Today is Tip #3 in the series 5 Top tips for Embedding those new Leadership skills and actually value from your training.

We have covered #1 - Apply your new skills immediately, which discusses the importance of application before we forget the whole thing and gives us suggestions for how to apply. Tip #2 covered Visualising your new skills which explores the importance of visualising the PROCESS of successfully putting your new skills into practice, avoiding pitfalls and enabling good planning.
If you missed tip 1&2, check them out by scrolling down.
Tip #3 covers the importance of socialising new learning with others to reinforce neural pathways and maximise knowledge retention.

Have you ever found yourself explaining to another person something you have just learnt and in the process of doing so you find yourself immediately feeling more confident and knowledgeable? Assuming you learnt the subject comprehensively in the first place, this will be true for almost all of us, and for some it will be a crucial step in understanding the content. For many of us we get that feeling of suddenly everything becoming clearer.
There are good reasons for this phenomenon:
Studies have shown that whilst the push (knowledge in) of learning is of course necessary, repeated "pushing" does not make significant difference to retention. Karpicke and Roediger (2008)* found in their research that the retrieval of knowledge (pull) from the brain had a very large positive effect. In other words, once we have learnt content (built the neural pathway) repeating the learning only makes a small difference, but once we start regurgitating this knowledge, the pathways are significantly stronger. So why not simply test yourself after you have learnt something?
Yes, this can work for some. For others, sitting down in front of a self-imposed test is about as appealing as wearing a COVID mask on a humid summer day. As social creatures we long for interaction with others and having others hear and acknowledge our learning elicits positive emotions. It could be for reasons such as approval seeking or validation, or enjoying sharing knowledge, or simply because it is easier and more enjoyable than a paper test. It also supplies an opportunity to build on learning with inputs or examples from others.
Those of you who follow me know that I am all about practical implementation of knowledge, so let me give you a few tips to create retrieval of knowledge events after your learning.
1. Perhaps you are an L&D professional, or sponsor of training in the workplace and you have multiple employees attending the same training. You could arrange a discussion group in the first few days post the course to socialise what has been learnt and how everyone intends on applying it.
2. Arrange to teach someone what you have learnt. If you lead a team perhaps you can provide them with the highlights. Or you could identify someone in your workplace who could really benefit from the knowledge and ask them if they would like you to teach it to them. 
3. If all else fails, when you get home after your training, tell your partner, friends, kids etc what you have learnt. Even if you only cover it for 5 mins, it will start to reinforce your learning. You will also find that by explaining things to a lay-person, someone who does not have much prior knowledge, it will make you put concepts into everyday language, requiring more depth of understanding of the topic.

So, bounce out of your learning with the intent to talk to someone else about your new found knowledge as soon as you can. It will do wonders for your ability to remember it and use it well in the future, making sure you get maximum bang for your training buck.

To ensure you don't miss tip 4 & 5, follow MindCraft Leadership on LinkedIn or Facebook, or connect with me on LinkedIn. I'm also always happy to chat about my blog topics or anything Leadership Development related, so reach out here to connect. http://www.mindcraftleadership.com/contact.html

*Karpicke, J. Roediger, H. 2008, The Critical Importance of Retrieval for Learning, in Science, New York.

Today's focus is on tip #2 - Visualising your new leadership skills in the actual work setting. If you missed tip #1, you can find the first article by scrolling below. 

Tip #2 Visualise your new skills in the actual work setting

If you read tip #1 you would know that ideally you would immediately practice your new skills in your actual workplace in real situations. But if your circumstance limits this opportunity, visualisation is a terrific technique to bridge this gap.

Visualisation has long been used as a way to prepare your mind for achievement. It's used extensively in athletics and other sports for example. It is also touted in self-help books as a way to gain that promotion or make yourself inexplicably wealthy. In business we spend lots of time working on company visions in order to inspire and unite our teams.

There is one thing that the self-help books won't usually tell you, it is crucial to know HOW to visualise in order to actually succeed. In fact this has been researched with a clear conclusion that you need to visualise the process rather than the outcome. In other words, it's not going to do you any good to visualise yourself gleefully throwing millions of dollars up in the air, what is far more useful is visualising the PROCESS that you will go through in order to get those riches. The research (Pham and Taylor, 1999) demonstrated that those who visualised the process had an improved ability to plan, were more able to manage anxiety relating to the task and had significantly better outcomes than those who focused on the outcome only.

If you think about this it makes sense. After all, visualising the process will help you identify potential obstacles, look for efficiencies and mentally/emotionally prepare for scenarios. Focusing on the outcome will potentially create a more blaze attitude and certainly does nothing to create a plan.

So what should you do in relation to your precious leadership skills training (or any training for that matter) to visualise success? 

Ideally you will visualise real work situations whilst still in the training. A decent training program should leave some spaces to do this, but if not, spend just a few minutes in your coffee/lunch break or at the end of the day applying the learned skills to any challenges you are facing in the workplace. 

For example, you might have just learnt about effective communication. So in your break you might draft an email that you know has to go out to your team that leverages the new techniques. Then imagine yourself delivering a talk to your team about something coming up. How do they respond? What do you look and sound like when you are talking. What could you do differently to improve the outcome?

Or you might have learnt about the best leadership styles to apply in different situations, so you could apply this to someone in your team that hasn't been performing to expectations. Make notes on how you might adapt your style to better meet their needs. Envision actually having the conversation with them, take note of their possible reactions and how you would respond. Create the whole journey in your head leading to the best possible outcome.

So go ahead and start visualising your journey to fulfilling your hopes and dreams (and your leadership success too :)).

Caroline Edwards-Chantry is the founder and principal of MindCraft Leadership and is passionate about providing proven and practical leadership performance training, coaching and consultancy that actually returns value. You can contact Caroline for a free, confidential chat by emailing [email protected], or use the contact form by clicking here. 

One of the biggest frustrations I encountered during my prior corporate career was getting quality leadership skill development, both for myself and my team. This is one of the things that drove me towards a career and ultimately building a business around leadership development.

Leadership performance has never been under as much scrutiny as it is right now. Millennials will make up the largest proportion of the workforce by 2025 in Australia, and it is well documented that their expectations of leaders differ from historical attitudes. And these new attitudes are rubbing off on their Gen X colleagues too. Shareholders are increasingly concerned about "how" you do business, it's not just about the profit line anymore. Technology development is now so rapid that rigid long-term plans are passe and leaders are expected to be uber flexible, creative and innovative thinkers. And then on top of that, the COVID19 pandemic has us all looking to leaders to step up and guide us in a completely unpredictable world. 

For very good reason, plenty of dollars are spent on leadership skill development by both companies and individuals. According to TrainingIndustry.com, globally the size of the leadership education industry is estimated at US$366 Billion. But what exactly is the return on that huge investment both for the people it seeks to develop and the organisations that are looking for value?

How many times have you seen or experienced yourself that scenario where someone heads off excitedly on a 1,2,3+ day leadership program. They are taught some great, well evidenced tips, techniques, concepts and frameworks. The excitement builds..."this is going to transform the way I lead my team"..."I'm finally going to be able to start delegating"..."I'll bring these skills back to the office and I will finally be able to get that promotion"...etc.

The trouble is, by the time you have come back to the workplace, you are on catch up. The time spent out the business on your course means that you now have extra work to catch up on. You think to yourself, I'll spend the next day or two getting ahead and then I'll get onto applying that leadership stuff I learnt. In the meantime an urgent issue has come up. You push back the leadership stuff a few more days, and so on. You get the picture.

By the time you come to actually implementing your new learnings you have probably forgotten a large proportion of it. In fact, after just a few days, an adult will have forgotten about 60% of their new knowledge (learn more about the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve - link below). 

So, how do you ensure your new knowledge is both remembered and implemented? I have also identified some simple tips that everyone can achieve that will take your learning from concept to delivering maximum value to both you and your workplace:

1. Apply your new skills immediately
2. Visualise your new skills in the actual work setting
3. Talk to someone about your learnings
4. Get some Guinea-Pigs
5. Practice practice practice

Today's focus in on #1, and I will do a deep dive on one tip each post, so be sure to follow me for the next top tip.

Tip #1 - Apply your new skills immediately

This one is based directly from the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve (love that name, it's unforgettable!) I quoted above. Although Ebbinghaus concluded that knowledge is rapidly lost after acquiring it, the good news is that if you repeat the learning, or apply the learning, the rate of knowledge loss slows. The more we repeat and apply, the more we retain. Brilliant! So this is why we race back to the office, find some unassuming team member and ply your skills. Well not quite, but you get the gist.

Break it up into smaller chunks
But what about the fact that there will be work backing up waiting for you when you return to the office? This is the reality for most of us. Well what if I said to you that you only need to put 30 minutes aside the next day to review your notes and apply one skill? And then 30 minutes the next day, and so on.... Breaking it up into smaller chunks each day will seem more achievable. And when I say put the time aside, actually put it in your calendar and DO NOT BOOK ANYTHING OVER IT. 

Make it part of your day
The other thing you can do is to look for opportunities in your day to apply the skills. After your wonderful course finishes, take a look in your diary for the next week. What have you got coming up where one of the new skills could help? Make a note of which skill you will apply in your calendar entry then just before you attend, take a quick few minutes to review your notes from the course, then away you go flexing your new expertise.

Get a buddy
If self-discipline and time management are real problems for you, or you just have trouble saying no to those urgent tasks, then getting yourself an accountability buddy is a great idea. One idea could be to use your manager. Tell him or her about the skills you want to apply and set yourself some deadlines. A good boss will happily hold you to account and will likely to pleased that their (or your) investment is being taken seriously. Or find someone you gelled with on the course and be each others accountability buddies.

The weekend is a knowledge killer
Try to avoid going on courses that finish on a Friday. The weekend is a knowledge killer. And if you can't avoid it, look for opportunities to practice your skills at home. Perhaps you have learned how to more effectively delegate. Why not practice on the kids? Maybe you have learnt some great communication techniques, then your spouse or friends could be willing recipients.

The long and short of it is, get your skills practiced as soon as you possibly can. Put small chunks of time aside in your week, look for opportunities in your current schedule, get an accountability buddy and try to avoid courses ending on a Friday. And if all else fails, try delegating to your kids. Good luck with that one!

Stay tuned for tip #2 and please follow me and my business - MindCraft Leadership on LinkedIn. And reach out and contact me if you would like a free confidential chat about your, or your businesses, leadership development needs and ensuring your investment pays off.