Push vs Pull
When you need to learn something, do you tend to find out the answer yourself or wait for someone else to just tell you?
Well, like anything, it kind of depends. If you’re like me, and you can define exactly what it is you need, it’s likely to be the former. I look it up, find the answer then apply the information.
There are scales to this though. If I know I want to learn about a subject but I’m not sure where to start, a book, podcast or an individual person who has a strong presence in that field (i.e. someone on YouTube, TikTok or LinkedIn) is likely where I’ll turn. If I’m particularly interested in something, I might explore a structured programme or something I can really get my teeth into and apply / practice what I’m learning. If I don’t quite know what I need or where to look, someone might suggest something to me or, earlier in my career, my manager might help me spot a development opportunity and some sort of mechanism to address it.
All of the above are examples of learners finding solutions to their own problems. This is a really healthy and organic way for people to learn because prospective learners have already created a need and context for the application of the learning. The learner is finding or ‘pulling’ the content to suit their existing wants and needs.
At the other end of the scale is pushed content. This is where someone other than the learner determines what needs to be learnt. It’s the model used in education with the control slowly shifting right through from primary education (where the child has no control over what they are taught) right through to higher education (where the learner has almost complete control).
There’s nothing wrong with the push model. It’s essential for situations where learners don’t know what they don’t know. It allows businesses to plan for the future and train to those needs before employees realise that they don’t know how to do something.
The trouble is, for the most part, that it’s just much harder for learners to contextualise what they’re learning and therefore apply it in real life. As learners have not identified the learning need for themselves, they’re not always invested in the outcome of whatever they may or may not learn, even when the context is actually really clear. Take customer service training for example, many businesses will, quite rightly, deliver some form of customer service training. When attendance is mandatory or pushed onto employees, there will undoubtedly be people who do not want to be there or do not think it’s relevant to them. To continue with the education analogy, it’s why children will often question the importance of maths!
It's also a very time consuming model for businesses and learners alike. Gone are the days where, particularly in front line businesses, individuals can regularly spend full days away from their day job learning about things that may or may not be 100% relevant to them. We need a quicker, more agile, more individual approach to L&D.
It’s therefore important to provide ‘pull’ options for our teams. It allows learners to specialise in subjects they’re particularly interested in, delivers more effective and contextual learning experiences and also helps create a culture where people find the answers to their own problems. How often do you hear people say “I’ve not been shown how to do that”? Imagine if you spouse or partner said to you, “why haven’t you done the washing up?” and you reply with “you’ve not shown me how." Good luck!
Digital is a great option for providing ‘pull’ options for your teams. You can bring resources and materials together in one place, organise them and make them available for easy access of distribution. It requires some serious thought and some good learning design but I would definitely encourage anyone reading this to consider how employees in their organisation find the answers to their own problems. If the answer is, ‘they need to ask their manager’ you may want to consider that process.
