SELF IMPROVEMENT AND MOTIVATION

I work almost exclusively with adults, but it wasn’t always that way. A challenge that often shows up in my work with adults is a species of self-criticism that I don’t see as much in children. There’s a weird expectation that somehow we adults are supposed to  just know  how to communicate effectively, navigate conflict, manage our emotions or demonstrate leadership. And when we fall down in any of these areas, we beat up on ourselves for not knowing or doing better. But how are we supposed to know how to do effective behaviors, especially in a diverse environment,  when we were never taught how to do them ? When we were never effectively role modeled — not by parents, bosses, peers or the media? Except for the very bright, children don’t typically beat up on themselves for not knowing how to do stuff — they understand they’re here to learn. So are adults! It’s a travesty that we aren’t taught, in any consistent, systemic way how to do the things most necessary to o...

This column’s theme is “Selling up, Selling Down,” and I’ve tried to do my best over the past 10 years to balance that view. Recently, I went back and did a straw poll on how I’ve done, and I’m embarrassed to share I’ve been a bit skewed to the “selling up” side. Because I try to be first and foremost a learner advocate, I’m going to do my best to even the score. I want to start with one of my fundamental pet peeves with how we design and sell training to advanced learners. I often refer to the 5 Moments of Need design framework by Conrad Gottfredson in my columns. Like other frameworks — such as Kirkpatrick’s Levels and McCall and his colleagues’ 70-20-10, both of which attempt to bring simplicity and context to things we’ve over-complicated or struggled to articulate — the five moments have been foundational in helping me offer a more balanced and robust learning solution to the stakeholders I’ve served. These frameworks offer our industry and the consumer a shared, non-le...