Key Takeaways
- Access to information does not equal knowledge, so L&D programs must help employees interpret, connect and apply information rather than simply consume more of it.
- Effective learning builds capability by giving employees opportunities to practice skills such as decision-making and problem-solving in realistic workplace contexts.
- Knowledge expansion requires exposure to new perspectives and experiences, along with reflection and synthesis to turn information into meaningful insights and action.
More than 7 petabytes of data are being generated every second in our world. This amounts to more than 17 billion books of information. That’s a scary statistic.
Access to information online, whether through workplace courses or via webinars, YouTube videos and podcasts outside of work, has reached an all-time high and, in most cases, is immediate. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is also providing information and even an explanation of concepts in seconds.
Information is now both in surplus and tribal.
Information Matters, But on Its Own Is Not Enough
There is considerable evidence to show that increased information access does not in itself equalize opportunity for the working population. Information must be converted into knowledge before it can be of any use in application.
Information is converted to knowledge via sensemaking (i.e., interpretation). We connect signals, facts or observations and, depending on the context, transform them into knowledge. The way of thinking (premises for decision-making), as well as a person’s history and identity, influence the interpretation of information.
However, exposure to new ways of thinking and the challenges of applying existing knowledge in new contexts are also required to change a person’s way of thinking.
Consider the analogy of a person walking along a trail in a forest. Walking farther along the same forest trail reveals more trees but no new perspective. Climbing above it, up a mountain and looking down, changes the view: the trees, the forest and their relationships become visible. Thus, a useful way to express this is:
Knowledge Expansion = Acquired Information + Exposure + Experience
A really powerful learning experience is more than the sum of knowledge acquired during a learning event. It shows how this learning experience changes a person’s way of seeing things as he or she continues to live his or her life.
This poses a new challenge for learning and development (L&D), as applying information is a much harder problem than accessing it.
Move From Recall to Application
Imagine Sarah, an early career employee. She completes a course on decision-making and learns about confirmation bias, anchoring and the difference between intuitive and analytical thinking. She scores well because the course improves her awareness and recall. A week later, she must decide whether to retain an underperforming supplier, switch to a more expensive alternative or delay. She now needs to frame the decision, weigh trade-offs, assess uncertainty and decide who should contribute. Sarah understands the principles but has not learned how to architect a decision. Her recall improved; her decision capability did not.
Most learning programs transfer information from the teacher to the student. Few can interpret a given context, make sound judgments, establish the appropriate level of trust and influence others.
The question L&D teams should ask is: What can this employee now notice, decide or do that they could not do before the learning intervention?
In practical terms, the goal is to extend application of information into workplace scenarios before a course is “complete.” For instance:
- Instead of just teaching a model for stakeholder management, the learner has to generate, compare and test several solutions.
- Instead of learning the principles of creativity, the learner has to generate, compare and test several solutions.
- Instead of learning decision-making principles, a difficult decision involving incomplete and conflicting information must be structured by the learner.
Two design shifts help turn information delivery into capability: exposure and synthesis.
1. Design Learning Around Exposure
The first design shift is to improve visual intelligence through empirical observation or, of a sort, anthropology. That is, instead of relying on procedural documents outlining how processes should be carried out, observe the processes as they are actually carried out. Listen to others and ask questions. Go to the places where work is done to shadow employees in problem areas of the job.
Beyond simply exposing learners to new ways of thinking and experiences, the other design shift is to expand our mental models. Our mental models are composed of our prior experiences, assumptions, beliefs and prior learning. Therefore, by exposing learners to different disciplines, ways of thinking and new experiences, we can view problems from different perspectives and draw conclusions from a larger base of information and thus enhance their ability to notice, explain and solve problems.
2. Teach People to Synthesize
Data and information are raw materials. The figures in a spreadsheet, comments from an interview and charts on a slide record observations. Insight emerges when we connect those observations, recognize a pattern, explain what it means and decide what should follow. Synthesis is this intellectual act: transforming separate pieces of evidence into meaning that can inform a decision. It requires interpretation, not simply collection or compression of material. This relationship can be expressed simply:
Insights = Data + Synthesis
Generative AI will increase the importance of synthesis as there will be plenty of information, already summarized in the ready answers, but lacking questions, interpretation and sound judgment.
Learning programs should include opportunities for participants to ask their own questions and work through them to arrive at their own answers:
- What does this information mean?
- How does it connect to what we already know?
- What assumptions does it challenge?
- Where else might it apply?
- What pattern can we see?
- What action should follow?
Reflection is not a nice-to-have for learning programs. It’s a means to an end (i.e., a transfer of experience to knowledge).
A Practical Reset for L&D
When designing learning around information for a learner, ask the following four questions:
- Are we measuring consumption of information or capability?
- Where will learners encounter perspectives that challenge theirs?
- What will learners be practicing?
- How will learners’ knowledge be updated by way of reflection to apply learning?
Information is still very relevant for learning but in a totally different way than before. Information is not given to learners to help them know more, see more, connect more, question more or do more with what they already know.
That is what genuine learning and knowledge growth look like.
