What L&D can learn from Nigella?

"I don't believe you can ever really Cook unless you love eating" Nigella Lawson

I have been giving lots of thinking of how learning works and while making a particularly joyous dessert laced with tonnes of booze and chocolate it suddenly sprung to mind I learn to cook/bake exactly the way I learn at work.

With a spoon in my hand and chocolate on my chin, I started writing all this down.

In my eyes Nigella Lawson has one of the most successful learning infrastructures I have come across, we do not necessarily value it because for the most part its entertainment but if you look at the comments on her website, books etc the number of people she has taught to cook can not be ignored.

Why is Nigella the perfect example of a learning offering that works?

* She starts her recipes with an emotional connection, humour, lust, jealousy among others.

* She includes an attractive photo reinforcing the emotion above or the possibility of what you might make if you complete the recipe

* She makes clear what you will need to make the recipe

* She adds informal tips to go the extra mile

* Reinforces the why (it's gonna taste good) through the recipe.

* She keeps it as simple as possible with a step by step process.

Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, Involve me and I Learn - Benjamin Franklin

In the modern age her books and hour long TV shows shouldn't exist, we are constantly told bookshops are dying, people don't read anymore, millennials have 2 second attention spans yet we buy more recipe books and watch more TV from a wider range of sources than we ever have.

The benefits of slowing down with a book or of watching normal-ish people do something with a bit of effort we could do is very attractive to most people (if going by book sales and viewing figures anyway)

On top of this, we now attend more cookery classes than we ever have, they have a simple format, local experts (usually off MasterChef) who have already learnt the skill we are trying to learn (probably recently), you create something or multiple things with people you don't know in nice places with coffee or wine.

All of this content and events are indexed by Google, available on any device with money, time & want being your only restriction to how much of it you personally do.

So if learning was to copy this what would it do?

1. Start with connecting an emotion with the why of any process or learning in an entertaining way.

2. Make sure you give everything needed to complete process or learning. i.e. don't send someone to an HTML & CSS workshop without a laptop.

3. Provide as simple a process you can with the fewest steps.

4. Add in extra tips/tasks around this process for when the learner is comfortable

5. Reinforce why this process/learning matters throughout (You will make more sales/save money/time)

6. Make it simple to access anywhere

7. Support the process with experiences face to face or very high-quality digital content.

The final piece of this puzzle is marketing, Nigella's marketing machine is phenomenal from the websites that look great on any device to the level of Search engine optimisation, BBC TV shows that make you either want her or want to be her and finally her personality ultimately she's a brand and a very visible one at that. Learning can leverage this by changing its brand, we no longer deliver training by request but instead build things for people to use as and when needed.

Bring people together, get them to create something together they can take away (figuratively or physically), make process support easy to find and self serve, empower people with budget to spend on things you can not possibly provide and experiences only they value.

Keep all of this in mind when designing your learning offering and you will be rolling in engagement and ROI like Nigella is.

As always please do challenge me on the above, I am conscious it is not my day job to muse about these things but I do try to keep notes and this one evolved from a number of conversations with clients and being home more than usual (due to a broken foot not covid).