Mastering Change: Leveraging Learning Styles for Transformational Success

Are you ready to lead your team through successful transformations? Harness the power of distinct learning styles to ensure your team not only adapts but thrives. Discover how understanding and leveraging diverse learning styles can be the key to driving meaningful change in your organisation.

Different Learning Styles: Honey and Mumford

Understanding that individuals can have distinct learning style preferences is fundamental. Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire identifies four primary styles:

• Activists: Activists are energised by new experiences and challenges, embracing the nuances and complexities that come with them. They are undeterred by the absence of formal guidance or detailed instructions and rarely seek them out when available. Activists thrive on activities like on-the-job trial and error, coaching, and group learning.

• Reflectors: Reflectors are masters of observation and introspection, thriving on the experiences of both themselves and others. They kick off their learning journey in 'research mode,' diving into the rich tapestry of qualitative data, stories, and various sources of information. Reflectors excel at drawing out hidden connections and insights. They prefer to observe others, make detailed notes, and keep comprehensive learning diaries.

• Pragmatists: Pragmatists are hands-on learners who focus on putting new knowledge into real-world situations. Whilst they take a logical approach, they are eager to put things into practice. Pragmatists are drawn to problem-solving tasks, mastering skills methodically, and seeking out structured knowledge with clear, tangible benefits. Pragmatists gravitate towards interactive workshops, on-the-job learning, and practical application of tools.

• Theorists: Theorists are learners who thrive on understanding the underlying principles and theories behind new ideas. They love diving into models, concepts, and systems thinking. Theorists excel at analysing complex information, spotting patterns, and creating coherent explanations. They enjoy engaging in courses, seminars, lectures, reading, and personal research.

Each style carries its own set of preferences, influencing how individuals engage with learning materials and processes. By acknowledging these styles, you can tailor their methods to suit the learner, enhancing the effectiveness of the learning experience.

Relating Honey and Mumford Learning Styles

Honey and Mumford identified two key drivers behind their learning styles:

• Doing vs. Observing: This driver explores our preference for hands-on learning versus learning through observation, reflection, reading, or discussions.

• Thinking vs. Feeling: Here, the focus is on our inclination towards logical, structured solutions versus embracing complexity and ambiguity.

This means there are clear relationships between the different learning styles:

• Activists and Pragmatists learn by doing

• Reflectors and Theorists learn by observing

• Activists and Reflectors learns through intuition

• Pragmatists and Theorists learns through logic

I have a strong preference for logical learning as a Pragmatist and Theorist and enjoy both the practical application of new knowledge and the exploration of abstract concepts. I thrive on hands-on activities and real-world problem-solving, constantly seeking to validate and refine my skills through direct experience. Simultaneously, I am drawn to theoretical frameworks, engaging with models and systems to form a well-rounded understanding.

Now, let's delve into how these styles align with Kolb's Learning Cycle to create a comprehensive learning strategy.

Connecting Learning Styles with Kolb's Learning Cycle

Honey and Mumford's Learning Styles align seamlessly with Kolb’s Learning Cycle, providing a powerful framework to understand how individuals truly engage in learning.

• Activists thrive in the Concrete Experience stage, where they learn best through hands-on activities and direct engagement.

• Reflectors excel in the Reflective Observation stage, valuing the time spent observing and noting their experiences.

• Pragmatists align with the Practical Experimentation stage, where they prefer applying their knowledge in practical scenarios to validate their learning.

• Theorists resonate with the Abstract Conceptualisation stage, engaging deeply with theoretical frameworks and personal research to form well-rounded concepts.

Understanding that people with different learning styles have distinct preferences for certain steps of the Learning Cycle is crucial. This means they may tend to 'skip' steps, which can diminish learning opportunities. Take me, for example: I favour Abstract Conceptualisation and Practical Experimentation, and I tend to overlook the value of Reflective Observation. However, for learning to be truly effective, I need to complete all stages of the Learning Cycle. To improve the effectiveness of my learning I could begin by leveraging my preferences: Abstract Conceptualisation > Practical Experimentation > Concrete Experience > Reflective Observation.

Recognising these preferences allows Learning and Development specialists to create tailored learning experiences that follow Kolb’s cycle, ensuring comprehensive and effective learning for successful change.

Additional Learning Preferences: Fleming and Mills’ VARK Model

Beyond the insights of Honey and Mumford’s model, Fleming and Mills’ VARK Learning Styles add another perspective by categorising preferences into Visual, Aural, Reading/Writing, and Kinaesthetic. This comprehensive approach unlocks the potential to tailor learning experiences to individual needs, driving deeper engagement and more effective learning outcomes.

• Visual: Visual learners favour images and symbols over other ways to receive information, therefore charts, diagrams and creative images could be used to aid learning.

• Aural: Aural learners like listening to information, favouring lectures, webinars, MP3 files and the radio.

• Reading/Writing: Reading/Writing leaners excel with reading and note-taking.

• Kinaesthetic: Kinaesthetic learners thrive on experience and practice (simulated or real). For this preference, there isn’t one single mode of learning because experience and practice may be expressed or “taken in” using all perceptual modes (sight, touch, taste, smell and hearing).

Conclusion: The Imperative of Tailored Learning

Leading organisational change often involves working with a large and diverse group of individuals whose learning style preferences may not be immediately apparent. While it may be challenging to identify these preferences, it is crucial to embrace and accommodate them to ensure effective change management. Here’s a simple yet powerful suggestion for how to leverage diverse learning styles to drive successful change:

1. Empower Pre-Work: Provide pre-work for impacted groups to learn about the topic in advance, allowing them to make notes and form questions. This could be a chapter of a relevant book or a process manual. Preferably, the pre-work will include a combination of imagery, audio, and written information. Encourage the group to use AI tools like Copilot to summarise content if they wish.

2. Engage with Live Presentations: Host live presentations to explain the changes, demonstrate how the group will work in the future, and include breakout sessions for smaller groups to collaborate. Enable helpful settings like transcription and present a variety of content, including infographics, verbal, and written information. Record the session and make the video available for future reference.

3. Interactive Workbooks: Share an editable PDF workbook of the content with space for notes or encourage the group to make notes using tools like OneNote or Loop.

4. Personalised Formats: Advocate that the audience can convert content into a format they prefer for future reference, such as using NotebookLM to create an audiobook or podcast.

5. Role Play Scenarios: Schedule opportunities for Change Agents (Champions) to test out scenarios through role play exercises in smaller, interested groups.

6. Hands-On Exploration: Grant access to the new systems and support exploration ‘on the job’. Use a sandbox environment if production poses a risk.

7. Comprehensive Documentation: Distribute useful and relevant documentation for the change, including process flows, user guides, RACI charts, and FAQ documents.

8. On-Demand Learning: Record bite-sized ‘on-demand’ videos on key topics.

9. Deep Dive Resources: Issue post-work reading or viewing materials for those who wish to explore the concepts more deeply.

10. Expert Coaching: Consider who might benefit from coaching by an expert to deepen their learning.

Embrace the diversity of learning styles in your team and drive successful organisational change. Start by implementing these strategies today!

In the spirit of fostering growth and understanding, if you're curious about discovering your own learning style, simply leave a comment on this post. I'll be happy to send you the questionnaire PDF via message, free of charge.