How novelty and reward can help to improve learning and development

Learning is a vital element of personal and professional growth and, in
some cases, survival in an ever-changing environment.

It is well documented that the brain's hippocampus and amygdala play important roles in learning and memory. What has also been discovered, and is still being explored, is the relationship those parts of our brains have with novelty, reward and motivation.

We like new things. We like the novelty of having to understand what we are engaging with for the first time and which memories of previous experiences we can draw on to help us to understand the new relationship, gadget, place, activity and so on. The learning is related to the new connections between the neurones in our brains. In short, learning stimulates us and novelty stimulates learning. So, why do
we so readily spurn novelty in our
learning activities?

Role of novelty

Does novelty have to mean silly? Does it mean fun? Does it simply mean doing things differently or exploring new avenues? If it is the latter, learning and development teams are well placed to bring novelty to their activities and thus help to motivate learners.

Most L&D teams face an uphill struggle in challenging people to do things differently to gain a fresh perspective. Real value can come about from comparing and contrasting approaches. Asking participants to perform activities or discuss how they would approach different scenarios and then moving the goalposts so that they have to undertake the same exercise but within new parameters or constraints will bring novelty to the exercise in a quick and easy fashion.

Having fun in a learning activity actually reinforces the lessons learned but can be more challenging to achieve. This isn't because participants don't know how to enjoy themselves; it is often because they don't give themselves permission to have fun in a non 'social' setting.

The trainer or facilitator needs to create the right atmosphere and environment for fun to be had. I'm not talking about forced fun with games and entertainment, but a positive environment in which people feel relaxed and open to ideas and allow thoughts to emerge in a free manner.
I have been in sessions where motivation for attending the workshop was lifted by future participants when they heard that a particularly delicious cake was given to participants as part of the programme!

We should note, however, that our inner child can be very useful to us if we allow her to be. Facilitators who create a place for generosity of spirit in picking up and running with ideas to test them out will motivate participants to learn and take their learning back into their day-to-day practice more readily than those who rely on more formulaic and tried-and-tested approaches to problem solving.

A classroom - real or virtual can be
a very creative place where novel ideas are raised, explored and thrown away or adopted as seen fit. Simple things like post-it notes and coloured pens to capture themes in planning sessions when trying to find new and innovative ways to communicate and engage with clients who have stopped using the firm's services is one example of an effective but still unsophisticated approach
of injecting something different into
a workshop session.

Designing a new board game was a more demanding example I have been involved with in the past, but one which the L&D team was able to use when training how to find new pricing policies and practices for key clients and mixed teams. This helped to identify how cross-selling opportunities were being missed and what the teams could do to plug those gaps.

On the more extreme end of the 'different' spectrum, I have also been involved in working with horses in a farmer's field to help new partners to tackle unfamiliar territory and gain confidence in their abilities to be successful when working on something new and very demanding for the first time.

Impact on diversity

Not only is bringing difference into the way training is conducted helpful to generating more learning opportunities, difference can also help firms be more inclusive and diverse in their internal management approaches.

Valuing differences in approaches to learning is also helpful and healthy. The forthcoming changes to CPD requirements in the UK, which place the onus on firms to demonstrate their lawyers' competence, necessitate a different approach to learning. Why not run competitions to find people with strengths in networking, presenting, developing others or in subject matter expertise? Imagine the buzz a practice group based mastermind competition
might generate.

Use L&D to help channel curiosity and novelty into motivation and ultimately increase levels of performance by achieving a good balance between new, challenging and fun activities. The answer to achieving this simply lies in the design and delivery of L&D activities not being constrained by solely using common and tried-and-tested methods to achieve learning outcomes. Put some novelty back into your learning and development and see what happens!

Sue Beavil is UK learning and organisational development manager at international law firm Slater & Gordon (www.slatergordon.co.uk)