By Mark Nelson
Julius Caesar. Queen Victoria. George Washington. Sitting Bull. Mahatma Gandhi. Malala Yousafzai. As long as humans have existed, there have been leaders. Hundreds of thousands of leaders have emerged over the centuries – each with a vision and direction for their people, for better or worse. Yet, of all the leaders who have been, only a small percentage remain in the human psyche. Why does history remember some and forget others? The answer lies in the qualities that make a great leader, qualities that can be developed and honed through effective teaching and training. And of course, as we look to empower and better the staff and team you manage, training courses for employees can provide the leverage and resources needed to cultivate these qualities.
Regardless of where and when they lived, the great heroes of the centuries share several characteristics that make them great; traits like resilience, adaptability, analytical prowess, curiosity, empathy, creativity, comfort with ambiguity, and above all, authenticity to who they are.
It has been argued that leaders are born, not made. While some individuals may have more natural tendencies that attract them to positions of power, nearly all humans have some innate capacity for leadership.
Effective leadership remains critical for organizational success in the exciting, ever-changing landscape of modern business. Leaders play a pivotal role in shaping company culture, driving innovation, and achieving strategic objectives. Because leadership isn’t an inherent trait but rather a skill that can be cultivated through appropriate training, every team member can be a leader.
Build Them Better
Continuous shifts in technology and workforce dynamics have left traditional approaches to leadership development and training courses for employees woefully ineffective. In-person training, while traditionally favored for its interactive and hands-on nature, has become increasingly out of touch with the needs of a modern workforce.
In-person training can cost from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars. In fact, the average company in the U.S. spends $1,071 on traditional training per employee each year. Not only does traditional training come with a hefty price tag, but low retention leaves employers with an exceptionally poor return on investment. Why?
Traditional in-person training programs do not have the luxury of time. Employees cannot leave work for days, weeks, or months to attend training, so crucial information is crammed into one, maybe two days, or sometimes even just a few hours. Just as attempting to drink from a fire hose will yield poor results, rapid-fire learning overwhelms the learner, hindering long-term retention.
The human brain is simply not wired to receive training in large dumps of information, as often occurs in seminars, webinars, and other professional development courses. Studies have found that within 24 hours, we forget an average of 70 percent of new information, and within a week, we forget about 90 percent of it. This “forgetting curve” is alarming to employers who shell out millions of dollars on training each year.
The answer to effective and long-lasting leadership training for the modern, on-the-go, and time-strapped workforce is consistent, daily learning, but in small, manageable bits. In other words, microlearning. Whether microlearning is used to reinforce traditional training or is implemented as a standalone resource, companies must add microlearning to gain a competitive advantage with their workforce.
To learn more about how you can use microlearning to revolutionize employee training, communication, and engagement in your organization, schedule a meeting to speak with a Tyfoom training consultant.
In the next segment of this series, we will examine why microlearning, especially video-based microlearning, is so effective in building successful leaders in just minutes a day.