Last week’s blog certainly got a few of you thinking. Today I want to take the metamorphosis analogy and move it one step on, to a similar analogy that I think is an even better likeness to what we all experience day to day. .
It’s the metamorphosis of dragonflies.
Unlike butterflies, dragonflies complete their metamorphosis in a more visible way, they grow and molt their exoskeleton – each time emerging as a soft body, with more dragonflies like features – their wings for example grow larger each time - until eventually, 12 molts later, the adult dragonfly is complete and able to fly.
“Symbolizing transformation, the Dragonfly carries the wisdom of ‘change’!”
This I feel is an even better representation of what any large legacy organisation needs to adopt when thinking about change. We need to be able to make visible transitional steps towards the target state – showing progress each time, taking a step, hardening our growth, then taking another.
The same process as the butterfly but not hidden inside a cocoon which can, for observers, feel like it’s a single step taking place behind closed doors, where the finished article emerges as if by magic.
It’s imperative in complex organisations that we take everyone on the journey. If we can experience all the steps, we take part in the evolution. Dragonflies have been around for over 300 million years – so this approach is well proven (!!)
Learning and changing is hard – so we need to do it in small steps (as we’ve discussed in previous blogs), often and embracing all aspects of how we learn. The exoskeleton analogy really reflects this need to be an active part of the evolution.
So let’s take a short detour into the 3 types of learning – as it’s important that we all know what type we are, so we can ensure we are getting what we need to be an active participant in the journey we are all on.
But we also need to ensure, that for the parts where we are the imaginal cells, we are helping to ensure that everyone we interact with, as we lead them on this journey, is also engaged and able to absorb what we’re sharing; as we need to move at pace.
While learning styles might be a bit more nuanced than this graphic, they are broadly broken down into 3 major types: Auditory, Visual and Kinesthetic.
Each learning style is associated with a dedicated part of the brain. Everyone has different neural pathways and therefore rely more on certain areas in the brain to assist with learning. We use all 3, but in a unique balance, that is just for us.
So what’s your dominant style – that’s what we’re looking for here.
Kinesthetic Learning
Also known as “tactile learning”. This is all about getting your hands dirty, and learning best by doing. Retention is based heavily on the sense of touch. Generally, enjoying taking things apart and putting them back together, and looking for opportunities to do so in order to build skills.
This is the type of learner I am, and I’ve always had to write things down to remember them, create models and mnemonics from complex things to enable them to be logged into my brain. Write them over and over, condensing them down each time. I used get entire subjects onto a single flashcard, so I could go into an exam with just a series of letters – get those on the paper and the entire subject would then unfold from there to give me the full remit of whatever it was I needed to know.
If this is you, or you know a key stakeholder or consumer is one, then these little tips will help to increase retention and therefore adoption:
Participate in hands-on activities that involve touching, building or moving – getting interactive in meetings – asking people to do activities in the meeting to get them engaged and thinking
Use flashcards and arrange them by group to understand relationships between ideas
Take frequent breaks (but not too long!) during reading or working periods
Repeat what you’ve learned with your eyes closed to help focus your attention on the sound and minimize visual distraction.
“Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I learn.” - Benjamin Franklin
Auditory Learning
Retaining and comprehending new concepts just by hearing and listening (e.g. lectures, books, etc.). The sense of sound and speech is the key to retention. I am so very jealous of these people. Most communications, especially in this remote world use a predominantly auditory engagement style – we dial-into meetings, we listen to presenters, we listen to the radio, podcasts etc. This is a by far the easiest style, but it’s also hard to ensure we get the listener to focus and retain the right things!
So once again, some tips to help you or who you are engaging with:
Always ensure you are able to clearly hear the information being given. Short, clear, concise communications are key – really focus on what you are trying to share, just like you’d want to hear if you were receiving the communications.
Ensure you avoid audible distractions so your focus is not drawn away from the conversation or presentation you need to be engaging with
Read new material, communications, research etc out loud to help it engage the full receptors in the auditory cortex of the brain.
(and yes I get the irony of writing about auditory principles of engaging your audience!)
Visual Learning
Pictures, diagrams and other visuals very commonly solidify understanding of new concepts and their relationships to one another, the sense of sight is the dominant. For many with this dominance following spoken direction is hard and they are easily distracted. Colours and stories rich in imagery aid with not only holding attention, but also aiding retention. Again this is often heavily used – we love a PowerPoint. Although often they are very wordy – compensating for the fact that visual learning struggle with the auditory, we often aim to put just too many words on the page!
Visual learners may find these tips help to increase their retention:
Ensure visual distractions are kept to an absolute minimum – just like with audible clarity we need to focus on clear concise visual communications. The rule of 3 is often used here – 3 points max on a page!
Draw outlines or diagrams to help understand, connect and explain concepts
Make to-do lists – and tick them off (that feels good!)
Ensure you work in a quiet space, ambient noise can be distracting.
“In visual design for learning, less is more” – Connie Malamed
Bringing this back to dragonflies then… Across any company in change, there are thousands of small changes happening to shed our latest exoskeleton in pursuit of our dragonfly future. You need to drive for clarity, consistency and engagement of as many colleagues as possible to ensure you are shedding methodically, consistently and in pursuit of the same vision - description and experience - of our dragonfly.
Regardless of butterflies or dragonflies we are the imaginals – we need to be leading the change.
Until next time...
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