Confessions of a New Yorker, 3rd in an Occasional Series

This past weekend I once again went home to NY, but this time I’m not going to talk about the city. This time I am going to talk about a birthday party for a relative who turned 90. It was a wonderful event. It was all about getting caught up, eating and drinking, and everyone generally having a good time. However, something interesting also happened. It was something that I was not expecting, but a good learning experience for me.

As the afternoon wore on, people showed pictures of other family members and friends. Everyone was truly enjoying the party. I noticed that although there were many attendees who were of a certain age, only one or two people had a cane. Everyone looked very fit regardless of age. However, my big learning was when I sat and visited with different groups. Invariably almost all of the conversations at one point or another turned to politics. I’ve known for years that the family is politically active, supporting both republicans and democrats.

As I listened to the different conversations I was very impressed with the genuine conversation. Both sides were being respectful to each other. Additionally, people were knowledgeable and engaged in what is going on in the world. The discussion groups contained adults of all ages and political persuasions. The 90 year olds particularly impressed me. These people were right up-to-date on what is going on in the nation and the world. I found it interesting that some of people in this age group are not what we would call life-long learners. Well at least not in the traditional sense. They don’t actively seek to learn through classes or discussion groups or other formal learning events. But, they constantly learn from life and their interactions with others.

Some of the men play cards on a daily basis with others in their senior communities. They play from early morning until the late afternoon. They eat lunch while playing. But, what they also do is discuss current events. Others play golf almost daily and they too appear to learn from each other. The women also interact with others on a daily basis. They too play golf, they also go to the gym, eat lunch together, attend plays and movies, and often perform in plays as well. And yes, they also go to dinner as couples. They all have active social lives that lead to interest in life and informal learning.

My learning this weekend was that life-long learning can happen in any way in any setting. It is just important to keep listening with an open mind to what is being communicated by others. That doesn’t mean you have to agree with what you hear, but it is important to listen to what is being said. When I watch the political conversations on TV, all too frequently the people on the opposing sides talk over each other, making it very difficult to even hear what is being said let alone having the opportunity to digest and think about what each side is saying. Another learning for me this weekend was that one is much more likely to learn and perhaps change one’s way of thinking (or not) when able to truly hear what the other side has to say.

As I said I had a wonderful time this past weekend and while not expected, I learned a lot more about informal methods of learning and interacting with others.

Telling Stories

Long before recorded history humans were telling stories to pass on important information. Research has consistently shown that presenting information in story format results in effective learning. Story telling can also be used in a business environment to convey different concepts and information.

https://www.nyu.edu/faculty/teaching-and-learning-resources/strategies-for-teaching-with-tech/storytelling-teching-and-learning/when-to-use-stories.html

“Storytelling can provide variety in the learning experience and enhance the ‘chalk and talk’ approach. They can be used in the very beginning of the sequence as a way to gain the attention of the learner. They can be used in the middle of the sequence when introducing a complex concept. They can be used at the end of a sequence as a way to summarize information.”

http://www.harvardbusiness.org/blog/what-makes-storytelling-so-effective-learning

“Good stories do more than create a sense of connection. They build familiarity and trust, and allow the listener to enter the story where they are, making them more open to learning. Good stories can contain multiple meanings so they’re surprisingly economical in conveying complex ideas in graspable ways.”

Telling a story of how to address a business problem is more impactful than listing the steps that need to be taken. By conveying what the problem was that needed to be addressed and explaining how the individual or group went about solving the problem usually gains the learners attention more fully than a set of “how to do” instructions.

It is also likely that telling a story after explaining a problem or opportunity will engage the learner in the solution. A topic can be introduced followed by a story and then the learners can be given an exercise where they will need to use the information provided in the story. Learning by doing is a proven learning technique. Combining both story telling and hands on practice both of which are proven technique for learning is likely to provide the results businesses need from the training they offer.

Even when the training involves new products or services a story can be incorporated into the training. New products and services are developed based on a perceived need or opportunity. Telling a story about the need a business has and explaining how the product can contribute to addressing that need can be an impactful story.

I recommend that if you are developing training on any topic that you think about how the subject of the training can be enhanced by a story.