How to Support a Team of Lifelong Learners

I recently delivered a workshop to a group of soon-to-be supervisors. As with every workshop I deliver, I brought along two bags full of book resources.
I carefully laid out 36 books on a display table at the front of the room.
This was, after all, a single day-long workshop.

Two Hands

Then I asked the question.
“Please raise your hand if you would consider yourself to be a reader.”
Two people in the room quietly raised their hands.
There were thirty people in the room.
This is one of those moments where, as a facilitator who builds every workshop around books, you can either look at the results of the question as being the proverbial glass half-empty or half-full.
Both workshop participants felt their colleagues’ gaze on them. They then gently and quickly lowered their hands, falling back into compliance with the rest of the room.
I saw this as a glass-half-full moment, as I always do, and suggested to the assembled group that we all have different learning tendencies.

Three Learning Styles

Although we possess all three styles in one form or another, each of us tends to lean towards a visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic learning style as our primary style.

Sharing my passion for learning with the participants, I strongly suggested that, since they would soon occupy supervisory positions, they practice the art of lifelong learning. Any one or combination of learning styles could be the “right” learning style for them.

I received looks of enthusiasm from many faces in the room. However, there were also looks of concern and definitely a few instances of outright confusion.

The Dividends of Habits

Throughout the morning, I shared important lessons from my career and well-founded evidence that developing learning habits pays dividends. On a day-to-day basis, the 10 minutes a day of learning (which I am known to espouse continually) may not seem to move their growth needle at all. But compounded over 365 days a year, it will yield significant benefits – no matter what learning style is engaged.

The books I bring into each room serve as props highlighting teachable moments or ideas – concepts I hope will resonate with the participants. I watch for nodding heads as the dots in my messages connect.

Learning Pyramid of Retention Rates

Connecting ideas to books is a teaching style that doesn’t work for everyone. So, I add kinaesthetic elements through group discussions on how these concepts are applied in workplaces across varied industries.
I am a huge fan of the Learning Pyramid of Retention Rates – so the more learning styles I build into the workshop experience, the higher the percentage of people will remember and use the lessons learned in the room.
During workshop breaks, I invite participants to approach, pick up, and flick through any books they find interesting. Often, participants will wander up and take photographs of my collection of books on the library table.

One such moment will always stick with me. Forever.

Note: There is a lesson here for everyone reading this.
While enjoying their catered lunch, the participants remained in the room.
Gradually, each person wandered forward, selected a book, and returned it to their table, poring over it during the break.
My heart sang.
I immediately went to find the client who had booked the session.  She accompanied me back to the classroom.
I told her that only two of the thirty people in the room had shown that they were readers, but here, every single person in the room had one of my books and was going through the pages, consuming information and lunch.

Numbers Don’t Lie

I asked my client to access the calculator function on her phone and then to punch in the following calculation:
Multiply the number of people in the room by the number of hours in the session. Then, multiply that number by the average hourly rate earned by those in the classroom that day.
My client completed the arithmetic exercise and shared the final number with me.
You could do this with your own organization right now.
You’ll see that the financial investment your organization would make in hosting this workshop (or any workshop for that matter) is significant.
Then I showed my client the books. They were no longer on “Phil’s library table” but were now distributed throughout the room and being read by people, the vast majority of whom, earlier that morning, claimed not to be readers.
Additionally, we discussed that the total cost of the books in the room was a fraction of the cost of the organizational investment in holding the workshop.

Learning Libraries

Why not support the learning environment by adding a learning library to your workplace?
Leaders can demonstrate a commitment to growth not only in their habits but in cultivating an environment that supports lifelong learning for every team member.
Of course, we would be naive to assume that every student who reads during lunch will naturally become an effective lifelong learner. Yet by failing to provide accessible, low-cost support like libraries, we significantly diminish the likelihood that that transformation will ever take place.
The downside is minimal, and the upside is huge.

Hero’s Journey

I use the philosophy of The Hero’s Journey throughout my workshops.
It is the story of challenge, resistance, mentorship, trust, growth, struggle, teamwork, support, and success. It sits inside the incredible book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces, written by Joseph Campbell.
You may not have read Campbell’s book, but you will have likely lived the experience of the Journey. And you definitely will have seen it played out in front of you.

The essential concept is that we accomplish very little on our own, without encouragement from those around us, and without the energy of others traveling on a similar journey.

There will be struggles along the way, with distractions and detractors that will push you off course and sometimes even try to stop you altogether. However, with the encouragement of our allies and support from our mentor(s), we find we can overcome what might initially appear to be immovable obstacles.
After successfully completing our Journey (which is not linear but circular), our role then becomes supporting others to go on their own Journey.
That support will look different depending on your situation.
But it could start with building a library.
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