Is it possible to not enjoy a learning experience and still benefit from it?
The answer to this question of course is yes.
Lifting heavy weights, running until we’re hot and sweaty, and choosing a lean meal over (another) burger may be hard in the moment, but they are choices we’re glad to have made over the long term
Long hours of practicing scales may not have been your favorite childhood activity, but now, casually banging out Mozart’s Bagatelle No. 25 in A Minor, you may be pleased that you invested time and effort in things you didn’t feel like in the moment. That simple idea seems a little harder to carry into workplace learning though.
It is easy for learning managers to inadvertently optimize experiences for enjoyment more than the impact and growth it might activate.Let’s not get this point twisted, we have all seen the research that stitches enjoyment to learning outcomes, but there is a great difference between asking “did you enjoy this experience”, and “did this experience change you”.
Given the choice, I will take both.
But using net promoter scores, user ratings and sentiment analysis to understand the success of a learning experience may not always give you the insights you need to transform talent within your organization.
Enjoyment ratings should be woven together with insights into program efficacy. In that way, learning investments can bolster culture and fulfillment as much as they change, transform and grow your leaders and teams.