The Learning Rebels are blogging about this topic . They are MUCH more eloquent than I am, and they inspired me to jot down a few thoughts.

My take on this topic is that we’re really making our field way more complicated than it needs to be L&D, Instructional Design, Social Learning, PLN, KM, whatever you want to call it….I’m going to call it Life 101. The longer I’m in this field, the more I’m convinced that L&D is Life 101:

• Respect people. Time, intelligence, experience and knowledge
• Speak clearly.
• Keep it simple but challenging, just like those word problems.
• People know where they want to go. Show them where they are now, and give them a map and support to reach their goals.
• Encourage people to learn.
• When giving feedback, even if the answer is correct, build on it. Add a challenge in.

This is how my parents raised me and my brother. This is how I was taught in school. And I think it is more relevant today than ever with the explosion of knowledge, blurring of barriers between work and personal, and just the general lack of time.

Respectful, Simple, Challenging, Encouraging, and Clear.

fyi: I’ve been talking about this since 2010: The Sandbox: All I need to Know about L&D I Learned as a Kid.