Leadership Development

Accelerated Leadership Learning

The accelerated learning methodology was developed as organizations were looking for a way to reduce the time involved in training and also increase the probability of the learning objectives being successfully implemented on the job.

Accelerated learning became utilized more into leadership development programs because senior managers wanted to achieve higher impact on their core competencies and wanted to do it a shorter time frame. The five steps in accelerated training are; preparation, acquisition, integration, articulation, and application. Each of these steps is critical if the goal of highly successful leadership training programs is to be realized.

This process begins with determining what constitutes success for a leadership development training program, and exactly which learning stages needs to be obtained to achieve that success. The four learning stages are:

• Unconscious/Incompetent - we are not aware of it and we have no capability to do it
• Conscious/Incompetent - we are aware of it and we have no capability to do it
• Conscious/Competent - we have the capability to do it as we think carefully about it
• Unconscious/Competent - we have the capability to do it without thinking about it

In most cases we want to achieve conscious/competency during the workshop phase and then with practice achieve unconscious/competency which leads to real behavioral change.

Furthermore it is important to identify to which knowledge level the participants should achieve during the leadership management training. The four knowledge levels are:

• Awareness - have heard of it
• Knowledge - can apply it
• Skill - have internalized it
• Proven Expertise – Flawless execution and can teach to others

Now let’s briefly look at the five steps of accelerated learning:

• Preparation is what the participant receives in advance of a highly effective leadership development program. This can take the form of pre-tests to determine their current awareness or knowledge level, advance reading of case studies or relevant material, briefings to participants and their managers of what is going to be covered and what is going to be expected, and other handouts or audio visuals to prepare them for the learning experience.
• Acquisition is what takes place during the learning experience. Whether this is a formal workshop, E-learning, or self study there must be ways to insure the transfer of knowledge has taken place. To ensure this has happened we move to the next stage of integration.
• Integration is when we start moving from the awareness level to the knowledge level of learning. This is the point where we start to learn if there really has been a full transfer of the learning objectives and if we have motivated the learner to start the internalization process. Many instructors utilize a questioning technique to test to see if the participants really have achieved knowledge of the subject area and are ready to achieve articulation.
• Articulation usually falls into two distinct categories. The first is that they can respond correctly to learning objective questions and the second is can they identify how these learning objectives can be utilized on the job with positive impact. The difficulty is that some participants will be reluctant to speak up in class and rather than embarrassing them in front of their peers, it is better to ask them to develop an action plan of exactly how they are going to apply what they have just learned with impact on the job. The instructor can then discuss with the participant how that application of the learning objectives will be of benefit to them, their direct supervisor, and the organization.
• Application is the effective usage of what has been learned during the leadership development training has been successfully applied on the job. This is not only accomplished by the implementation of the action plans, but reinforced by the positive comments of direct supervisors, peers, fellow workshop attendees and sometimes even the instructor. It is also recommended that follow up surveys be conducted to help identify exactly what learning objectives have been applied and to what degree. If in fact there has been a positive change in behavior it is one measurement of success.

In conclusion, with the increasingly critical need to improve the core leadership competencies of managerial staffs and their resistance to lengthy training curriculum it is becoming more apparent that the accelerated learning methodology should be a part of any human resource management training program.