Learner Engagement – What would Barbie do?

At the end of July, Wimbledon turned pink! Normally the colours were a tennis’y’ mix of white purple and green but this year move over Vondrou?ová and Alcaraz, Barbie and Ken had come to Centre Court (at least to the Centre Court shopping centre!).

It wasn’t just the toy shops whose windows had become rose tinted–charity shops and supermarkets, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram feeds, were all trending pink in my hometown.

How did a plastic doll manage to engage such a diverse mix of devotees at such a local level? Many on the streets of my hometown had probably never played with a Barbie, but they sure as hell were engaging with the brand!

But that wasn’t always the case–Barbie has faced marketing backlash since she dived into toy shops in her black and white swimming costume back in 1959. She was new and different, the first adult doll aimed at pre teens, mimicking the glamour of the current day celebrities–the kids loved her, the parent’s hated her!

She might have been different but in the 60’s and 70’s she was accused of not being realistic and in the 80’s and 90’s of not being representative. Over time the brand adapted, listening and responding to customer change–now Barbie is available in 250 careers, skin tones, etc etc.

What would Barbie do with L&D’s biggest challenge?

I have been fascinated with the discussion around Mattel’s marketing strategies in the press over the last month and keep coming back to one of the biggest challenges we have in L&D: ‘learner’ engagement. We have been thinking about new and different approaches to providing learning that are realistic in the ways that they connect with individuals in their flow of work and are representative and relevant to the task at hand.

For the past 20 years I have been tracking those effective L&D practices that lead to improved business impact. Whilst we focus on programmes and initiatives, not dolls, I couldn’t help notice a few things that Barbie might teach us about improving ‘learner’ engagement that go way beyond campaigns, posters and pink!

Here are some of my observations–I’d love to hear yours!

• Re-focus on the why and not the how

Despite all the changes to the product over the years, it was interesting to read that even eight years ago, Lisa McKnight, EVP and Global Head of Barbie and Dolls at Mattel, felt that Barbie had lost relevance in society. She said “We weren’t talking about the purpose behind the brand, why Barbie matters, why she exists”.[LO1]?

Boy did this resonate! In L&D we are super excited to share the new features of our programmes and platforms, our dolls and accessories, as we adapt them to the changing modern world around us, but how many times do we focus on our ‘why’?

For Barbie, that ‘why’ was always about “inspiring the limitless potential in every girl". It resonates with every little girl and anyone else who has known a little girl![LO2]

• What is our ‘L&D why’?

“For me it is also about unlocking potential–in individuals, in teams and in organisations. It is about ensuring we’re not just performing but that we are equipped and ready for today and tomorrow.”

Tapping into our why starts to stimulate connection–not only with our learners but with everyone else who knows them.

• Embrace your audience

Let’s talk about learner engagement for a moment. Our management systems typically dictate learner engagement stories. Have individuals completed? Attended? Dropped out? Passed? Recommended? Yes, the Barbie brand will be looking at similar measures of dolls sold and be busy tracking their social media dashboards.

But tapping into their why has welcomed a whole new audience to the Barbie brand. These are individuals who share the vision or are intrigued by the hype and have now been provided with sticky ways of engaging with that vision.

So for me I think it is time to stop talking about learner engagement and start thinking about learning engagement. Let’s release our creativity to explore how we can engage a wide range of stakeholders in our ‘L&D why’ rather than spending the energy we have driving a few learners into our programmes.

• Shift culture – the role of active noticing

Tapping into our why also makes us less committed to our past and more curious about how we can achieve our vision in the future. The Barbie brand listened and responded to customer concerns over the years, they did their research, their dolls adapted to fit with the modern world. They made inroads into personalisation as a result.

But they didn’t just actively listen to users and customers, they also actively noticed what was going on in society and responded to that–sometimes well and sometimes badly. New dolls representing female contributions to Covid, STEM science, entertainment and inspirational figures from the past all tapped into existing global conversations and movements addressing social and environmental issues and the celebration of women.

We talk a lot about changing learning culture in L&D but for me that is a distraction and fruitless task to take on.

From day one in my studies[LO3] I found that high performing L&D teams notice the culture in which they operate and harness existing energies and opportunities within that to drive better learning habits.

• Use powerful collaborations

There is no doubt of the success of collaboration in shifting the Barbie product line–prior to the film their collaborations had shifted the core design and appeal of the dolls themselves.?

Collaborations with Puma, Coach, and Forever 21, all opened up a whole new range of accessories that users could bring into their own ‘flow of living’! In the last few months we have even seen some gamification (hello Barbie Xbox).?

Prior to the film, these were all successful ways of driving fresh Barbie dollars into Mattel. And to be honest, they are all approaches that I have seen L&D consider when modernising the services we provide to our organisations.

But leading up to the film, an additional 100 brand collaborations were announced–from food to insurance–organisations who are now helping to co-create a movement that spreads the word.

Powerful collaborations bring very different parties together around mutual purpose and mutual benefits.

High performing learning teams know how to co-create value–not just aligning to someone else’s need but working together to achieve a common goal. The workplace skills agenda is a great opportunity for new powerful collaborations.

• Generate a movement to spread the word

Powerful collaborations might drive a movement, but the trouble with a movement is that it can get out of hand!! Movements take off when others own the ideas and then take them in new directions. Barbie clearly ignited some ideas ahead of the film with her selfie creator and social media challenges. Local cinemas encouraged local people to dress up and be part of something bigger–these events may have started with some pink fun but help contribute to bigger discussions around important themes.

Barbie was also very happy to let go of owning the message and let others interpret and piggy back on the momentum. The Barbenheimer meme was unforeseen (generated by the public) but the knock on effect was welcomed and encouraged.

In terms of learning engagement, there is much to be said for kick starting a change but then being willing to step back and see where others take it. In the last few months, Barbie didn’t own the brand, those on the streets did.?

The question is, in L&D are we willing to ignite a movement of learning engagement that we don’t control?

• Letting go

Which leads me to a final observation–McKnight and the Barbie team had to take some vulnerable steps to be meaningful in a new world and connect with new audiences. Letting go of storytelling reins to Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie was a risk. Sharing not only the brand story but the slip ups and demonstrating a willingness to have that represented in the film shows a level of transparency and openness that in itself will engage new audiences. It also encourages accountability which isn’t always pleasant! The backlash on the new Weird Barbie doll is a great example of how easy it is to lose people when we revert to type![LO4]

But overall, being more vulnerable worked because of Barbie’s commitment to her why. New conversations have been had about the big themes, not just the dolls. New people have joined in the conversations and what’s more, it also contributed to the coffers as well!

If we want our organisations to own and contribute to conversations about learning engagement, we need to be prepared to let go of our definition of what this means and lean into what is meaningful to those we want to engage.

Learning engagement–tapping into our purpose

One of the most striking statistics that jumped out at me when conducting the latest CIPD ?Learning at Work study was the fact that we are drawn to L&D because it provides us with a meaningful career.[LO5]

Our purpose is not about creating pink campaigns and plastic replicas of the real world in an attempt to drive behavioural change. It's about finding ways to release the potential of others so they are equipped and ready for today and tomorrow.??

“Our full time job is to ensure that Barbie endures and that she continues to stay relevant” said Lisa McKnight.

Our job in L&D is to ensure we do the same for learning!?

I’ve had fun observing the Barbie brand this summer and thinking about ‘what would Barbie do?’ to support learning engagement.

These are just some of the lessons that I have observed. I’d love to hear yours!

[LO1] https://www.marketingweek.com/how-barbie-got-comfortable-being-uncomfortable-to-strengthen-its-brand/

[LO2] https://corporate.mattel.com/brand-portfolio/barbie

[LO3] https://www.learningchangemakers.com/research_whitepapers/linking-learning-to-business/ ?

[LO4] https://screenrant.com/weird-barbie-doll-mattel-movie-miss-point-character/

[LO5] https://bit.ly/CIPDLaW2023