What are the best ways to encourage continuous learning among your clients?

In my experience, after an assessment finds where they are currently, I apply books I have read and follow up with conversations around the reading assigned. This gets both of us engaged in the learning and development. It is a team effort after all.

The first thing I do to help the photographers I work with is to get crystal clear on their ideal life vision; even though there are many parts that make up an ideal life, I call it by one word, “destination”. Once they define where they want to go, then their passion for photography can be used as one of the tools to get them there. Defining their ideal life, sometimes referred to as their "Why", creates clarity on the path of "right" things versus the "good” things that mostly lead to struggle and confusion. I collaborate with them to set goals that will grow their mindset and abilities in alignment with their vision. And I point them to resources that will transform their thinking and skills.

My experience tells that In order to understand needs and wants we got to get back to step 0 - understanding why? What’s in it for the person? Why to improve continuously? Out brain is made to optimize our paths and look for easiest way ?? If we don’t feed bigger picture, specific benefits or higher purpose to it, we will never get sustainable results. First - dig into paradigms of thinking of your client with open questions sharing your own perspective on “why it is necessary to learn continuously?” Is it for being adaptive in any situation? Is it for career growth? Is it to develop your own business? Is it because we all live in BANI world and it’s the only way to stay relevant to modern context? Apply meaningful Coaching ??

Start with understanding their roles , their personal vision , what they aspire . When you start with questions you are engaging and you get more insights and from there you can build and keep them interested .

1 . Providing valuable learning resources - white papers, webinars , online tutorials and blogs . 2 . Create user communities and continuously share experience and knowledge . 3 . Making learning more engaging and fun 4 . Set clear learning objectives 5 . Access the learning needs and the goals 6 . Develop a growth mindset , which enhances the individual’s capabilities as the expert in the field

Here it’s important to create a sense of agency for your client. It’s a balance between giving them “too much” thereby creating an over reliance on you and providing them enough of a spark to get them started that guides their own planning.

Giving a sense of agency and empowering clients to find their own path to solution focus thinking is a great tool to enhance future development. I ask clients to think of similar events in which they have faced both positive and negative experiences that can help shape their future and current thinking and set actions accordingly.

Learning plans can be invaluable especially for individuals who are highly focused on working on the development of specific skills where they see a tangible reward or step change. What is often lacking in learning plans is application of the adult learning theory of 70/20/10. 70% of learning happens on the job, 20% of learning is from a coach/mentor and only 10% is formal education or training. The easiest thing to include in development plans however, is taking a course or getting formal education as it has an actionable start and end date. I challenge clients to think of how they can capitalize on the 70% of workplace learning as it can be the most accessible form of learning and will have the most impact.

Once a client defines their ideal life vision, the destination is defined, making the path more obvious. Then together we define the next practical step. It's a collaboration to form a plan for the skills and mindsets needed on their path. My aim is transformation into who they need to become to achieve their vision.

Having a clearly outlined learning path with bite sized informative videos and articles that follow a clear sequence is very helpful to keep everyone engaged. Structuring learning around specific topics and having an assigned leader for the process creates sense of urgency.

In addition it is important to highlight blind spots or patterns in the hope of bringing to the forefront behaviours that are counterproductive

Being in the present moment and offering your clients to continuously strive for staying on tasks of the current goal they are working on. Staying present allows the clients to not become so overwhelmed with the destination of the goal, rather embracing the small incremental steps that are apart of the overall journey. The only way to eat an elephant...one bite at a time.

With the individuals that I support and coach, I like to give valuable content, whether, it’s a short, some type of personality quiz, or quote about mindset, and then I create dialogue around that particular topic. By doing so, they are integrating through their own thought process what they have learned and collaboration is established also within the group, where it’s more of a each one teach one approach.

For me this is one of the most important aspects. For the client to be able to keep moving themselves forward they need to continue to be self aware and mindful. That comes from getting into the habit of reflection. They need to be able take the action steps and then assess the results and then plan their next positive steps.

Self-reflection is important to recognize the gains and growth that has occurred, but is often the client's least favorite part of the process. I understand completely! When I think of reflection, I think of the countless reflection journal entries I had to complete for different courses and certifications which is just not my thing. Instead of forcing written reflection on those who do not already regularly do it or enjoy it, I approach it through discussion. I'll pose coaching questions about how a different approach has gone, then help them make the connections naturally about how this is different than before. They end up coming to a place of reflection on their own without me forcing it through contrived activities.

Action Learning is a great way to encourage continuous learning. At the end of each session, make them take action on what they have learnt. Putting into practise what they have learnt makes them see first hand how it can be applied in their lives. As they apply it and begin to see the difference it makes in their lives, they begin to be more confident and even open to exploring further.

Challenging current assumptions via specific questions can foster interest to look deeper into the topic. Also facilitating group discussions for the diversity of thought helps to expand and shift thinking.

achieving a growth mindset without overwhelming the client is equally important. I encourage clients to set realistic and achievable bite sized goals. Also rather than using the term goals, l am fond of the concept of achievable milestones or success markers. This small but significant shift in language reinforces the idea that progress is actually attainable and helps the client develop a winning mindset where they also experience perhaps small but frequents wins along their journey and l can testify to this on a personal level. Also celebrating these small victories is key to building confidence, reinforcing positive behaviours, and creating a habit of success. As they see tangible evidence of their progress, they are encouraged.

Growth mindset is very important, especially when we are understanding the impact of how we think! Honestly, providing thought-provoking information allows one to want to know more! I have posted content that helps the people I work with, have a different perspective on their thought process. I also use my very own experience in approaching mindset. For instance, at one point, I had a fixed mindset, and now I operate with a growth mindset. When I provide details about the differences, it opens their eyes and allows them to really self introspect.

It's always a good idea to show a specific example of how continuous learning helped you to achieve a goal or solve a complex issue be it in professional or personal environment. A good analogy would be being a sports person where it's essential to be highly disciplined and perseverant in the learning process to achieve the goals be it a certain new skill or winning a competition. I like to talk about my artistic gymnastics experience and how being disciplined and motivated helped me to achieve even more than I initially planned starting my sports career.

Level Up Approach - Assigning learning goals for yourself - Keep evolving in your learning cycle, by sharing your learning starting from problem, experiments, mistakes, lesson learned and resolutions. - Sharing the learning will give you more ideas about the other solutions you don't know.

Providing Feedback Offering constructive feedback and support to help clients identify areas for improvement. Constructive criticism can be a powerful motivator for growth. It can help individuals understand their strengths and weaknesses, make necessary improvements, and stay motivated in their learning journey. It's important to adapt one's feedback approach to each client's unique needs and personality while keeping the focus on their development and learning objectives.