The Recipe for Adopting a New Skill

Think about a skill that you wish was yours…playing the guitar? Selling?  Writing a book? Computer programming? Leading? Project Management? Public Speaking?  Whatever your wish, if you really want to get good at it, the recipe, so the behavioral experts say, is simple.

Do it. Do it again and again, over and over. And, eventually, quality will follow quantity.

This recipe has huge implications for instructional design training practitioners. Skills can be learned. First there needs to be a clear benefit for the learner. They need to believe there’s something in it for them. And, so does their boss.  Once you have their commitment, then you need to provide the time and structure for them to practice the skill and get real-time feedback and coaching. The new skill can actually become an automatic habit in about 60 days of practice.

Cook into your instructional design some motivation for your learners and then a process for iterative practice. First attempts may be awkward, but with doing it multiple times, on a consistent basis, your learners are bound not only to improve but to become afiocionadoes.