? Depressing, yes, but hardly surprising, given the way we are taught. For most of us our formal education emphasises all of the so-called left brain functions (logic, lists, words, numbers, order) with little or no emphasis on the other functions (rhythm, colour, space, imagination, whole picture). Numerous studies have shown that when we use both sides of our brains together, the whole brain performs significantly better. We spend thousands of hours studying everything from Accountancy to Zoology but little or no time learning about how our brains work and how they can be made to work so much better. In short, we never learn how to learn nor how to think effectively.
Investing in people
The world is going to continue to change; complexity will increase, volumes of information will continue to grow, competition will continue to become increasingly global.
Against this backdrop no organisation can afford to under utilise their most valuable asset. Unleashing the creativity, thinking capacity and learning potential of an organisation’s people may be the best investment they can make. The choices appear stark; training is either an expensive overhead or a reluctantly necessary evil. There is an alternative and that is to commit to helping people to develop, by giving them the knowledge and skills which will turn them into lifelong learners and achievers.
There are many excellent courses available for organisations who want to develop their staff; leadership, team building, motivation, creativity, presenting…. the list is long and varied and most of the training will have its place in an organisation’s portfolio.
However all of this training is of limited value if employees from Director down, are not first taught how to learn effectively and how to use the magnificent potential of their brains in everything they do. It is a sobering statistic that without properly structured learning and review, 80% of the information learnt on a course is forgotten within 24 hours. Most of the rest is lost shortly afterwards! The financial implications for an organisation’s training budget are terrifying.
…learning how to remember for the short term and for the long term, makes a massive difference…
A Way forward
There are some obvious steps which all organisations can take:
- encourage all staff to regard lifelong learning as a key aspect of self development
- encourage innovation and learn to let people make mistakes….but only if they truly learn from them
- teach staff about their brains and how to use them better
- provide training in specific techniques which will help everyone to improve dramatically the effectiveness of their work and learning
- reward managers and staff who are demonstratively ‘working smarter not harder’
Three techniques that make a BIG difference:
Speed Reading
Average reading speeds are in the range 200 to 250 words per minute (wpm). Many well educated people read even slower. The UN has estimated that in order to be ‘functionally literate’ we should read at 400 wpm. On our courses nearly everyone doubles their reading speed and most people do much better….with improved levels of comprehension. What difference would doubling or trebling your reading speed make to you?
Memory
Most of us learn the hard way that forgetting is easy and remembering is hard. In fact remembering is easy, it is the accessing of the information that is difficult! 80% of the detail learned is ‘forgotten’ within 24 to 48 hours of learning. Learning how to remember for the short term and for the long term, makes a massive difference - whether you are studying formally or simply want to be on top of whatever it is you are working on.
Mind Mapping
The uniquely versatile note making and note taking technique devised by Tony Buzan, is growing in popularity as a business tool as well as as an indispensable aid to learning. It focuses on meaning instead of the syntax of language. The approach deliberately uses both sides of the brain and works in a way that is completely compatible with how the brain works. Excellent Mind Mapping software is also now available, further enhancing the accessibility and applicability of the technique.
These techniques, especially when combined together, make time spent on reading and learning, significantly more effective and efficient. Of course, if people find that the time they spend on adding to their knowledge and expertise is well spent, they are much more likely to do more of it. So a virtuous learning circle is set up.
Summary
Equipping people for lifelong learning and helping people to think and work more effectively are no longer luxuries for a small minority of enlightened companies. They need to be part of every company’s strategy. Companies that trot out the usual comments along the lines of ‘our people are our most important asset’ need to ensure that they are doing everything they can to develop their most important assets. The techniques are not complex, but the benefits from learning how to use them well are many and varied.
Tags: Accelerated Learning for Trainers (Training), Memory techniques, Mind Mapping, Speed Reading