The business world moves quickly. The number of new things you need to know to succeed in your role continues to evolve and change at a rapid pace. To remain effective as a leader, you’re not only trying to keep up yourself, you also need to ensure that your team is keeping up. Whether you are on boarding a new hire, coaching a high performer or delivering tough feedback, you’re looking for teachable moments that stick. These golden opportunities are when you drive home critical information.
Behavioral data can tell us a lot about how someone learns most effectively. This information is valuable in day to-day meetings, when designing and delivering training programs, and for ongoing professional development. Next time you’re prepping for a learning conversation, take a look at the person’s PI behavioral assessment Self pattern and consider how their drives influence how they are wired to learn best.
Based on the following behavioral drives in their Predictive Index Self Pattern, people learn most effectively when they:
Low A:
- Have a supportive, encouraging environment.
- Can speak or share their ideas in a safe environment.
- Have freedom from conflict as they learn.
- Are learning something that will help the company or team.
High A:
- Independently figure things out by themselves.
- Focus on the technical aspects of what they’re learning.
- Can overtly challenge the status quo.
- Are learning something that will help them achieve their goals.
Low B:
- Have some quiet time to reflect and think.
- Are able to “make sense” of the information in their own way, on their own terms.
- Internalize the information and relate it to the tasks (or technical pieces) of their job.
High B:
- Discuss it with other people.
- Get others’ ideas about it.
- Are able to see how the information affects people.
- Get opportunities to ask questions of others, particularly experts in the field.
Low C:
- Learn in smaller, more discrete chunks (vs. one long, continuous lesson).
- Have opportunities to jump around from topic to topic.
- Can get up and move around during learning.
- Have the opportunity to take action on their learning soon.
High C:
- Build on familiar knowledge/experience.
- Have the opportunity to stay focused on the learning, with few interruptions.
- Learn through repetition (going over it either mentally or physically).
- Aren’t rushed, and can go at their own pace.
Low D:
- Are responsible for learning the general ideas and concepts, not the details.
- Can approach the learning in their own way, not through a structured, rigid process.
- Learn by doing (trying something new).
- Are allowed to make mistakes.
- Have the freedom to pursue what interests them, even if it’s untried, unorthodox, or out-of-the-box.
High D:
- Can incrementally build upon knowledge they already possess.
- Learn in a safe environment, where they can practice before they’re ultimately responsible for knowing/doing.
- Can avoid blame as a result of any mistakes made during the learning process.
- Have access to references that are specific, detailed, and definitive.