Make it Stick

As with every high school kid, you probably recall those golden years as a sophomore or junior when you had to prepare for the SATs – yes those “Saturday” tests – and memorize a plethora of vocabulary words to apply to the multiple choice section of the exam. At some point, your history teacher also had you memorize all the countries and capitals on top of the fifty states and capitals. Simultaneously, your English teacher made you recite the AP style guide forwards and backwards before having you slap together pages of outlines that would ultimately lead up to your end of year thesis. These folks really put you through the wringer and for what? Can you recall a quarter or even a tenth of those vocabulary words you memorized years ago? Can you state the capital of Slovenia, Zambia, or Turkey? To this day, can you properly format a citation? If you’re like me, you probably can’t recall half of those answers today despite those lists of memory schemes and pneumonic devices you put together.

One of today’s biggest challenges begins with this “carrot and stick” mentality within the traditional education system. If you study hard, commit an exorbitant amount of data to memory, then regurgitate it on an exam, you’ll probably walk out with a decent grade and maybe even luck out with an A-. The ability to dangle a letter grade in exchange for temporarily testing your memory and recall can oftentimes result in a learned behavior that encourages students to game the system in favor of reporting grades that don’t exactly coincide with their overall learning capabilities. It’s not until you pair these learnings with class participation and some educated guesses do you begin to bump yourself into a category beyond just a letter grade and actually begin absorbing the information. Even then, you don’t fully comprehend that knowledge until you are able to participate in stimulating conversations and apply it to everyday life. Only then and through what Deming would call “continuous learning” and continuous application of that knowledge do you begin to internalize those learnings and make it stick.

Of course the memory trickery application and regurgitation doesn’t hold true in all cases, but in many, if we start with this type of learned behavior early on and carry it through our prime, it will ultimately influence future endeavors like obtaining a higher degree, securing a job and moving up through the ranks.

It's a game of numbers

It’s a game of numbers. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed teams game the system to achieve their quarterly revenue goals, meet their forecasted budget, and shift some numbers here and there to exceed their annual performance reviews. Similar to an energy boost or that extra jolt you receive from your daily dose of caffeine, the good feeling is only temporary. At the end of the day, those numbers still remain at a constant and you, along with your co-conspirators might have left this quarter unscathed but ultimately, further complicated tomorrow’s outlook. While traditional institutions and work environments have spawned a generation of hard workers, go-getters, and industry leaders, it has not fallen short of these creative problem-solvers that continually game the system and ultimately deceive themselves and their fellow colleagues.

What can we do to influence tomorrow’s generation to show them that it’s not all about numbers, grades, and near-perfect rankings? What can we do to encourage people to anchor what they learn and make it stick? How can we get people to insist on improving their work and learning environment instead of competing against it?

Learning and Development

It starts at the core. Traditional educational systems have been transformative in nature and have laid the foundation to help guide people to achieve future endeavors. They have set the stage for students to actively think through everyday problems, come up with an action plan and formulate questions that will get them one step closer to realizing their goal. While the core fundamentals of teaching having given students the tools to succeed, these educational programs and organizations need to evolve with the ever-changing learning environment and behavioral needs of people and their interaction with society and technology. At one time, it was the Internet that revolutionized the manner in which people research and communicate to the world. And now it is a slew of mobile devices and gizmos that a healthy majority of students carry in their back pocket. Institutions need to tailor and adapt their teaching mechanisms to thoroughly engage, keep up with and stay ahead of the modern student if they want to successfully help students make it stick.

Good Idea

It’s more about empowerment. What was once a routine to get out of bed and start school or work at 8:00am sharp is now becoming more of an exception and beside the norm. Studies are finding that with steeper competition and greater demand to participate in activities outside of book learnings, people are not only encouraged to do more, but they are obligated to find ways to make themselves more outstanding. With increased pressures to succeed and get more exposure outside your day-to-day learnings, institutions must step back and reevaluate their standards to accommodate students and foster a more conducive learning environment.

At the same time, corporate environments are also moving away from their set of rigid guidelines in order to maintain their employees and keep up with the competition. Companies are now competing against each other for social and cultural recognition, and holding the title of one of the “best places to work”. They outdo each other with perks such as unlimited vacation policies, full coverage and benefit packages, tuition reimbursement, fully catered gourmet lunches and dinners, and more – all to retain their hardworking employees. If employees are happy, they’re more apt to be creative and think outside the box. They are motivated to learn, eager to problem-solve and more willing to push their ideas and quite possibly yours one step further. Companies that are willing to adapt to their employees’ needs and adopt more of an agile framework and environment will not only empower them, but give them the drive and motivation they need to feel autonomous.

Equipping people with the tools they need and enabling them to think creatively creates a sense of autonomy that can bring people to their peak performance.

It encourages autonomy. Equipping people with the tools they need and enabling them to think creatively creates a sense of autonomy that can bring people to their peak performance. It’s easy to get lost in the daily grind and get caught up in paperwork, but is it beneficial to both the company and employee to simply fulfill a list of requirements and maintain the status quo. For the short term, it will get you through the week, month and year. But to stay head of the competition, stay afloat with changes in technology and take your company to the next level, it’s not enough to put a check in the checkbox. Companies such as Google are now offering some of the employees the autonomy to create their own work-related project and dedicate 10 to 20 percent of actual “work” time to completing it. And the results? Creating new modern day applications such as Google Voice and Google Drive that now dominate usage not only among individuals but corporations of all sizes. It’s this sense of enrichment and fulfillment that people desire to embody and feel that encourages people to rise to the challenge of learning new ideas and applying them to everyday occurrences to create something new.

Learning is a lifelong process and sometimes you just need to break away from the rules and rituals in order to connect with people. It’s the ability to adapt learning habits, develop new techniques, and listen to the people and environment around us that will ultimately make it stick.