Feed Your Need to Learn with 15- Minute Microlearning Bites

“There is a big disconnect between what science knows and what business does.” So claimed Daniel Pink in Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us. One of the three elements of true motivation, Pink found, is the deeply human need to learn.

Typically, workplace learning takes place in multi-hour or multi-day group training settings. The minute we complete the training, our chances of retaining what we learned begins to drop. Ten days after the training, our retention falls to 60%. By Day 20, it falls to 25%. By Day 40, our chances of remembering the training drops to just 10%. That’s an incredibly inefficient and expensive way to learn.

So, how do you actually find the time for learning and retention when faced with the urgency of work? The answer, according to the Journal of Applied Psychology and Harvard Business Review researchers alike, is microlearning. Microlearning is learning that has been curated specifically to take advantage of your brain’s natural tendencies. Your working memory can hold only four to five key concepts at any given time. Microlearning, then, is designed to share only a few key concepts in any given lesson. This makes the transfer of learning to the desk much more efficient.

What’s more, microlearning greatly improves retention. Research shows that when you study something repeatedly and revisit it when you are close to forgetting it, you retain it much better. Such repeated study fits nicely with microlearning units since they are small, self-contained, and easy to return to.

That’s why we’ve partnered with the awarding-winning Blue Ocean Brain® to bring microlearning journeys to the convenience of your laptop or smart phone. The platform is used by trusted brands like MetLife, Siemens, and Panasonic to deliver microlearning to give their employees globally-relevant, fresh, on-demand content.

For the price of a cup of coffee a day – and in less time than it may take you to drink it –  you could learn how Appreciative Coaching works, or find out Why Saying, “Good Job!” Really Isn’t that Great and what to do instead.

Need to have a difficult conversation? Check out How Effective Leaders Deliver Difficult News, or How to Name the Elephant in the Room.

Microlearning topics like these help keep you competitive in today’s market. You can feed your need to learn the right thing, at the right time, for the right reasons, and retain what you learn as you go.

Question: Where do your turn to learn about just-in-time solutions to your most pressing workplace challenges?

We’ve partnered with the award-winning Blue Ocean Brain to provide this “learning in the flow” platform with 15-minute leadership topics to support your professional development journey. Grounded in neuroscience, this learning platform serves up critical material on-the-go in a way that fits easily into the natural flow of your workday. Learn more here or subscribe today.

Sheri Nasim is President and CEO of Center for Executive Excellence, a leadership consulting firm headquartered in San Diego, CA. She is the author of Work On Purpose: How to Connect Who You Are With What You Do. 

Driven by the premise that excellence is the result of aligning people, purpose and performance, Center for Executive Excellence facilitates training in leading self, leading teams and leading organizations. To learn more, visit us today at www.executiveexcellence.com or subscribe to receive CEE News!