A Downpour of Learning Versus A Drizzle

This post was written by Jacob McNulty

I was born and raised in St. Petersburg, FL and now I call Denver, CO home.

I actually just returned from FL last night; just ahead of the impending Tropical Storm Ernesto.  During my years in FL I saw my fair share of heavy rain storms.  They typically came in quickly and often resulted in flash floods through the streets in my neighborhood.  As a child it was always fun to ride your bike through flooded streets and look for the high water marks on homes and trees. 

As an adult I learned that these downpours were little fun and little benefit for much of anything, though.  Sewers couldn’t handle the volume of water, hence the flooding and runoff.  Plants weren’t able to do much with it either; many of them wound up washed away or damaged as a result of the current or the sheer volume of water. 

We don’t typically experience that kind of rain in CO.  Prior to my latest FL trip we enjoyed some (unusual) days of drizzling rain here in Denver.  Although not enough to quench the thirst of many plants in Denver’s arid climate, it got me thinking about the contrast of these two approaches of nature and how it relates to organizational learning.

Many organizations provide their employees with a downpour of learning.  Coming down in sheets, these learning downpours cause the drainage systems of participants to overflow and the majority of the learning ends up as run off.  It does little to provide the knowledge needed to grow; rather it typically floods people with too much information and can be an intimidating current.  Have you ever been prepped for a session by the words ‘firehose’ or ’slingshot’?  You probably experienced a downpour.

Just like rain, the best method for learning to be absorbed and utilized is when it is delivered as a drizzle.  Falling lightly, in small drops and over a longer period of time, a drizzle of learning ensures that participants have ample time to absorb one drop before having to consume another. 

Organizations can transition from a downpour to a drizzle of learning by investing their training dollars in things that support people’s natural tendency to learn.  Communities of Practice, informal learning, nano-learning, action learning, JIT learning, podcasting, rapid e-learning and mobile learning are just a few examples of different approaches that can be blended to create the ideal mix that can be absorbed by participants. 

Tags: Action learning, Blended Learning, business training, Communities of Practice, CoP, corporate training, development, informal learning, learning, learning strategies, organizational learning, professional development, social networking, workforce development