{"id":16063,"date":"2018-07-05T13:20:36","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T13:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hnews.hult.edu\/?p=16063"},"modified":"2026-05-05T17:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T16:41:07","slug":"are-you-learning-fast-enough","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hult.edu\/blog\/are-you-learning-fast-enough\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership training: Are you learning fast enough?"},"content":{"rendered":"

We invite you to explore this question with us over a series of blog articles. We want to hear your perspective as well as share early findings from our research.<\/p>\n

In the 30 years we\u2019ve spent designing and delivering leadership programs, we have focused on accelerating learning<\/strong> by including project application work. As you can imagine, we have had some success while other projects have fallen short of the mark. Here, we will share with you what we think makes a successful project that accelerates learning, and what doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

The 3 basics that make project work a successful vehicle for learning<\/h3>\n

Based on our experience and research, there are basic standards for projects that successfully encourage and accelerate learning<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s these standards that we took as our starting assumptions for our research, and they are what we recommend you apply as the minimum if you want your projects to be worthwhile:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Projects should be “real” and have the potential to impact the business.<\/strong>
    \nAlthough this sounds obvious, we have seen occasions where participants felt like it was a “made up” project, just to give them an assignment.<\/li>\n
  2. Projects must matter to someone in the organization, and that someone should be the sponsor of the project.
    \n<\/strong>Even if it is a real business issue or opportunity, unless the sponsor is the owner of that topic, the information and resources given to the “doing” of the project\u2014and the impact of the project\u2014will be limited.<\/li>\n
  3. Projects should be a vehicle for participants to experiment and learn, and everyone should understand this.
    \n<\/strong>The primary aim of the project work is to provide a learning environment through which participants can directly experiment with their leadership skills. To produce a successful outcome relating to the project itself is an important but secondary aim. This point is less obvious, potentially controversial, but extremely important if we want transfer of learning.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Experimenting implies risk, particularly when working with successful executives. Aligning on this order of objectives contributes to providing the required level of psychological safety.<\/p>\n

    <\/h3>\n

    Taking learning from classroom to office: Rapid prototyping<\/h3>\n

    Our objective in all the programs we run at Ashridge<\/strong> is for learners to be able to apply what they learn directly to their jobs<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

    So, in this research, we focus on how to maximize the transfer of learning from the classroom to the office. In particular, we look at the technique of “rapid prototyping<\/strong>,” which involves creating mockups of innovations under strict time pressure\u00b9 and already forms an essential part of most Design Thinking processes.<\/p>\n

    Our exact research question is:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    How can rapid prototyping experiments support learners in leadership development programs to transform their intentions and insights into things they actually do in the workplace?<\/em><\/p>\n

    Calling the projects \u201cexperiments<\/strong>\u201d sets up a number of expectations for us as facilitators and everyone else involved, including the participants:<\/p>\n