It’s short, sharp, very effective and gets Steve Crabb’s vote as the next big thing in training
Every few years the world of training is shaken by a new fashion which is going to transform learning and development for ever.
A few years ago, at the height of dotcom mania, everything was being e-enabled.
We were all going to book our training courses online rather than rely on dusty old brochures, and we were all going to study at our desks, instead of decamping to the motel on the ring road.
Once the excitement has died down, most of these revolutionary new developments end up joining the canon of training tools and techniques, rather than replacing them entirely.
E-learning has quietly lined up alongside traditional classroom based instruction to form ‘blended learning’, for example.
But the jury is still out on the latest big idea in training and development, ‘bite-sized learning’.
The idea behind it is quite simple: learning sticks much more effectively if it’s delivered in short bursts rather than over two tedious days during which time participants are watching the clock and wondering when they can hit the bar.
Bite-sized sessions typically last around an hour-and-a-half, with lots of interaction and high-energy delivery.
And the theory is that learning is going to be more productive if it’s delivered to willing participants in the workplace, rather than imposed off-site on people who would rather be concentrating on their groaning in-trays.
Personally, I’m a convert, having participated in a number of ‘work-outs’ delivered by bite-sized pioneers The Mind Gym. The ‘stickiness’ of the learning is extremely impressive and short-burst events make sense in today’s workplaces where the pressures seem to mount ever higher.
A number of businesses in the grocery industry have signed up for bite-sized learning.
These include Diageo, Premier Foods, Masterfoods and Procter & Gamble, which has developed its own brand of bite-sized training under the label of ‘pit stops’.
United Biscuits has put nearly 700 people through Mind Gym workouts at head office and at factory level, with impressive results: 96% of participants said they would apply what they’d learned. UB plans to continue using short-burst learning in 2004.
The ‘pull’ from employers is being matched by a push from government. Last summer’s skills White Paper encouraged employers to use more ‘light touch’ learning in the workplace and the Learning and Skills Council has been running a ‘Bite Size’ campaign for over three years now.
It is designed to get young people back into training through short learning hits that each last from about 60 to 180 minutes.
Mind Gym founder Octavius Black is currently wrestling with the question of whether bite-sized learning is going to remain a delicacy on the training menu or become the ‘main course’. By its very nature, bite-sized learning is ideally suited to subjects such as dealing with difficult people, coping with stress, developing your creativity or becoming more decisive.
In an hour and a half, participants can master a few fundamental techniques to help them analyse problems in a different way, and get to grips with the underlying theory.
Whether the bite-sized format is ever going to be appropriate for teaching people nuclear physics or the correct way to fly a fighter plane remains to be seen.
However, the fact that bite-sized learning has been a slow burner for three years now, rather than exploding on to the scene like some of the shorter-lived training fads we’ve seen, suggests that it could have real staying power.
n Steve Crabb is editor of People Management
Every few years the world of training is shaken by a new fashion which is going to transform learning and development for ever.
A few years ago, at the height of dotcom mania, everything was being e-enabled.
We were all going to book our training courses online rather than rely on dusty old brochures, and we were all going to study at our desks, instead of decamping to the motel on the ring road.
Once the excitement has died down, most of these revolutionary new developments end up joining the canon of training tools and techniques, rather than replacing them entirely.
E-learning has quietly lined up alongside traditional classroom based instruction to form ‘blended learning’, for example.
But the jury is still out on the latest big idea in training and development, ‘bite-sized learning’.
The idea behind it is quite simple: learning sticks much more effectively if it’s delivered in short bursts rather than over two tedious days during which time participants are watching the clock and wondering when they can hit the bar.
Bite-sized sessions typically last around an hour-and-a-half, with lots of interaction and high-energy delivery.
And the theory is that learning is going to be more productive if it’s delivered to willing participants in the workplace, rather than imposed off-site on people who would rather be concentrating on their groaning in-trays.
Personally, I’m a convert, having participated in a number of ‘work-outs’ delivered by bite-sized pioneers The Mind Gym. The ‘stickiness’ of the learning is extremely impressive and short-burst events make sense in today’s workplaces where the pressures seem to mount ever higher.
A number of businesses in the grocery industry have signed up for bite-sized learning.
These include Diageo, Premier Foods, Masterfoods and Procter & Gamble, which has developed its own brand of bite-sized training under the label of ‘pit stops’.
United Biscuits has put nearly 700 people through Mind Gym workouts at head office and at factory level, with impressive results: 96% of participants said they would apply what they’d learned. UB plans to continue using short-burst learning in 2004.
The ‘pull’ from employers is being matched by a push from government. Last summer’s skills White Paper encouraged employers to use more ‘light touch’ learning in the workplace and the Learning and Skills Council has been running a ‘Bite Size’ campaign for over three years now.
It is designed to get young people back into training through short learning hits that each last from about 60 to 180 minutes.
Mind Gym founder Octavius Black is currently wrestling with the question of whether bite-sized learning is going to remain a delicacy on the training menu or become the ‘main course’. By its very nature, bite-sized learning is ideally suited to subjects such as dealing with difficult people, coping with stress, developing your creativity or becoming more decisive.
In an hour and a half, participants can master a few fundamental techniques to help them analyse problems in a different way, and get to grips with the underlying theory.
Whether the bite-sized format is ever going to be appropriate for teaching people nuclear physics or the correct way to fly a fighter plane remains to be seen.
However, the fact that bite-sized learning has been a slow burner for three years now, rather than exploding on to the scene like some of the shorter-lived training fads we’ve seen, suggests that it could have real staying power.
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