Give the Brain a Nudge to Put Leadership Development into Action

How digital technology can help motivate modern learners into adopting more effective leadership behaviors.

Maybe you’ve heard of the “forgetting curve.” It’s a scientific concept that’s critical to getting the most out of any training, including leadership development. The curve suggests, as this article explains, that upon leaving an educational session most employees will forget 50 percent of what they heard within 60 minutes. 

We worry about the short attention spans of today’s “modern learners.” Well, the forgetting curve has been around for, literally, more than 100 years. And it’s as true today as it was back then. In fact, the retention drop-off may be even steeper given the pace and overload of our hyper-informed, digital age. 

So, what to do? Many experts believe the answer to navigating the forgetting curve lies in giving the brain a “nudge” at the right time to recall and act on learnings. At Right Management, we’re working with a partner to harness brain science and technology to help reinforce learning and promote behavior change in the individuals that go through our leader development programs.

The key is a nifty technology called Mindmarker? that sends reinforcement reminders to learners via their smartphones and other digital devices. It works like this: let’s say a manager, Jane, goes through our “Coaching to Unleash Talent” training module, involving fundamental skills for managers to drive effective coaching conversations. As part of the course, Jane will download a Mindmarker app. When the course is complete, she will start receiving notifications on her mobile devices at regular intervals (typically two or three per week) that engage her in recalling program content and putting it into action. Sample reinforcement messages might be:

• “How many coaching conversations have you had since the training program?” and ask her to input a number. 
• “What are the key elements of giving feedback?”

“Plan to give someone feedback next week.” And then a follow-up “How effective was your feedback session on a scale of 1-5? What can you do differently next time?”

Learning reinforcement is a proven way to create behavior change. Remember the “forgetting curve”? (Of course, you do.) The German psychologist who developed it suggested that one way to improve learning retention was through “spaced repetition.” More recently, behaviorists have reinforced the validity of purposeful recollection over set intervals of time to create learnings that stick. In our experience, most people come out of leadership development training with a high level of enthusiasm. But simply having an action plan and good intentions are not enough to help learners apply training to everyday life. That’s where learning reinforcement comes in. Aligned with the program content and designed with the right cadence, they can nudge leaders into moving forward on their action plans and adjusting their behaviors. 

There’s no doubt that learning reinforcement is tailor-made for “modern learners” who prefer to

• Learn virtually via tablet, smartphone or computer rather than simply in a traditional setting, such as a classroom or workshop
• Access content instantaneously 24/7, when they want to learn
• Consume information in shorter, more relevant bites
• Get instant feedback on their progress 
• Engage with stimulating content in “gamified” settings versus learning passively through presentations or lectures 
• Interact within a community so that progress can be shared, compared, and benchmarked with peers

 In addition to learning reinforcement, our approach also provides actionable intelligence on a company’s training efforts. By repeating certain questions (How effective was your feedback session?) and gathering data over time, the responses provide insight into participants’ behavior change. The answers also reveal trends in participants’ understanding and application of course materials. Perhaps 40 percent of respondents are having difficulty with asking powerful questions. That could suggest an area of the training program that needs to be tweaked or reinforced. Ultimately these analytics will let administrators dig into learners’ answers by job function, area, or department to measure progress and hold staff accountable.

We’re also excited about the potential of learning reinforcement messages to give participants access to micro-learning at just the right time. For example, a manager who has scheduled a coaching session with a direct report can be sent a pre-session message with a link to a three-minute video with tips on effective coaching. The manager can refresh his memory with a snippet of information that directly relates to the task at hand. That’s learning made both accessible and relevant. All told, our learners will be able to access 100+ videos around leadership development topics. 

These learning reinforcement and micro-learning capabilities are being integrated into all of Right Management’s Leadership Development modules to create a multi-dimensional learning experience that truly drives behavior change.