Does education provide value?
It has shown problematic for larger organizations to sufficiently integrate learning and learning activities. This has led to skepticism, which in turn has produced poorly defined goals and lacking follow-ups. In these organizations evaluations have shown that education is a waste and unwise investment. Such conclusions have triggered a negative spiral of misunderstandings.
Action mapping at rescue!
Action mapping is a design process that aims to break this trend. The educational expert and blogger Cathy Moore coined the system, but the principals are well known to most who work with education. The manifest of Action Mapping states that the focus is to change what people do, and not just what they know. This means that a course should not only focus on theoretical knowledge, but also aim at changing people’s behavior and thereby the actual activity in your organization. For example, a course may aim to increase sales by 5%.
The goal is everything
Traditionally, knowledge is always the main focus of any educational activity. The first step is commonly to collect relevant knowledge for the course content. Very often the result surpasses the amount of knowledge that any course participant can be expected to learn. This is why Action Mapping departs from a goal instead. The method focuses on drawing a map around the goal and allowing the map to form the basis of the course. The map serves as documentation, content declaration and menu at the same time. If needed the map can be transformed to follow a linear structure.
Actions take us to the goal
What is required to fulfill the goal of a course? The answer is most often: a change of behavior among the participants. The course is designed to inspire, demonstrate and convince the users about the value of these actions. In order to reach the goal the actions must be closely inter-linked to the everyday life of the participants. For example, one exercise could be to change your approach when presenting new products to potential clients. The course participant will likely be willing to do this, but will want to know how.
Interactive training supports action
The solution is to create interactivity that provides practice and makes the user learn to succeed at these actions. The training can vary depending on the subject and must not consist of expensive or complicated simulations – while sometimes simulations are exactly what is needed.
Information supports training
There must also be room for theoretical knowledge in the education. On this subject Action Mapping has strict guidelines. The theoretical parts can only be included if they are of direct value to the practical training. If the participant is ready for practical training without going through the theoretical material he or she can skip it. Please contact us if you want to know more about Action Mapping – or other smart solutions with great results.