How Adults Learn

- By Sandy Staebell (about the author)

Learning doesn't stop after high school or college. Learning is a lifelong activity. As adults, there are many reasons we want and/or need to learn new things, including:

• Necessity - My car won't start so I need to learn to use jumper cables. • Requirement (External) - I have to learn the new order entry system at work. • Curiosity - That was the coolest card trick! I wonder how he did that. • Enjoyment - Golf really looks like fun. I want to learn how to play. • Pride - I need to read up on wine before our next dinner party with the Smiths, so I know what Richard is talking about. • Accident - I didn't know club soda got grape juice stains out of the carpet. I just happened to spill some on a grape juice stain.

Now that we know why adults learn, let's talk about how adults learn. Adult learners differ from high school or college learners in many aspects. Adults have had more time to hone their intuition. Intuitive learning combines the logic of experiences which helps adults see patterns, probabilities, and relationships. This does not mean there isn't "trial and error" when it comes to adult learning. That is probably the basis of the saying, "If at first you don't succeed; try, try again."

In addition, adults have more life experiences on which to draw. Over the years, they have developed opinions and prejudices and acquired a plethora of diverse interests. Adults also tend to be more analytical. Not content with just memorizing information; they want to know "why". Despite the fact they are more goal-oriented (especially when it comes to long-range objectives), adults are slower to change and less likely to take risks. The fact they often need to navigate the minefield of workplace politics also plays a role in their learning process.

Probably the most important issue affecting adult learners is they prefer to be self-directed. Most adult do not like to be constantly monitored and/or told what to do. Plus, adults are more likely to take their errors personally and therefore do not want to make mistakes in front of others.

To make training more effective for your adult learners/employees, you need to:

• Clearly define your expectations - Be sure the learner understands the objective and timeframe of the training and why the training is required.
• Relate to their world - The training should use age-appropriate language and examples.
• Incorporate a logical sequence of small steps - With their demanding schedules, adults have a lot of responsibilities and very little free time. Therefore, training is best done in small bites versus one gulp. Training should incorporate layered learning; which builds on information they already know.

• Involve multiple senses - Incorporating audio (listening), visual (seeing) and tactical (doing) aspects into training helps reinforce the information presented and improves retention and is especially effective for adult learners.

• Acknowledge and reward progress - Frequent affirmative or corrective feedback also helps reinforce learning and improve retention. When providing training rewards, remember that money may not be prime motivation for adults. Instead they may be more highly motivated by recognition or prestige.
• Empower, as appropriate - Nobody likes to sit on the bench after sweating all week at practice. As training is completed, be sure to give your adult learners permission or authority to use the newly acquired skills.
• Refresh/Retrain - Processes and technologies change quickly in today's workplace. Therefore, training programs need to incorporate regular refreshers and retraining in order to keep employee skill levels up to par. This is especially important to adult learners who tend to resist change.

To be effective, training needs to be relevant to adult learners. Incorporate these techniques. See the impact on your adult workforce.