Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2021 - 51

SRINI PIL LAY, M.D.

SCIENCE OF
LEARNING

CLOSING THE SKILLS GAP:
WHY MINDSET MATTERS

Recent technological growth has many
companies focusing on reskilling. To
allow these new skills to be adopted
and implemented at the rate of
change, leaders must foster mindset
shifts. What mindset practices do you
need to address in order to make sure
reskilling sticks, and how can you
implement them within an organization
at scale?
BIG PICTURE
When organizations plan on reskilling,
they rarely attempt to prepare minds
first. When they do, it is not done in a
way that boosts cultural coherence
and connection. You can avoid this
by first designing a program for buyin from leaders, and subsequently
implementing a program for onboarding
existing employees. In this way, you
grow a transformative mindset culture
that feels consistent and rewarding.
MINDSET SHIFTS
In order to learn new skills, the brain
needs to be prepared. Teaching new
skills in an environment of work overload
or tremendous uncertainty requires
three important mindset shifts:
1. ALLOW FOR FOCUSED AND
UNFOCUSED TIME
While the brain's attention and
memory regions must be active when
learning new information, learning
how to apply this information requires
unfocused time to activate a network
in the brain called the DMN (default
mode network), which is responsible
for putting puzzle pieces together.

Whether employees are learning how
to use a new machine or learning
new
leadership
competencies,
providing breaks during the skill
acquisition period is critical if you
want the learning to stick. You can
do this by planning " unfocused " time
for 15 minutes every hour, or at least
every 90 minutes. Aside from breaks,
unfocused learning, such as doodling
while listening, can improve memory
and retention.
2. TEACH MINDSET COMPETENCIES
TO MANAGE CHANGE
Reskilling efforts will activate the brain's
conflict detector, making a person hold
on to old ways of doing things. This
can be mitigated if managers teach
learners how to manage switch cost
- the emotional price that you pay
for change. One way to do this is to
use a technique called " spreading of
alternatives. "
To do this, ask learners to write down
all the advantages of the current
system and what the new learning
will add. Ask them to do this until they
truly understand why the new learning
is worth it. It also helps to give adult
learners a choice about what they
want to learn. Autonomy is a key driver
of motivation, so where choice is
possible, provide it.
3. TEACH MINDSET COMPETENCIES
TO BOOST AGILITY
In the workplace, " agility " refers to the
ability to reprioritize on a whim, and
avoid burnout in the process. Two key
methods are " feedback control " and

" impedance control. " These involve
looking at the system in which you are
working to limit the feedback to only
what is relevant, and to identify what is
slowing things down.

BEING FLEXIBLE IS KEY
TO LEARNING.
At a systems level, this is key, as up
to 29% of people who are highly
resilient still experience burnout due
to inefficient systems. Allow people
to choose when they want to share
feedback, opinions and learning, and
when they would rather do things alone
and in their own time. Being flexible
is key to learning, especially in the
current hybrid working environment.
SCALING LEARNING
Technology can help scale this learning
in a relatively stress-free environment.
Stress blocks new learning as it makes
the brain go into habit mode. However,
any learning management system
can store key steps in implementing
the unfocused, change and agile
mindsets. Also, you can send out
reminders so people remember that
learning new skills can be fun, less
stressful and adaptive in a world that is
constantly changing.
Dr.
Srini
Pillay
is
the
CEO
of NeuroBusiness Group. He is a Harvard
trained psychiatrist and neuroscientist,
and on the Consortium for Learning
Innovation at McKinsey & Company.
He is also the author of, " Tinker Dabble
Doodle Try. " Email Srini.

T R A I N I N G I N DUSTR Y MAGAZ INE - CLOSING SKILLS GAPS I WWW. T RAI NINGINDU S T RY . C OM/ MAGAZ I NE

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Training Industry Magazine - May/June 2021

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