Develop the right skills efficiently

Globalization has created many opportunities for nations to advance but Myanmar hasn’t been able to take advantage of this situation. Rather than waiting for one from someone else, how might you make a breakthrough?

The key issue is the development of skills efficiently and quickly. To do this, the mastery of learning is the foundation. We all start with information, which is mostly free and easily accessible. But information is worthless unless we can recall it at the right time and use it correctly. To transform information into knowledge that you can recall, there must be some form of application that creates an emotional link to that piece of information which enables long-term memory. Skills are then built on top of that knowledge through consistent application and feedback. Studies have shown tremendous insights on how the human brain actually learns, but the application of that information is left as mere words in journal articles. We spend tremendous amounts of money and time on new information at workshops or traditional courses but in truth, only ending up with very limited recall of what we have been exposed to. 

Learning requires a conscious process that should develop your self-efficacy, which is your own ability to learn as fast as possible. If you don’t know what your preferred learning modality and consciously design your efforts around it, you’re losing invaluable time and money. It is fascinating to speak to educators, whether at the primary or the university education level. They have a very limited idea as to what learning modalities are, or how to apply them into their classrooms. 

Learning occurs in 3 primary modalities – auditory, visual and kinesthetic.  If you’re visual, you’re more likely to have very neatly organized desks. If you’re more kinesthetic, you’re more likely to have organised messes. We all have a primary and a secondary modality to learning that helps us bond new information with emotion to form knowledge.  Which modality do you think is your preferred way of learning?

Once you know what your primary learning modality is, the next step is to find ways to apply this new information somewhere within your own life. This can be in your family or workplace. This application must happen within a few days at most, before that information is forgotten. You’ll need to design the application in a profound way that the results are clearly felt with meaningful emotions. Skills are then developed through conscious practice of knowledge. This is what we call a Performance Learning System. You can build one for yourself or your team/organisation.  Scrap the performance reviews that don’t work and design instead a learning system that focuses on skills development. You’ll quickly realize how easy and rewarding it is to see yourself grow quickly and consistently. 

Knowledge is often not merely built in a workshop or classroom. Skills are even further removed from that traditional learning context. We can’t just expect to go to a workshop on communication and expect to be better communicators. Learning how to empower yourself  using a performance learning system is a far better the path to produce great leaders.