Maximising Team Potential through Learning Styles

I have taken this weeks article from a series of workshops I ran for England Athletic Coaches and sports coaches to help them understand how they can lead and coach through the different ways people have of learning. I have adapted it slightly for business leaders (you may want to get a cuppa as it's a bit longer then normal and it is from the work of Honey and Mumford)

We are going to look at how we can get the best out of ourselves and our teams by understanding how we take in information and learn and I will be talking about leading – whoever you are, whatever level you are at you lead others. Leading is different from Managing. You need to be able to lead yourself and everyone has their own expertise and will therefore need to lead others at different times.

Why – To explore how recognising our own and other peoples preferred styles – can help us lead and work with them more effectively as we adapt our style for greater benefit.

What – We will be exploring and understanding the styles as defined by Honey and Mumford and how we can recognise and use them.

How – We will look at the traits of each individual style, what gets them into trouble and how to coach it and how you can make sure you are giving a fully rounded learning experience

So now let's get on and do!

Have you ever considered how you learn? Do you prefer to listen to instructions before trying a new task or do you prefer to go straight into it, learning as you go along?

Peter Honey and Alan Mumford developed their learning styles system as a variation on David Kolb’s experiential learning theory in the 1970's.

'Having an Experience'?(stage 1), and?Activists?(style 1): 'here and now', gregarious, seek challenge and immediate experience, open-minded, bored with implementation. - DO

'Reviewing the Experience'?(stage 2) and?Reflectors?(style 2): 'stand back', gather data, ponder and analyse, delay reaching conclusions, listen before speaking, thoughtful. - WHAT

'Concluding from the Experience'?(stage 3) and?Theorists?(style 3): think things through in logical steps, assimilate disparate facts into coherent theories, rationally objective, reject subjectivity and flippancy. - WHY

'Planning the next steps'?(stage 4) and?Pragmatists?(style 4): seek and try out new ideas, practical, down-to-earth, enjoy problem solving and decision-making quickly, bored with long discussions. - HOW

What we need to do as leaders is know where someone gets onto the model and therefore how we can engage them and encourage them to move round to get a full learning experience.

What do we do when we’re working with a team of mixed learning styles or we don’t know someone’s style

You need to be able to cover all the styles in a way that works for them and so when presenting information we don’t follow the learning styles in quite the same way.

Start with the Theorists – they need to know why they are doing something or you will loose them immediately.

Then is the What – give the reflectors a chance to understand the session and to make sense of it before they have to do anything.

The How comes next – the pragmatists will have been able to be patient up to this point but will want to know how the session is going to work before doing it.

Now do it – oh and by the way the Activists haven’t heard anything or very little! They will have been sitting their fidgeting or just going off to start!

This is why it is really important after the session to go back through the Why, What, How so everyone can pick up if they missed part of what you said (or all of it!) this means everyone is getting a fully rounded learning experience.

Traits of an activist – The Doers!

They enjoy the here and now and are happy to be dominated by immediate experiences. They are open minded, not skeptical, and this tends to make them enthusiastic about anything new.

Their philosophy is: "I'll try anything once

Their days are filled with activity. They tackle problems by brainstorming. As soon as the excitement from one activity has died down they are busy looking for the next. They tend to thrive on the challenge of new experiences

They are gregarious people, constantly involving themselves with others

Flexible and open minded

Happy to have a go

Happy to be exposed to new situations

Optimistic about anything new and therefore unlikely to resist change

What gets them into trouble

Tendency to take the immediately obvious action without thinking

Often take unnecessary risks

Tendency to do too much themselves and hog the limelight

Rush into action without sufficient preparation

Get bored with implementation/consolidation

How to work with them

Let them do the activity and work it out as they go

Allow them to experiment and try different approaches

Let them talk about what they are doing and what is/isn’t working for them

Afterwards ask them questions so they can reflect on what they did and start their learning process.

Let them have the brief points of what you are doing for them to think about after and then before the next session get them to tell you what worked and what they are going to do next.

Traits of a Reflector – The What

They collect data, both first hand and from others, and prefer to think about it thoroughly before coming to any conclusion.

Their philosophy is to be cautious. They are thoughtful people who like to consider all possible angles and implications before making a move.

They prefer to take a back seat in meetings and discussions. They enjoy observing other people in action. They listen to others and get the drift of the discussion before making their own points. They tend to adopt a low profile and have a slightly distant, tolerant and unruffled air about them.

When they act, it is part of a wide picture which includes the past as well as the present and others' observations as well as their own.

Careful

Thorough and methodical

Thoughtful

Good at listening to others and assimilating information

What gets them into trouble

The thorough collection and analysis of data about experiences and events is what counts, so they tend to postpone reaching definitive conclusions for as long as possible.

Tendency to hold back from direct participation

Slow to make up their minds and reach a decision

Tendency to be too cautious and not take enough risks

Not assertive - they aren't particularly forthcoming and have no 'small talk'

How to work with them

Let them observe the work (send out an activist!)

Tell them WHAT the work is going to be before hand so they have time to think it through and prepare for it

Let them have space and encourage them to share their experiences and what worked and what didn’t after you have finished

Encourage them to trust themselves to be able to ‘do it’

Traits of a Therorist – Why

They think problems through in a vertical, step by step logical way. They assimilate disparate facts into coherent theories.

They are keen on basic assumptions, principles, theories, models and systems thinking. Their philosophy prizes rationality and logic. "If it's logical, it's good."

Questions they frequently ask are:

"Does it make sense?"

"How does this fit with that?"

"What are the basic assumptions?"

They prefer to maximise certainty

Logical vertical thinkers

Rational and objective

Good at asking probing questions

Disciplined approach

What gets them in trouble

They tend to be perfectionists who won't rest easy until things are tidy and fit into a rational scheme.

Feel uncomfortable with subjective judgements, literal thinking and anything flippant.

Restricted in lateral thinking

Low tolerance for uncertainty, disorder and ambiguity

Intolerant of anything subjective or intuitive

Full of 'should, ought and musts‘

How to work with them

Explain why you are doing a particular task

Give them background information and reference materials so they can prepare for it

Encourage them to test out different theories

Talk about different approaches that you have researched

Get them to share their ideas with other team members to include their perspective and ensure the theory works in practice.

Traits of a Pragmatist – HOW

They positively search out new ideas and take the first opportunity to experiment with applications. They are the sort of people who return from courses brimming with new ideas that they want to try out in practice.

They like to get on with things and act quickly and confidently on ideas that attract them

They are essentially practical, down-to-earth people who like making practical decisions and solving problems. They respond to problems and opportunities 'as a challenge'.

Their philosophy is:

"There is always a better way.“ and "If it works, it's good.“

Keen to test things out in practice

Practical, down-to-earth, realistic

Businesslike - gets straight to the point

Technique oriented

What gets them into trouble

If they cannot see the practical application of the theory.

They tend to be impatient with ruminating and open-ended discussions.

Tendency to reject anything without any obvious application

Not very interested in theory or basic principles

Impatient with waffle

On balance, task oriented, not people oriented

How to work with them

Be clear how the task is linked to their work

Make it as close to real life as possible

Ask them how they will use what they have learnt next time

Keep to proven techniques they know work for them

Keep in mind their goals when planning sessions