In today’s borderless, and primarily virtual workplace, multicultural teams are becoming the norm. Up to 62% of employees report having colleagues from three or more cultures. What’s concerning – albeit not surprising – is that a whopping 86% of employees also attribute today’s workplace failures to ineffective communication.
Communication skills are becoming essential. And not just language skills to build up fluency and expression, or cultural skills to practice inclusivity and collaboration, or even interpersonal skills like empathy, compassion and inspiration, but all three combined.
We’re in need of developing what we, at Learnlight, like to call communicative mastery.
As part of our 16th-anniversary, we’re disclosing our secret recipe for helping learners achieve this: The Learnlight Empowerment Method™. But first, let’s clarify a few concepts.
What Does Achieving Mastery Mean?
According to the Oxford dictionary mastery means having great knowledge or understanding about something. Unlike what many popular language apps lead us to believe, gamifying experiences to learn from trial-and-error, i.e., passive learning, does not lead to the intentional application of skills.
Instead, mastery requires active learning: intentional learning, applied unconsciously when understood and practiced regularly. Taught in this way, communication skills develop emotional and cultural intelligence – we don’t just know what to do but why we do it. Using this approach, chances are learners will also become our best leaders, as they meaningfully apply the skills taught.
Achieving Communicative Mastery
Certain types of skills require more explanation, whilst others require more active practice. In the case of communication, they entail a complex mix of both – i.e., understanding the rules of communication and being able to apply them correctly. They also require an ability to know when and why to apply such knowledge. Actively learning communication skills to cover all three of these dimensions is crucial.
At Learnlight we use a flipped classroom, blended learning approach – with virtual self-paced learning and trainer-led teaching, to ensure learners acquire the mix of knowledge they need to succeed. We use teaching formats that are suited – and easily accessible – at every step of the way.
The Learnlight Empowerment Method™
Our Learnlight Empowerment Method™ – the backbone of our award-winning platform, describes the process for reaching communicative mastery in five easy steps:
Because communication skills are often a combination of theory and practice, it’s important to start by helping learners with the concepts they already know, to activate prior knowledge.
Learnlight’s journey begins with an honest self-assessment of a learner’s current skills and limitations – recognizing where they shine and where they stumble and developing the general principles of the skills. This pushes learners outside of their comfort zone, encouraging an active stance to learning.
We achieve this through:
- Knowledge checks – For example, it’s common for learners to be asked to participate in polls to help them connect new learning to familiar and/or engaging situations. In this way a learner’s existing knowledge is activated, evoking curiosity and exploration.
- Discovery activities – Based on the situations and knowledge we understand learners enjoy (through the knowledge checks), we recommend further reading and activities to engage them with platform resources such as Learnlight Magazines – which business can opt to provide content for.
- Instant feedback – Learners aren’t just told if what they’ve done is right or wrong, they are given an explanation of why this is the case, so that the knowledge is understood properly.
The exposure stage builds a foundation of awareness for learners to navigate the contours of their personal growth, ready for more personal-specific support thereafter in practice.
Communication skills aren’t always about finding right or wrong answers, but rather about learning to understand other perspectives. This is a growth exercise that requires breaking pre-existing biases.
Learnlight equips learners with tools and techniques to holistically embrace this complex stage of personal growth in a way that both motivates and engages them. But this process doesn’t happen from night to day. Learners don’t just need a structured learning path, but the flexibility, time, and practice, to absorb the information received, especially as they juggle this journey with their busy schedules.
That’s why Learnlight offers:
- Spaced learning: a combination of independent study and trainer-led sessions for enduring engagement, through the blended learning, flipped classroom approach.
Spaced learning allows one to cycle between focused and diffused thinking modes. This enables learners to make more innovative connections between new and existing knowledge.
- Ongoing learning repetition through platform resources like email templates and writing guides. These allow learners to weave their newfound knowledge into daily tasks.
By creating an engaging discovery phase, learners can slowly build a habit of learning – i.e. when the learning is relevant, and progress is being felt, the learner is more likely to want to come back for more.
As learners absorb their new nuggets of wisdom according to what they already know and what they want to achieve in practice, it’s important to ensure the learnings also stick.
Science shows that theoretical concepts are the easiest to forget, so having retrieval practices in place to help consolidate and internalize is important, or else learners may end up stumbling.
Microlearning does wonders to support. By breaking down knowledge into bite-sized chunks, we help learners pace themselves, so they can internalize critical skills.
At Learnlight we do this through:
- Learnlight flashcards for easy consolidation
- Insightful learner reports post trainer sessions
- Short, captivating activities and trainer sessions for personal support
- 24/7 multi-channel access on our revamped next-gen learner platform
- Corporate-tailored trainer insights ensuring relevancy
Addressing our learners’ internalization needs not only helps manage their cognitive load, but it makes the learning experience more efficient and gratifying for them too.
Once learners start internalizing the more theoretical concepts, they are subject to gradually more and more practice-based exercises, so that they are equipped to apply these learnings in the real world.
This takes them one step closer to mastery!
We believe empowerment springs from confidence nurtured in safe spaces. That’s why in the production stage learners start testing their new knowledge in an environment that feels both inviting and low risk.
We believe practice isn’t just a routine (for retrieval purposes); it’s a safe adventure, a personal evolution. Learners are encouraged to bring their own work tasks to sessions. We tackle real-life scenarios through:
- Tailored coaching (group and individual), to run through assigned activities with personalized support.
- Learnlight Café for repetitive practice in diverse scenarios, enhancing real-world application with people from different levels of skills and backgrounds of knowledge.
This works best when it aligns with the culture of our clients’ workplace – where a safe space is provided to test and trial new things, and where not only winners are rewarded, the effort for trying is, too. More on this and how it can support your learning program in our Learnlight Impact Framework.
Combining theory and practice for subconscious application and in turn mastery, requires eventually taking the leap of faith into the outside world. At this stage learners are actively encouraged to practice beyond the realms of Learnlight, albeit continuing with the support of their trainers and materials.
Achieving mastery means no longer having to think when exercising the skill. Learners fluidly translate their training into real-world interactions and navigate complex communications with intuitive grace. This is also when we’ll start to truly feel the benefits on the business bottom line.
“The best way to support employees to become better communicators is not only by training with us, but by eventually pushing them to practice with colleagues, customers, etc. Once they start seeing results, they’re motivated to keep going.” – Kathleen O’Neill, Language Trainer at Learnlight
This peak stage of learner empowerment ensures deep proficiency. The journey’s end? A master communicator who effortlessly empowers, engages, and connects with others at work.
All Good Things Require Effort
As the saying goes, ‘all good things require effort’. Our role at Learnlight is to make this effort feel as fun and engaging as possible for our learners, seeking them to return for more, while ensuring the benefits translate into business results. Our hybrid flipped classroom model, along with our science-backed frameworks are what allow us to so intentionally do so.
Ready to put these learnings into practice with your teams? Request a demo today!
