What do plants and on-the-job learning have in common?
Spring is here! So… what does that have to do with adult learning retention??
Sleep – Creep – Leap.
Have you ever heard of this? This is a method that I was taught for what plants do when they are newly planted into the ground. As I have built up teams over the years, this is very applicable to growth and learning (not solely speaking of onboarding). We often presume the learning curve should be shorter and smoother than it often is. We’ve learned that 70% of learning comes from doing or experience based. My philosophy is that it takes around three work-cycles for employees to gain confidence that they are experts in their role. This does not necessarily mean years rather material work-related seasons, nor that members aren’t contributing at all phases. We all know it takes time to build a strong roots.
The first phase Sleep:
is where the plants are in shock, therefore won’t seem to grow an inch, this is that initial onboarding phase. Beware here, the roots are growing, we just can’t witness that.
The second phase is Creep:
this is where you will see autonomy of tasks, still learning quite a bit about their daily lives, and ownership of their daily duties. You will start to witness growth here, still slow to the visible eye.
The third phase is Leap:
through their previous work cycles or achievements, confidence is building, they have successfully navigated through different work scenarios. This is when you will really see progress and growth with that team member and the team starting to congeal in a different way!
Recently I was reading poems by Rupi Kaur and in one of her books called “The Sun and Her Flowers” three of her chapters are called ‘rooting, rising, blooming,’ another beautiful representation of what our learning journeys are.
Remember…growth takes time, and sometimes you can’t visibly see the progress. Just keep watering, speaking positivity, and nurturing your plants and they will thrive.