Blog Post: The individual in the system.

If you're wondering what all that means, stop by an ASTD-OC meeting. They'll fill you in there.

Each of the above models assess people according to specific measurements, some more vague than others. The challenge is that the measurements used to establish these models are constrained by their very definition, preparing us to be stereotypes. Gen X-ers are solitary workers. Millennials are fickle, going towards the job where they feel most appreciated. Idealists are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Guardians are serious about their duties and responsibilities. Visual learners learn best by taking notes and making lists to read later. For auditory learners, a fact isn't real until they hear it.

If there’s one thing that we’ve learned about the human race, it’s that each one of us is a unique individual.  For example, I fully agree with Meyers-Briggs that I’m an Introvert, but I'm an odd sort of Introvert, putting myself in front of a bunch of people I don't know on a regular basis as part of my job.

Taking this to the next step: not only are we unique as individuals, but every situation, every moment, every project is equally unique. Consider the Butterfly Effect: the theory that small variations of the initial condition of a dynamical system may produce large variations in the long term behavior of the system.  It can be more familiarly represented in the nursery rhyme that ends: “All for the want of a horseshoe nail.”  Change one event, and the outcome is different.  So sure, I’m a Gen X-er, but I’ve adopted the Gen Y pursuit of work/life balance.

This leads Wayne Hodgins, strategic futurist and ASTD-Orange County November Learning Event speaker to ask: if it has so long been the case that human beings are recognizable unique individuals, why do we live in a world designed on the assumption that there are large groups of people who are very similar? Why do we design our training on those assumptions?

We're designing our training for snowmen, claims Mr. Hodgins, but our learners are snowflakes.

Let’s say, for example, that we’ve been instructed to design a training class on a specific topic.  So we go about designing for a triumvirate of learners.  How can we take a portion of this class, we ask, and design it to reach the visual, auditory, and the kinesthetic learner?  Or we discover that our audience is a blend of experience levels.  Perhaps we create a class for beginners, then rework the class for intermediates, then for experts.

Wayne challenges instructional designers to identify an essential element of what is to be trained, and then find ways of achieving what we’re going after.  Rather than attempt to copy something that has worked in another context, Wayne suggests that we drill down to identify the essential elements that are the foundation of what works.  Identifying the essential element is the key towards designing training customizable for the snowflake learners in our classes – creating something that is relevant to each person’s learning style and expertise.

There’s only so much of this that I can share in a blog post, and this has gotten pretty lengthy as it is. If the topic has intrigued you, then I invite you to join ASTD-OC at our November Learning Event.  Wayne will call in via satellite from El Salvador , and very likely share his concepts rapid-fire over something very similar to a webcast, but not quite.  A kind of unique remote presentation – a snowflake of its own sort.

A few links:

1) Wayne Hodgins' "Snowflake Effect" blog: Long Slow Chat

2) ASTD-Orange County registration page for Wayne's Learning Event discussion.

3) ASTD-Orange County LinkedIn Discussion on Wayne's scheduled Learning Event.