It is easy to argue that the whole world is turning into a learning velocity contest. Whether it is business or sports, the speed with which we learn has never been more significant. The idea that we can stay the same and not learn new skills is not a possibility anymore. According to Harvard Business Review, why do more than 51% of senior leaders believe that their talent development efforts don’t adequately build critical skills? The answer: We are not learning fast enough. Why? we aren’t intentionally overcoming these two learning velocity gaps. First, the relevance gap. Second, the execution gap. Today, we will focus solely on the execution gap.
Addressing the Execution Gap:
In order to overcome the execution gap you must pay attention to the locus of application. The execution gap, or the skills transfer gap has never been larger. In other words, what is taught in our world is rarely applied. Low level training companies blame their clients for this. Back in 2017, we took a look in the mirror and started to take ownership of addressing this gap… Ultimately, to better serve our partners.
The distance between where a skill is learned and where it is applied greatly connects to the probability that a participant will put that skill into practice. In other words, it is much easier to use a new skill if you apply it shortly after you learn it. And of course, the opposite is true as well. In the development world, we call this near transfer.
Of course, when we say “distance,” we’re not referring to physical proximity, we are more so referring to the gap of time between “learned” and “applied”. In essence, if you allow too much time and space between when students are taught, and when they execute, there will be a transfer gap, and therefore, a skill gap.
That’s why we built our digital training platform, to ensure the skills acquired during training are actually being applied. And yes, it’s true – we all need reminders and to flood our ecosystem with triggers to bring the techniques and best practices to the forefront of our minds.
At the end of the day, a great digital training platform will use modern technology is used to close the time and space gap between learning and applying.
At the end of the day, if you want to increase your learning velocity, ask yourself what you are doing to address the execution gap. If that gap is not being addressed, don’t expect your learning speed to increase.
Check out our digital training platform here: https://maximize-value-consulting.dialogedu.com/maximize-value-consulting/
Love,
-MV