What is "Method Learning"?
There are certain quotes that stick in the mind. I heard one at the start of a training course I attended several years ago:
"Minds are like parachutes - they only function when they're open!"
So how is it that I often forget the names of people who I've only just met, and yet I can recall certain quotes like this one, years later? Firstly, it's a very vivid and somewhat alarming analogy if you really think about it, and secondly, I still recall giggling to myself as I found it to be a particularly cheesy quote that was given in all seriousness!
Any kind of anecdote or quote which evokes an emotional response is far more likely to stick in the mind than an isolated fact or piece of information...
Just for a moment, close your eyes, and imagine what it would feel like to be careering towards the ground with a closed parachute... If you're a regular sky diver or a dare devil type, perhaps this is an exhilarating thought, but for most, just the thought of it is terrifying! Whatever your thoughts or experiences of parachuting, you're likely to conjure up either an enjoyable adrenalin rush, or the feelings of sheer terror.
That's because our emotional memories tend to be far deeper and longer lasting than our cognitive/intellectual memories. The method in "Method Acting" refers to the practice pioneered by Constantin Stanislavski and advocated by Lee Strasberg, by which actors draw upon their own emotional memories in order to enhance their performance.
For a similar reason, emotional memories can enhance our ability to teach or to learn new skills. I coined the term "Method Learning" to describe the particular type of training and coaching methodology that I have developed and perfected over the 35+ years that I've been working as a trainer and a coach. In a similar way to Method Acting, Method Learning involves individuals connecting to their own emotional memories in order enhance their ability to absorb, recall and implement their learning.
So for example, if you attend one of my Management & Supervision Skills courses, you will be asked early on in the session to recall various experiences of being managed yourself. As you remember the circumstances and the range of positive and negative experiences, you begin to re-connect to your emotional memory. This then becomes the starting point for creating your own powerful strategy for moving forward. Rather than asking you to remember the 6 most important things that managers do (which you'll almost certainly forget within a week or two!), you will leave the course with, (and will hopefully remember for a long time), the most poignant and valuable things you can do to be the best manager you can be. That's because these will be based on, and anchored by your own emotional memories.
You don’t need to attend a special training course to be able to use “Method Learning” – you simply need to be able to find the emotional connection with whatever it is you want to learn. It may be the anticipation of the benefits of learning whatever it is, or the determination to avoid the consequences of failing to take action. It may be the fear of replicating what others have done in the past, or the excitement of achieving something great.
Very few people simply collect information or advice for the sake of it. I’d suggest that even the greatest quiz brains have their own emotional motivation to cram all those seemingly random, and often useless facts into their brains... So next time you'd like to learn something new, why not give "Method Learning" a go? After all, what have you got to lose?
Actually, do literally ask yourself that question - "What have I got to lose if I don't learn this?"
If, when you answer it, you can feel some kind of emotional reaction (such as excitement, fear, anticipation, or determination), then you're definitely on the way to putting my "Method Learning" into practice!
Author: Tina Halperin, Founder H2 Training, Coaching & Consultancy