Despite the best intentions, training experiences often fail to meet the audience’s diverse needs, leaving potential for untapped and underdeveloped critical skills. The way the brain learns is deeply personal. While many training professionals have been tasked with upskilling and reskilling for the modern workforce, only those who employ diverse learning strategies will be equipped. Those of us still relying on traditional methods for teaching and learning may struggle with addressing the varied ways people process and retain information.

Let’s explore a few barriers to effective learning when diverse learning needs are not considered before engaging in the training experience. We will also delve into how training professionals can unlock the full learning potential of every learner with a few strategies that accommodate different learning needs.

Barriers to Effective Learning

Every learner brings unique strengths and challenges to the learning process. Traditional training methods often overlook these differences. The downside of these traditional methods usually results in one or more of the following:

• Lack of engagement and flexibility
• Inability to accommodate different learning preferences
• Lack of consideration for the speed of learning
• Difficulty in retaining content
• Lack of skill application

Without structured breaks, learners run the risk of mental fatigue and reduced retention. The constant influx of information can make it harder to distinguish between valuable insights and surface-level knowledge. To counteract these barriers, training professionals must design training programs that include micro-breaks, spaced repetition and active learning techniques to help learners process, retain and apply information more effectively.

Strategies for Accommodating Different Preferences

Training should be designed to meet learners where they are. Here are four simple but powerful ways to make training more effective for everyone:

1. Involve Learners From the Start: Instead of starting a session with a lecture, consider incorporating a hands-on activity that requires critical thinking. When learners engage in learning activities at the start, they quickly establish a connection to the training content, making the content more relevant and memorable. Trainers might also consider leveraging a “flipped classroom” experience to provide the learner with the foundational content through a microlearning course so that real-time training can be used more for practical application.
2. Create a Custom and Adaptive Learning Experience: Offer more adaptive learning tools and techniques for various learning options. This could be as simple as offering different training tracks or modalities based on their preferred learning style.
3. Encourage Peer-to-Peer Learning: In collaborative learning environments, learners are more prone to ask questions, share ideas and engage without judgement. Sometimes, a simple conversation between learners where they can exchange ideas and experiences is more impactful than providing a series of lectures.
4. Allow the Learner’s Brain to Rest: Too much training content consumption can result in burnout or training fatigue. When we create dense training experiences, we also risk creating scenarios where learners grow even more weary and resentful of the training experience. Even small pauses or review sessions can help the brain absorb and retain new information.

Moving away from rigid, standard approaches helps us to embrace new techniques that accommodate the diverse needs of the learning audience. This magazine serves as a testament that we learn differently and desire to learn and grow in our own way. If this is true for training professionals, imagine how much more affirming this is for the audience for which we get to design amazing training experiences. When we unlock the full potential of the learners we serve, we contribute to building strong work teams, high performing organizations and a future-ready workforce.