I was helping one of my daughters with her homework and the inevitable question came up, “When am I ever going to use this?” While maybe a little frustrating as a parent, it’s really a fair question if you think about it. And it is one that is just as germane to adult learners as it is to my ten year-old daughter.
In corporate learning it is easy to get caught up focusing on the content of the course. Countless hours are spent making sure all the key points are thoroughly covered, that the material is presented in an engaging manner and that there is an adequate way to assess whether the learner has mastered the material. This is all well and good, and very important. But does the learner really know why they are taking the course? If the answer is, “Because my boss told me to,” or “Corporate requires it,” then don’t expect your learners to be too motivated.
If you really want to motivate people so they learn and retain the material you are trying to teach, you must first answer one important question, “What’s in it for me?” The answer to this question will be very different depending on your course content. However, it should always be personal and specific.
First, it must be personal. If you are trying to roll out sales training to your sales force and you tell everyone that the purpose of this training is to, “Improve sales so that the company can achieve a 10% growth in revenue,” people may lose interest almost immediately. But tell them that this training will make them better salespeople and that it will help them reach or exceed their monthly sales quota, and you will get their attention.
Second, be specific. Explain how the training will benefit them. For example, “This training will introduce you to various types of customer resistance and will show you some ways of handling that resistance so that you will be more comfortable and confident when you encounter objections.” There are many ways to make the learning specific. If you have information or statistics on how the training has benefited others who have taken the course, share it. If there are specific situations when your material is particularly useful, be sure to let people know that also.
Answering the question “What’s in it for me,” also provides another benefit besides increasing interest and motivation. It also provides a context for learning. If people understand the answers to When, Where, How and Why they will be using the course material, then they will be able to relate the learning to their own real-life situations. This helps greatly with comprehension and retention of the material.
So, as you are writing the outline for your next course or training piece, be sure to think about providing your learners some personal and specific reasons for how this course will benefit the learner. You’ll end up with people who are more motivated to learn and are able to better comprehend and retain the material.
