The tween skin care craze, the death of expertise and personal accountability, and what that means for Learning & Development

If you are the parent of a gal aged 8-88, then you likely saw one (or all!) of the following top her 2023 holiday wish list: Brazilian bum-bum creme and/or oils, bronze dew drops, watermelon glow drops, and an array of collagen, retinols, peptides, and Vitamin-C - all unnecessary for their young skin, but all "must-haves," driven by social media influencers.

Here's my take on 3 potential things at the heart of this craze and how it can apply to learning, development, and training. Stay with me.... it might not be as far a stretch as you think!

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1?? Just Say No??

Unfortunately, we live in a culture now where parents are unable to say "no" to their children. (I have NO problem with this, (pun intended), just ask Allegra ??). I've seen it at her middle school - parents not wanting their children to feel pain, unease, unhappiness, discomfort, or disappointment of any kind and, as a result, give in to any number of unreasonable requests and concessions, failing to see that they're actually robbing their kiddos of the skills, grit, and resilience that will inevitably be necessary to navigate REAL life.

Recently, on the TODAY ??show, a dermatologist was featured, talking about the huge influx of mothers flocking to her office with their teens, begging for the expert to "tell my daughter she doesn't need this, that it's not good for her." They're using an expert to say no, because they cannot. (How about not buying it for them in the first place?).

Application to L&D: How many times do we fulfill a stakeholder's request for "training" when we know it's not the proper solution, but comply anyway because of our inability to say "no" or provide a better, more appropriate solution? ????♀?I know. I've been there. Earlier in my career, I couldn't say "no" to the VP of Sales who requested a specific training, was willing to pay for it, and held my performance review ratings tightly in her hand.

Fast-forward more than a decade later to a potential client recently referred to us. They were interested in the cost of 4, 60-minute eLearning courses for their 50-or-so headquarters employees - a request from someone in the C-suite, with little additional information or specifications. When shifting the conversation from order-taking to problem-solving, what we uncovered is that the staff at this start-up actually needed a better understanding of the customer journey, how all of the various siloed functions supported it, and what great interdepartmental hand-offs looked like to reduce re-work and improve customer satisfaction and retention. While we convinced them that the outcomes that mattered didn't need to be met with 240 minutes' worth of modules (!), they were unsuccessful in pitching a better solution to the executive who still held to his vision of 4 modules. Unable to say "no" to their stakeholder, we kindly said "no, thank you" to their request.

2?? ??The death of expertise....

My dad and I are reading Tom Nichols' The Death of Expertise and enjoying the author's observations of the potential causes and consequences of the loss of respect for expert opinion and the truth. Part of this shift, he explains, has eroded in the era of social media and easily accessible search engines that make "doing research" and "having an opinion" a basic and equivalent right for all. Because I watched a YouTube video on how to jumpstart my car, I attempted it to solve my "no start" problem, never even considering a problem with the starter or alternator, which a trained technician would rule out with a proper diagnosis.

In the dermatologist example above, it's important to note that the primary experts influencing opinions are MARKETERS (social media influencers and the cosmetic companies), not the MEDICAL community, whose inputs hold less weight and credibility.

Application to L&D: How often do we embrace trendy training methods (AR/VR headsets, simulated environments, gamification, generic "trust" and "candor" workshops) without ensuring accountability for outcomes? Saying "yes" to popular solutions might provide immediate satisfaction and gratification, yet we're often left disappointed due to a lack of sustained performance and business impact.

3?? ?...Or is it?

Experts may still be needed.

Just as the mothers and tweens rushed to the dermatologist to "fix" the fact that some girls have experienced unintended rashes and acne as a result of using these trending products, those of us in L&D need to take better accountability for the "training" we buy. We need to commit to working with experts.

Application to L&D: How much did you invest in your training in 2023? And how much of a capability gap (the gap in performance between your best employees and your average), despite that investment, still exists? Those training solutions didn't work. How much longer will your organization tolerate throwing good money after bad on solutions that fail to impact performance?

At Exemplary Performance, we are experts in performance improvement. We have a proven track record of driving business results by modeling your best performers and our efforts are always self-funded. Reach out to us today to discuss how we can help your organization.