Dove Nest Group

And Repeat……practice and developing talent

“Ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.”  Malcolm Gladwell Outliers

Gladwell’s view on attaining greatness is frequently cited as a formula for becoming expertly skilled in a competitive environment. So what are the implications for this model, for developing talent in organisations?

Whilst the above quote is just a soundbite, and doesn’t give full explanation of Gladwell’s theories, it does reinforce the common held view that ‘practice makes perfect’.

In our experience, giving participants practical opportunities to apply new skills and competencies has always made for a more successful programme. Experiential learning is a key: where participants get the chance to put their learning into practice. Not only does this work in terms of reinforcing the learning, but also, experiential sessions can give rise to unexpected learning. That is, by putting the learning into a practical situation, participants often learn more than they bargained for.

Clearly, this isn’t rocket science, but merely common sense. But this sense doesn’t always seem to translate into the reality of resources actually being invested in learning programmes.

Research back in 2009 suggested that organisations invest more in the actual learning event itself than anything else. Its hardly surprising; taking employees out of their normal environment, wanting to motivate, inspire and add new skills, means that the stakes are high. Employers and employees expect a lot from such a learning event. However, there is evidence to suggest that what happens after the event, is even more important.

In terms of learning effectiveness, post-event follow up contributes a massive 50% to overall effectiveness of learning. It seems that Gladwell’s theory, common sense and the evidence all come to the same conclusion: that practice is essential in acquiring new skills and competencies. So does reality reflect the theory?

In a 2006 survey, the biggest single contributor to failure reported by respondents was; a lack of opportunity to apply what they’d learned and an ineffective culture of follow up. So So even though we understand that practice is important, it doesn’t always happen. Harvard Business Review provides a useful insight as to why that might be the case:

 “The problem was that even well-trained and motivated employees could not apply their new knowledge and skills when they returned to their units, which were entrenched in established ways of doing things”. – HBR 2016 ‘Why leadership training fails’

So it’s not only follow up that is important, the organisation culture has a huge influence on whether learning is effective. So culture, context and values have to be considered in the design, execution and follow up of any learning programme. At Dove Nest, we adopt a 5 stage process: immerse, integrate, design, execute, embed / evolve.

Right at the start we invest time to understand, listen to and ask questions of our clients. By doing so, we not only ensure that both explicit and latent needs are identified, we also gain insight into how the organisation works. Then we integrate those needs into the context of the wider organisation – the stakeholders, the relationships between groups, the culture, in order to understand the implications for a learning programme.  This thread of culture and context sensitivity runs throughout the other 3 stages of the programme. This makes sure that the programme fits the needs of both the participants, and the wider organisation. As a result, our clients tell us that more of their participants put into practice what they have learned.

So, to make the most effective learning programme, the implications for organisations of practice and learning could be summarised as:

For more information on the holistic approach to practical learning and the importance of culture, please visit our website https://www.dovenest.co.uk , email us enquiries@dovenest.co.uk, or call us on 015395 67878