This makes SO much sense! Our Talent Development group talks with leaders and employees about “learning where you are” and “learning in the moment.” We are also providing ways for “Pull” learning to happen. At the same time, employees want to be given a curriculum, to be told what formal learning opportunities are available. Do employees prefer the “Push” approach, even when “Pull” opportunities are available?
Jay Cross Post author
Paula, my reading on your question is that people don’t know what they like; they like what they know.
When you are accustomed to taking directions, you can lose initiative. I have a section in the new Informal Learning Fieldbook on this. In fact, I’ll go grab a piece of it now.
“People who are spoon-fed learn nothing but the shape of the spoon. Bank employees were held hostage for six days by robbers of Kreditbanken in Stockholm, Sweden, in September of 1973. The hostages became emotionally attached to their captors and defended them after being released. About 27% of victims succumb to what’s now called Stockholm Syndrome.
Six months later, heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley by a left-wing urban guerrilla gang called the Symbionese Liberation Army. Patty was
blindfolded, imprisoned in a narrow closet and physically and sexually abused. Two and a half months after the kidnapping, she was photographed holding an M-1 carbine
during a bank robbery. When arrested, Patty listed her occupation as “urban guerrilla.”
When it comes to learning, many workers suffer from Stockholm syndrome. They’re accustomed to putting their minds on hold, relinquishing control to the trainers. They
leave their curiosity at the door. They prefer spoon-feeding to foraging on their own.
Some consider workshops the ideal environment for catching up on email; others treat an off-site meeting as a mini-vacation. Of course, there are also some great training
experiences, masterful instructors, and diligent students but not enough. Put in the sway of trainers, most workers passively wait for instructions.
Escaping Stockholm to become a self-motivated learner requires new skills and attitudes. The attitudes come from a collaborative culture: optimism, self-confidence, curiosity, resilience, purpose, and autonomy. The necessary skills include:
• Learning how to learn
• Critical thinking & conceptualization
• Pattern recognition & making meaning
• Design thinking
• Working with one another, co-creation
• Navigating complex environments
• Software literacy”
Jay, this is VERY helpful. Thanks for taking the time to help me understand what I am observing and to shed light on how to evolve toward a new way of learning.
Hi Jay,
I absolutely love this post! So simple, yet really gets the message across with your graphics.
This makes SO much sense! Our Talent Development group talks with leaders and employees about “learning where you are” and “learning in the moment.” We are also providing ways for “Pull” learning to happen. At the same time, employees want to be given a curriculum, to be told what formal learning opportunities are available. Do employees prefer the “Push” approach, even when “Pull” opportunities are available?
Paula, my reading on your question is that people don’t know what they like; they like what they know.
When you are accustomed to taking directions, you can lose initiative. I have a section in the new Informal Learning Fieldbook on this. In fact, I’ll go grab a piece of it now.
“People who are spoon-fed learn nothing but the shape of the spoon. Bank employees were held hostage for six days by robbers of Kreditbanken in Stockholm, Sweden, in September of 1973. The hostages became emotionally attached to their captors and defended them after being released. About 27% of victims succumb to what’s now called Stockholm Syndrome.
Six months later, heiress Patty Hearst was kidnapped from her apartment in Berkeley by a left-wing urban guerrilla gang called the Symbionese Liberation Army. Patty was
blindfolded, imprisoned in a narrow closet and physically and sexually abused. Two and a half months after the kidnapping, she was photographed holding an M-1 carbine
during a bank robbery. When arrested, Patty listed her occupation as “urban guerrilla.”
When it comes to learning, many workers suffer from Stockholm syndrome. They’re accustomed to putting their minds on hold, relinquishing control to the trainers. They
leave their curiosity at the door. They prefer spoon-feeding to foraging on their own.
Some consider workshops the ideal environment for catching up on email; others treat an off-site meeting as a mini-vacation. Of course, there are also some great training
experiences, masterful instructors, and diligent students but not enough. Put in the sway of trainers, most workers passively wait for instructions.
Escaping Stockholm to become a self-motivated learner requires new skills and attitudes. The attitudes come from a collaborative culture: optimism, self-confidence, curiosity, resilience, purpose, and autonomy. The necessary skills include:
• Learning how to learn
• Critical thinking & conceptualization
• Pattern recognition & making meaning
• Design thinking
• Working with one another, co-creation
• Navigating complex environments
• Software literacy”
Jay, this is VERY helpful. Thanks for taking the time to help me understand what I am observing and to shed light on how to evolve toward a new way of learning.