The powerful gift of unwrapping the secrets of your audience’s learning style

It’s that time of year again when Christmas presents get gingerly peeled open, assaulted with total abandon or unwrapped with business-like efficiency.

How people unwrap their gifts, unwraps their preferred learning style.

Which style are you? And if you’re creating and delivering learning, whether it’s on top leadership skills or improving communication skills, what can you do to cater for these learning styles?

The Neat Freak

Three words.

Order, order and order.

Wrapping is removed methodically, silently and without tearing the paper.

Ripping is sacrilege.

A big no no.

The ribbon that has been twisted and turned more intricately than an Olympic gymnast will be unpicked with the patience of the Dali Llama.

Don't ever give this person an aged Stilton. Chances are the neighbouring continent will be smelling the cheese long before the gift is opened.

Lo and behold I have poured all of my love and neatness skills into decorating this gift for you

Learning and Development for The Neat Freak

Get your ducks in order.

Plan your sessions.

Think structure.

Icebreakers will help these individuals feel part of the group.

Introduce your topic and Signposting is important to make sure they know what's coming next and how long it will last.

Deliver any theory gradually, layer by layer. And for a practical exercise to demonstrate the theory, make sure you highlight how this exercise fits in with the theory and what the benefits of the exercise are.

Lastly, reviewing the learning is important.

It's the equivalent of this person’s pile of opened presents arranged on the sofa in descending size.

The Chaos Monster

Picture the scene. A group of civilised looking people sitting in a living room.

On the edge of their seats.

A responsible adult suggests “Shall we…?”

And it’s the equivalent of a starter's gun going off at an athletics' event.

Everyone now has a present on their lap.

Even Grandma with her dodgy knees and bad back (she was the quickest, actually. Never mess with Grandma).

There is tearing. Wild arm movements. Everyone is intent on discovering their prize.

And a dim, fleeting awareness that other people might be in the room.

There are never enough colours, baubles or ribbons for the Chaos Monster. Ever.

Learning and Development for the Chaos Monster

Okay. You've got your work cut out for you with this lot.

They like things done super speedy. Pronto. They've things to do, places to be and are keen to get on.

They're fearing thousands of PowerPoint slides each containing 16 lines of text that's too small to read.

And of you introducing yourself by sharing your entire life story.

Solution? Get creative. You're not actually going to use fireworks but you need to put together a colourful session that can wow and take their breath away.

Vary the pace of the content.

Get them involved. Rev it up and slow it down.

Mix things up. Use humour.

Challenge them with a puzzle.

Be prepared to entertain as well as inform. High energy games let them release the same energy as ripping oceans of wrapping paper.

Give them opportunities to discover their own learning, demonstrate this and share it with the group.

This creates a focus on the process and outcome of a task and it also keeps people working to a schedule.

The Businesslike Bunny

The paper that wrapped this gift was measured by a ruler and cut with a fine pair of gold scissors, not the ones that have been lurking in the kitchen drawer for the last 2 decades.

The present has been lovingly wrapped. Beautiful bows are plumped up. There's a balance of colour and textures.

It's classy.

This Thing of Gorgeousness is handled with surgical precision. The smallest gap has been created to release the gift and the wrapping remains virtually intact.

It's been swiftly discarded and under the coffee table beside a pair of slippers.

This group of folk focus on the process and what needs to be done to get to the good stuff inside the wrapping. To them, what's inside matters, not all that razzamatazz and fancy schmancy stuff on the packaging.

The classy gift that people just want to gawp at in awe

Learning and Development for the Businesslike Bunny

To connect with this bunch, focus on The What of the learning: the content.

Make sure the purpose and the benefit is clear and evident, so that like the present in the gift wrap, they can get at it easily.

To help you with this, imagine that after the session they meet a colleague for a coffee and the colleague - who didn't attend your training - asks them what your session was about.

Your aim is to create a learning experience that they can describe clearly and simply.

And that they can encapsulate in just a few words how it benefited them.

This isn't to say that it's not important to make activities creative and vibrant – like good wrapping – but this group especially, is after substance.

So, think how you can offer experiences that let them quickly get the maximum value from their experience of learning.

***

Of course in the real world you're rarely met with a homogenous group of people.

Instead groups are a mix of Neat Freaks, Chaos Monsters and Businesslike Bunnies.

So, it's important to think about how each of them can get the most out of learning and development and mix up these elements.

The wrapping itself needs to be attractive enough to entice them and so giving thought to this is important.

And the present inside, the learning experience itself, should make a difference.

It should raise a smile, strike a chord and like all good learning and development, be something that can bring benefits professionally and personally.

That last long after the event.

Whatever the wrapping.