How to Become the Next Learning Leader

As learning leaders, it’s up to us to find ways to capture the hard-won experiences of Baby Boomers before they retire from the workforce. Simulations just might hold the key.

By Michael Vaughan

The year 2010 will mark the beginning of widespread change in the workforce, when the first wave of Boomers will enter retirement, taking the business “know-how” they have built up over the years with them. 

As learning leaders, it’s up to us to map out an action plan for capturing the experience of these Boomers—before it’s too late.

Many organizations are busily documenting processes and procedures, but how do you capture “experience”?  More importantly, how do you motivate a Gen Y worker to want to read the documentation?

It’s often said that we gain wisdom through experience. Wisdom is to know when and why to take specific actions. Wisdom is to understand the consequences of your actions. Wisdom is to see the purpose and intent of your decisions. This wisdom can be difficult to package and present, but it is essential for employees to acquire. 

So how do you capture the wisdom of the Boomers and fuel Generation Y workers’ interest in learning what their elders have to say? 

We’ve found success in this area using simulations. Here’s why:

All employee groups, from Generation Y workers to Boomers, dive into simulations; the technology incorporates pieces of each of their learning preferences. Learning that is this engaging provides a perfect platform to teach best practices. A well-designed simulation will capture learners’ decisions, assumptions, and reflections across various rounds (simulated time) and include them in the simulation.

Let’s say you want to teach your new employees about your company’s business development process. A traditional approach might include an e-learning module that outlines the process and key best practices. There may even be a brief instructor-led course that includes role-play activities. These are all valuable training components, but let’s step, for a second, into the mind of a Generation Y learner (a scary prospect for the old codgers among us, I know!). 

Those in this generation are looking to “up” the interactivity level and excitement in their learning. Their response to the process points lain out in this sort of training might be, “Okay, whatever. Simple enough.”  The ideas may make sense in theory, but this younger generation will not necessarily have put best practices to use, so the practices remain just an outlined theory. 

Boomers, however, have learned over the years the effects of what the business calls “best practices.” 

Tangible example? Let’s say one of the process points is to send a follow-up discovery letter after an initial meeting with a client. This process seems logical. Generation Y would likely understand the reasoning behind the action. Boomers, on the other hand, would have sent many of these discovery letters over the years. They would know, from experience, the effects of sending a letter, the language that works, and the consequences that occur when you skip this process point, and they would be able to capture and share these ideas with others through a simulation.

If Generation Y learners are uninterested in reading Boomer commentary regarding best practices, the act of going through a sim can ignite an interest. Put the three generations into a business development simulation, for example, and now you have an environment in which the Gen Y learners can “experience” results when they skip a step and compare those outcomes to what occurs when they apply one of the best practices. 

The Boomers’ outcomes may differ from those of the other generations based on the experience they have acquired over their careers. The simulation captures their wisdom, too, as it gathers best practices from all participants, and presents them in a way that reaches all generations.  

So bring it on, 2010. While we’ll regret the departure of the Boomers in our workforce, the use of simulations will mean we won’t have to mourn the loss of their know-how as well. 

Michael Vaughan is president of Regis Learning Solutions. Contact Mike