Still Recovering From the Knowledge Age?

It feels great to grow and become better at what we do. However, one remnant of the Knowledge Age (the over-focus on content delivery) is still obscuring opportunities to accelerate learning across industries. This article explores the stick-in-the-mud and how to remove it.

The Knowledge Age

Do you remember the hype around the Knowledge Age? It was a cry of independence from a coal burning world of industrialism. The knowledge age told us what was in our brains was more important than the physical capacity of our muscles. And I agree for the most part.

To participate in the knowledge age we bought and read books, memorized facts, and watched a lot of video courses. Much good came of this. And sometimes it went a little too far. Sometimes we were caught reading without application, memorizing useless facts, and pursuing analysis to paralysis.

The Information Age

Since then we’ve taken on a new “age” named The Information Age (A.K.A. The Digital Age) after the abundance of information and digital data available. And some have announced new eras, including The Experience Age, The Age of Meaning and others.

Yet, for all we gained through the knowledge age and beyond, we haven’t managed to shake a certain little piece of clingy toilet paper from our shoe. We know where we’ve been. Now it’s time to bend down there, tear it free, then and wash our hands of it.

The Clingy Toilet Paper

What is this little piece of clingy toilet paper? It’s knowledge centrism. It’s the belief that knowledge and wisdom are the ultimate goal.

Signs of the Times

Here are some indications that much of our society continues to value knowledge over skill:

1. Academic degrees are typically oriented toward memorizing facts and concepts, mental work, and writing papers. With rare exception, apprenticeships are strictly historic.
2. Like academic courses, corporate training courses are overwhelmingly of the sit down and watch/listen variety. Interaction is typically a let’s talk about this style.
3. Certifications and educational websites are typically similar. We watch videos and trainers. We absorb info. We take tests. Rarely do we do the thing we’re learning about.
4. Books and articles promise that we’ll have it all if we just read the information (and perhaps pass the test). Just sit in the seat long enough, and good things will come.

The Current Era Holds Hope

Whatever we call our current era, it holds an abundance of hope for moving from knowing to doing. The following examples can help us become more skill-oriented, which can have a greater effect on improving performance in our organizations.

1. As trivia game shows include competitions with Watson and other AI platforms (and as the computers win), the glamour of the human “know-it-all” decreases. It begs the question: What can we do with this even-more-accessible knowledge to better help other humans?
2. Did someone say AI? Artificial intelligence (AI) platforms including Google, Siri, Alexa, and chatbots of all types are helping to automate the process of accessing information so that humans spend less time learning just to hold knowledge in the mind for others to access. This allows humans to leverage information more efficiently for strategizing, higher level decision making, and creating better ways of life.
3. Trades (e.g. electricians and plumbers) still offer apprenticeships. You work alongside a more experienced professional in a hands-on environment. We need more of these.
4. Sports coaches don’t just hand their athletes a book and ask for a paper at the end of the season. They ask athletes to perform, they give feedback, then they repeat the cycle. We can use this cycle (which some call Deliberate Practice) in many other learning contexts.
5. Software simulations are increasingly popular. They allow learners to attempt the process in a safe, sandbox environment before setting them loose in the live environment. Simulations have a huge opportunity in many untapped environments.
6. In the talent acquisition industry, recruiters and hiring managers are now asking for a replay of relevant experience, for example: “Can you tell me of a time when a project was running behind schedule, and how you handled it?” This is a huge improvement on the less effective questions: Do you know about X? and Do you know how to do Y? It asks the candidate to prove they know how to do Y, which proves they know about X. This method of behavioral questioning can be utilized in every industry.
7. Speech and debate courses and clubs (like ToastMasters) learn by doing. Members of the group take turns standing up and practicing the principles. Peers give a critique. It may sound uncomfortable, and it’s an extremely effective model.

Summary

Although the vast majority of the adult learning industry is still stuck in the mire of the knowledge age (hyper-focused on the delivery of content knowledge) there are many innovators who use advanced methods to accelerate performance improvement.

AI is helping to shift focus from humans as knowledge-retrieval mechanisms to humans as skillful, creative agents, making a better world for tomorrow. Successful models, including apprenticeships, and simulations help us leverage cycles of practice with feedback to help each learner improve performance faster. And nothing feels better than becoming better today than you were yesterday. Not just knowing better, doing better.