I am often asked how to apply the concepts and processes that people learn in the Leadership through Learning (LTL) program.  Here’s a question from Donna Smith, an LTL practitioner from Edmonton, Alberta:

Donna’s Question:

Could you send me a summary of how your learning preference influences the triggers you might have around participating in meetings?  For example, I get impatient when people start talking about details, details, details and just want to move on.

My Response:

I think that if all your participants know their learning style preference, the activity at the end of this blog might be the best way for them to individualize their reasoning for engagement and disengagement during a meeting.  I believe the activity would take about 5-10 minutes.  Depending on the size of the group, you would have to allow another 5 -10 minutes for a quick debrief.

Your impatience with details can be attributed to an action preference in learning style, but it is also a good example of how someone’s thinking style is having an impact on you, as seen in the thinking styles profile called the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI).  A focus on details comes from Quadrant B, and irritates people who come from the other three quadrants, but especially Quadrant D, which is likely where your irritation is coming from.

Overview of Learning Styles Engagement:

• For people who have an action orientation (activist and pragmatist):  The meeting must be time efficient (pragmatist), and must have something to do with planning (pragmatist) that leads to action (activist) or implementation (activist).
• For people who have a reflection orientation (reflector and theorist):  The meeting must have an opportunity to gather new information (reflector), and must have a strong purpose (theorist).

Quick Overview of Disengagement:

• People who have an action orientation (activist and pragmatist) are irritated if the meeting is not time efficient (pragmatist), and has nothing to do with planning (pragmatist) that leads to any type of action (activist).
• People who have a reflection orientation (reflector and theorist) are irritated if there is no opportunity to gather ideas (reflector) and the meeting has no clear purpose (theorist).

Applying the Learning Cycle during a meeting:

1. Start with telling the purpose for the meeting:
2. Move to gathering data about the purpose (e.g., different perspectives, etc.)
3. Draw conclusions from the information gathered
4. Plan on how to move forward
5. Assign actions and accountability (to whom and with timeframes)
6. Note: If you have several purposes to cover in the meeting, do steps 1-5 for each purpose, starting with the most urgent and important purpose first.

Activities for Participants to Determine How Meetings and Learning Styles Connect

1. During or at the end of the meeting, use the Capitalizing on Your Learning Style booklet found at the back of the Learning Styles Questionnaire (LSQ) Interpretation Guide or Revving Up Thinking and Learning:  Course Design Guide.
2. Ask participants to go to page 8 in the Capitalizing on Your Learning Style booklet.  And find the page that refers to their strongest preferences.
3. Ask participants to review the bullets under the statement If you … you will learn best from activities where, and highlight what phrases resonate for them.  This forms the basis of their preferences.  Ask participants to consider when they were engaged and why they might have been engaged based on what they highlighted.
4. Ask participants to review the bullets under the statement As an _____  you will learn least from …, and highlight what phrases resonate for them.  This forms a basis for what irritates them.  Ask participants to consider when they were disengaged and why they might have been disengaged based on what they highlighted.