Learning Journeys – why are they important?

Learning, now more than ever, is about how you take the learner on a journey; from their understanding and skills at the starting point through to enabling them to do or think differently by the end.  A one-off learning event or intervention may stay with the learner and influence the way they do things in the short term but, to gain real change, the 21/90 rule states that it takes 21 days to make a habit and 90 days to make it a permanent change.

Our learning journeys at Hemsley Fraser follow the methodology to Excite, Engage, Embed, which are typically spread out over three to six months to ensure that the learning really sticks.

As indicated, the learning journey isn’t just about the amount of time you spend on that journey, but also the stages you go through. Importantly, building the ‘why’ and relevance in the Excite stage is key to setting the learner up to invest in the journey as they can align it to their own goals. Taking a deeper dive during the Engage stage is key technically and practically to explore the topic – in this stage, it is normal to have an expert leading the experience to ensure that questions and individual experiences can be explored and unpacked. The final stage of Embed is about practical activities, follow up reading and coaching to ensure that the new skills and behaviors are starting to be embedded in your everyday patterns, firstly by being a habit and then developing to being a natural part of your lifestyle.

In an increasingly virtual workplace, interventions within the learning journeys tend to be shorter than the historic one-day classroom event, now being replaced with shorter virtual sessions with much more emphasis on real examples and situational-based learning.  An online/virtual or digital learning journey is made up of a larger number of micro-learning experiences; this allows the learning to be absorbed effectively.