Building an Innovative Learning Organization

Chapter 6Selecting the Right Learning Methods

Sarder Framework: Building the Learning Organization

We all learn best in our own ways. Some people do better studying one subject at a time, while some do better studying three things at once. Some people do best studying in [a] structured, linear way, while others do best jumping around, “surrounding” a subject.¹

—Bill Gates

In my second book, Effective Learning Methods, I tell the story of a friend who took up ballet in her late thirties. “Everyone was expected to simply watch the instructor, then follow his movements,” she told me. “But this alone didn't work for me. I had to follow his movements, then take the time to run them through my brain. I had to say to myself, ‘I'm going to raise my right foot, followed by my left, then turn.’ Initially, I was frustrated because my method was slow, but it worked for me.”²

My friend needed to synthesize her instructor's movements before she could do the steps. That was her way of learning. Another person might have learned simply by watching the instructor and then trying to do what he did. Still another might have had to take copious notes while watching to be able to understand how one step flowed into another.

People have different learning styles and preferences. The best learning programs consider those differences, and they also consider differences in what is being taught. ...