Forget Me Not Blog Posts

Caitlin Delaney of CareFully explains how 40 extra seconds of compassionate care helps in Aged Care, her Compassionate Care app, and more valuable tips.

How do I communicate compassionately with patients?

by Caitlin Delaney

Time and again patients tell us that bedside manner, in other words - kindness, truly matters. It’s time we listened.

The scientific evidence to support compassionate care is too great to ignore. And it is not just patients who benefit with longer, healthier lives. Being compassionate can make healthcare professionals happier and less burned out.

In our current Covid-19 world, there has never been more of a need for care - for both patients and healthcare professionals alike. Healthcare workers are required to consistently cultivate compassion, at times via Telehealth appointments, alongside the daily challenges they face in their busy roles.

During these challenging covid-19 times, with digital health on the rise, compassionate communication is more important than ever.

The good news is compassionate behaviours can be learned. According to Stephen Trzeciak, author of "Compassionomics”, forty seconds of compassionate communication is all it takes to make a meaningful difference. Trzeciak says that forty seconds of compassionate care could even save a patient’s life.

But what does compassionate care look like and how can healthcare providers ensure that they are getting it right?

CareFully undertook research into this important topic to find out.

What is compassionate healthcare, and why does it matter?

“Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries.
Without them, humanity cannot survive”

What is compassion?

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Compassion takes this further. It involves understanding another’s distress, with a desire to alleviate it. Compassion is empathy in action.

Compassion in healthcare involves empathy, sympathy, sensitivity, non-judgment, a tolerance of distress, and a motivation to relieve suffering.

Here at CareFully we believe that compassion should be a core requirement of care and a basic duty in a healthcare professional’s daily work.

What is patient-centred care?

Also known as person or human-centred care, patient-centred care is where the patients actively participate in their own medical treatment in close cooperation with their healthcare providers. It is widely recognised as a foundation for safe, high-quality healthcare. It is care that values individual patient preferences and needs.

Compassion is the foundation of patient-centred care.

What is human centred-design?

Human-centred design (HCD) is a “creative approach to problem solving…that starts with the people you are designing for and ends with new solutions that are tailor made to suit their needs”. In short, human-centred design is all about “building a deep empathy with the people that you are designing for”.

True patient-centred care is a great example of human-centred design.

Why is compassion so important in healthcare?

“Compassionate care for me has been the ability of medical staff to really listen to my concerns and fears, and to re-assure when appropriate. It is always good to feel there is time to really talk things over.”

— Breast Cancer Survivor

Ten years ago, an internet search for “Compassion and healthcare” yielded almost no results. Today we are beginning to realise that compassion is as important in healthcare as technical skills. Mounting scientific evidence demonstrates that patient outcomes are dependent on how much our healthcare providers care.

The primary goal of compassionate patient-centred care is to improve the patient experience and individual health outcomes. But healthcare professionals and healthcare systems benefit too. Some benefits are:

1. Improved satisfaction rates from patients and families.
2. Better morale and productivity reported from healthcare professionals.
3. Increased patient adherence to their prescribed medications.
4. Fewer mistakes and a reduction in malpractice cases.
5. More informed and appropriate resource allocation.
6. Reduced costs and increased financial gains throughout the system of care.
7. Enhanced reputation of the healthcare industry as a whole.

In short, compassionate, patient-centred care can result in healthier and happier patients and lower health care costs. What’s more, it leads to healthier and happier staff, and there is even evidence that being compassionate may protect health care providers from burnout.

CareFully has a unique dual insight into the healthcare industry, spearheaded by our founder Caitlin Delaney. As both a patient and healthcare professional, Caitlin has witnessed first-hand the difference compassion can make to the patient experience, and ultimately the patient outcome.

For CareFully founder Caitlin, little acts of kindness made all the difference to her cancer journey.
“The use of touch and eye contact, and genuine interest in how I was, made me feel cared about.”

CareFully Researches Compassionate Communication

At Carefully, we understand that compassionate communication is the foundation of compassionate care. And we know that to truly understand compassionate care, we must listen to the receivers of care - the patient. A recent HCD course presented the perfect opportunity for CareFully to research what compassionate care looks like.

For this course CareFully proposed the following human-centred design challenge:

“How can we build compassionate communication tools to support people when speaking with cancer patients?”

Although this study was related to cancer patients, the results are relevant for any healthcare provider.

CareFully interviewed 30 cancer patients, their carers, family and friends, alongside cancer health care professionals to find out what factors influenced compassionate communication.

Gaining further insight, CareFully interviewed psychologists and communication experts, all of whom had been touched by cancer or worked in the cancer space.

To immerse themselves in context, CareFully team members drew on their own experiences - they have either had cancer or cared for those with cancer. The CareFully team also sought out analogous inspiration by studying interactions in their daily lives where compassionate communication took place. CareFully found that certain businesses provided fabulous customer service, which ultimately involved excellent communication.

The result? This made the CareFully team feel cared about as individuals.

Qualitative analysis of findings revealed three key insights. These insights shaped a prototype; a tool to support compassionate communication for healthcare providers. This tool captures real-time feedback from patients about their experience, in particular with regards to compassionate, patient-centred care. Rich data is subsequently used to support staff via tailored training programs and staff support services, either in person or digitally.

Contact us to find out more about their compassionate care tool and how it could help your business.

How can I communicate compassionately with patients?

It is true that some people are more wired for compassion than others. But the good news is that compassion can be learned. Below, CareFully shares some of their tips on how to communicate compassionately with patients.

Smiling, being positive, and taking the time to build rapport can make a huge difference to a patient’s experience.

Adopt excellent customer service skills.

Tip Number 1: Validate patients’ emotions.

Validating feelings is essential if people are to feel heard and respected. This involves recognising peoples feelings and acknowledging them as important. Only when we have acknowledged a patient’s feelings and made them feel ok about them, should we move on to offering solutions to their problems or sharing information. Below is an example of a doctor and patient interaction where the doctor either validates or dismisses a patients feelings:

Doctor:

“How are you feeling today?”

Patient:

“Not great actually. I feel really down and am worried about chemo and surgery.”

Doctor (Validating response)

“I can totally understand why you would be feeling that, this is really tough stuff. We are going to look after you, and we are going to get through this together. We are here for you”.

Doctor (Dismissive response):

“Oh don’t worry you will be fine, you are in good hands! Just try and think positively!”

Tip Number 2: Be friendly and authentic.

“All the staff were so friendly…the receptionist was always smiling and happy, which lifted my mood as soon as I walked in.”

— Cancer Patient

When we think of excellent customer service this invariably brings to mind friendly and authentic staff who will go out of their way to help you. Staff who are grumpy, negative, or disingenuous will never make you feel cared about.

Be conversational and sociable - revealing some of your personality and being personable is a great way to build rapport with a patient. It is ok to share aspects of your personal life, such as kids or hobbies, as this makes the healthcare provider appear more human and ‘normal’. Humour, where appropriate, is also a great tool.

Cultivate curiosity towards your patients.

If we are curious about a patient, compassionate body language and communication will naturally follow.

Being curious about your patients will naturally lead to compassion.

Some tips for fostering curiosity are:

Tip Number 3: Treat the first appointment with your patient like a ‘first date’.

Recognise that your first interaction with a patient is the start of a relationship and act accordingly. Find out the patient’s likes, dislikes, interests, communication preferences, and boundaries. We find common ground by asking questions, and actively listening.

Tip Number 4: Treat the patient, not the disease.

Time and again we hear from patients that they want to be treated ‘normally’. If we see patients as a person, with their unique needs, values and preferences, then we are practising true patient-centred care.

“Patients can feel marginalised and powerless...Talk to them like they are healthy and ‘normal’ and treat them as an equal.”

— Oncology Professor/Surgeon

Foster self-awareness of your communication style

How do you know if you are communicating compassionately with patients or not? Many organisations place more emphasis on technical skills over soft skills. It is not standard to up-skill or provide feedback on staff’s communication skills.

Some tips for building self-awareness are:

Tip Number 5: Encourage feedback from patients and peers.

Any organisation committed to patient-centred care and excellence should include the patient voice via feedback. Asking your peers and manager about your communication style is also recommended. You can even ask patients for direct feedback - you can ask them if they are happy with how you are caring for them, or if there is something else you could start doing or stop doing.

Tip Number 6: Look to role models of compassionate care.

Is there someone in your organisation who embodies compassionate care? If so, shadow them and ask them for advice. You can also look at situations where communication has not been great, as an example of what not to do. Sometimes the best learning occurs when things don’t go well.

Tip Number 7: Practise self-compassion and set boundaries.

Self-compassion and forgiveness are essential. We are not always going to get it right, and that is ok. We can’t cultivate compassion towards others if we’re not compassionate with ourselves. It is also essential to have healthy boundaries to avoid compassion fatigue and burnout.

Tip Number 8: Empower patients to communicate their needs and preferences.

Patients need help with communicating too! Communication is two way, and the onus isn’t all on the healthcare provider. You can ask patients what their communication preferences are such as in the following example:

Nurse:

“I know that am giving you lots of new information, which can be overwhelming and hard to take in. Some patients like to know everything, and some patients just want the bare minimum. Please let me know what you like and if there is anything else you need from me during these appointments.”

Summary: Compassionate Communication Tips

1. Use customer service skills, such as being positive, friendly, and approachable. Validate the patient’s concerns and feelings, don’t minimise them. Build rapport by revealing your personality and using humour where appropriate.
   
   
2. Be curious about your patients. Look them in the eye, ask curious questions, and listen to what they say. Treat the patient, not the disease, and tailor care to suit their needs (don’t just use a ‘one size fits all’ approach).?
   
   
3. Reflect and build self-awareness on your own communication style. Ask your peers, managers, and patients for feedback and take it on board. Look to role models of compassionate care, what do they do? Practice self-compassion and know your boundaries to avoid compassion fatigue. Empower patients to communicate their preferences.

Closing

We know that compassionate care matters. The good news is that compassion can be learned and implemented without costing any more time. Compassionate communication may be all it takes to make a meaningful difference.

CareFully’s research, which critically included the patient perspective, revealed 8 handy tips for compassionate communication. These tips can be implemented immediately by healthcare professionals and all those who want to be more compassionate in their professional and personal daily lives.

How can we help you?

Do you want to foster excellence in compassionate patient-centred care?

Are you actively connecting your healthcare professionals with the voices and perspectives of your patients?

CareFully and Forget Me Not have been working together to improve Compassionate Care in the Health and Aged Care sector. Caitlin Delaney works with numerous clients to advise and train staff members on supporting older Australians with the utmost care and respect.

The Compassionate Care app provides multiple learning opportunities to practice compassion in just 1 to 5 minutes a day, accessible whenever and wherever is most convenient for an individual carer. Get in touch with Caitlin at CareFully for further information about the App, or for information about a Compassionate Care program for your staff.

It's time to care about Aged Care

Trial Forget Me Not today. Please complete your details below and we will be in touch to arrange access to the App.

References:

https://www.compassionomics.com https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/compassion#note-1

https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/partnering-consumers/person-centred-care

https://www.designkit.org/human-centered-design

https://cmajnews.com/2019/06/20/compassion-and-efficiency-not-mutually-exclusive-in-health-care-cmaj-109-5773/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6739068/

https://jcompassionatehc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40639-015-0015-2

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27992278/

https://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/8/3/e019701

https://catalyst.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/CAT.17.0559

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6739068/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4939589/

https://www.wikihow.com/Validate-Someone%27s-Feelings

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/hope-relationships/201503/4-ways-be-more-authentic-person

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_listeninghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person-centered_care

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compassion_fatigue https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-compassion

https://cmajnews.com/2019/06/20/compassion-and-efficiency-not-mutually-exclusive-in-health-care-cmaj-109-5773/

https://www.safetyandquality.gov.au/our-work/partnering-consumers/person-centred-care

Background

AnglicareSA has a highly skilled dedicated workforce capable of delivering exceptional quality care to consumers living with dementia. In 2020, AnglicareSA delivered two dementia care online learning modules as part of its annual continuing professional development program for aged care staff.

Sharyn Osborn
Executive General Manager People and Culture.

Little and often using Forget Me Not microlearning app

To help employees continuously build their dementia care skills AnglicareSA worked alongside Obvious Choice to innovate with a ‘little and often’ learning delivery approach. Over an 8-week window, employees were nudged with 5-minute dementia care scenarios. This provided Carers extra practice responding to virtual consumers who were displaying signs of delusion, agitation, aggression or at risk of wandering.

Employees got enormous value from a few minutes of learning each shift and reflected “the small bursts of training were a real time saver” and the repeated practice attempts built their confidence. The ‘little and often’ approach trialed at AnglicareSA is backed by neuroscience and HR research by Josh Bersin on optimal training delivery techniques for the modern worker.

Trial it now

Easy and Convenient

All staff found learning via the Forget Me Not microlearning app easy and straightforward.

Rather than roster employees off to attend classroom training sessions or retake the 30-minute online learning modules, AnglicareSA encouraged employees to find 5 minutes during their shift to learn on their mobile phone.

Personalisation

The microlearning experience was designed to meet employees where they’re at in their journey to dementia care competence. When employees struggled with virtual consumer scenarios, rich adaptive feedback helped bridge knowledge gaps. Retrieval practice, a neuroscience process that provides employees with multiple opportunities to practice how to respond and deliver safe, quality care to dementia consumers, led to increased employee confidence.

Employees who demonstrated competence the first time they encountered a scenario were stretched with a variant scenario a few days later. In this way, each employee’s journey to dementia care knowledge mastery was personalised. Some Aged Care staff were able to master the scenarios in a couple of weeks whilst others took a little longer. Personalisation meant people who needed more practice were able to move at a pace that matched their current competence. This adaptive learning is not possible with traditional online learning modules.

Actionable insights to impact

>By upskilling employees with microlearning and innovating with learning analytics, AnglicareSA were able to provide more coaching opportunities for frontline Carers on dementia care.>

Obvious Choice Managing Director James Stacksaid the transformation to a microlearning app with powerful analytics makes it easier for aged care providers to continuously develop staff and quickly close knowledge gaps.

"A key business benefit of using the Forget Me Not microlearning app is getting analytics on what staff know and don’t know about dementia care. Unlike Forget Me Not, traditional online learning doesn't show us what staff originally knew or didn't know or how they mastered dementia care knowledge over time." he said.

"This analytics provides insights for senior clinicians and Residential Managers to provide extra coaching and mentoring to staff who need more support."

WHERE TO NEXT?

On the back of the Dementia Care microlearning campaign, AnglicareSA plan to rollout cultural safety training using Forget Me Not. Frontline staff think the Forget Me Not App "would be super good for nearly any clinical scenario or a range of other skills too."

Trial Forget Me Not for free!

Send your details below and we will be in touch to provide your microlearning access.

With company culture being a key factor in employee retention, employers are increasingly mindful of implementing practices and policies that reflect company values. An unsupportive or toxic culture leads to disengaged employees, unhappy customers and high employee turnover. Bad workplace culture will push the best people away.

Microlearning starts to build a company culture of excellence. Companies that help employees build good habits of continuous learning outperform competitors, innovate faster and respond better to changing market conditions. Implementing a microlearning content strategy is an effective way to boost knowledge retention and fit learning into the flow of work. 

Here are five reasons why you need to consider microlearning in your learning and development strategy.

1. Microlearning makes employees feel valued and appreciated

2. Microlearning shows your company is innovative

3. Microlearning creates a learning culture

4. Microlearning builds employee confidence

5. Microlearning builds inclusive cultures

1. Microlearning makes employees feel valued and appreciated

Microlearning reduces interruption in an already busy workday. It allows employees to set preferences and learn at a time and place that is most convenient for them — rather than take them away from work for traditional classroom learning or online learning.  

Microlearning shows an employer respects and values their employee's time and professional growth. Any company that values its employees will see this reciprocated.

2. Microlearning shows your company is innovative

Implementing microlearning in the form of a mobile app shows a company is progressive and committed to the adoption of digital trends.

It shows an understanding of how digital content is consumed in today's fast paced world. Microlearning also recognises that bite-size learning is the best solution for employees, especially those on the frontline who don't have access to a PC or laptop. 

Applying microlearning in your company shows a commitment to values such as innovation, learning and customer service. Using microlearning for induction training as an example immediately highlights these values. What a great way to set your company apart by providing innovative induction training versus painful orientation workshops with bad catering or long winded eLearning modules.  

3. Microlearning creates a learning culture

The frequency of microlearning helps employees build up a little and often habit to continuous skill development. Employees can be incentivised upon completion in the form of mastery which can go towards a reward and recognition scheme.

Employees can be encouraged to share their results and learning, which fosters a culture of transparency and increases your employee's sense of alignment with your company — and ultimately increases employee engagement.

4. Microlearning builds employee confidence

On Forget Me Not, feedback is immediate, encouraging and conversational, which makes employees feel appreciated and celebrate small moments of continuous development. 

Instead of waiting to receive feedback in a one-on-one meeting or in an annual performance appraisal, microlearning gives employees a real sense of progress by providing multiple opportunities for feedback.

Success and reward happens often and quickly, improving employee confidence and their self worth in a company.

5. Microlearning builds inclusive cultures

Research from Deloitte shows inclusive work cultures are six times more innovative. They’re also two times more likely to meet or exceed financial targets. The reason for this is because inclusive culture values create a workplace environment for employees to bring their whole selves to work.

Companies need to recognise that inclusion is not a stand-alone initiative or compliance training but an ongoing part of creating a culture. So, how do you shift the mindset from compliance to culture? Through the use of a microlearning strategy to achieve this goal. 

For example, consider how introducing inclusion-friendly microlearning content on unconscious bias might help to facilitate self-awareness, or how lessons on responding to different generations in the workplace could improve communication between employees and teams.

Greater employee collaboration and peer learning can be encouraged by practising new skills and engaging with peers and test learning in a real environment to measure impact.

Want to see how you can apply microlearning?

Microlearning can help you build on a company culture of excellence. It provides the glue for a robust performance-based culture by reflecting innovative and progressive company values where employees are valued and a learning culture fostered.

You can learn more about how you can use a microlearning strategy into your employees' day-to-day. Get in touch Forget Me Not for a free demo to see how easy it is to embed knowledge into your company.

Picture this: you invest thousands of dollars in staff training and development. You hope what staff learn is retained and applied. But how do you know if the content sticks? And can you really rely on an eLearning quiz to measure retention?

This blog explores:

1. Why knowledge retention is a competitive advantage

2. Making knowledge stick

3. Three techniques to improve knowledge retention

Why knowledge retention is A Competitive Advantage

Knowledge retention isn’t just some L&D buzzword. It is a critical competitive advantage when employees have the know how to do their job to an exceptional standard of performance. When staff retain critical knowledge, job tasks and behaviours are second nature — which is really the true goal of any learning and development.

Benefits of knowledge retention

The most obvious benefit is that improved retention means enhanced on the job performance. Other benefits include:

• Higher employee engagement

  It helps build job satisfaction and career progression. Higher employee engagement means less employee turnover because people have the critical job role knowledge to perform confidently and competently at work.

• Happy customers

  Knowledge retention also means happier customers because your people have a deeper understanding of how your products or services work to make customers' lives better.

• Saves time

  Knowledge retention saves managers time handling issues and complaints because staff understand their roles inside and out. They can confidently solve problems and are empowered to make decisions. For example, how to deescalate an angry customer, empathise with customers, quickly troubleshoot, and resolve customer issues.

Making Knowledge Stick

Knowledge retention is the ability to transfer know how from one’s head to different situations at work. Us humans are forgetting machines. We are not wired to retain knowledge after just reading or learning something once. Committing new knowledge to memory requires repetition and retrieval practice. Practice activities create neural pathways in the brain supporting us to continuously retrieve newly acquired knowledge.

If you really want to measure knowledge retention, follow these 3 steps:

1. Start by designing multiple practice activities around relevant and realistic workplace contexts. 
2. Deliver those practice activities as microlearning format in the days and weeks after classroom training or an online learning event.
3. Observe how your staff master knowledge using powerful and insightful analytics. 

Three techniques to improve knowledge retention

The good news is there are certain techniques that can be applied to the learning process to assist in knowledge retention. Let us have a look at some knowledge retention techniques L&D professionals can use.

1. Adopt microlearning

Did you know that after seven days, we forget 90% of what we've learnt!? This is known as the Forgetting Curve which was developed by Hermann Ebbinghaus based on experiments with his own memory, suggesting that as soon as the learning event is completed, participants will start forgetting the material.

Microlearning is an effective way of supporting staff retain critical job role knowledge. With our ever-shrinking attention spans, microlearning provides an interactive solution to the Forgetting Curve.

Staff with busy schedules have a few minutes a day to learn. Microlearning solves this problem because it is bite sized and accessible. It is also a great way to keep critical job role knowledge front of mind.

2. Use spacing and testing

Spacing is the idea of reinforcing training content over time instead of all at once. Think of this as building muscle or toning the body through regular, repeated exercise over weeks and months.

Similarly, knowledge retention is achieved through continual practice — and Forget Me Not provides this continual practice. It supports frequency and consistency — instead of one-off intense training sessions.

Forget Me Not is designed to help staff retain knowledge using questions served up on their mobile in the form of a chat.

3. Make learning mobile

Did you know the average person checks their phone 150 times a day? Our phones are never far away from our sights. We use our mobiles to work, communicate — and now, learn.

Making mobile learning part of everyday life has never been easier. The ease of access will enable knowledge retention due to repeated views.

Putting spaced learning on a smartphone makes it easier and increases accessibility, especially for people working on the frontline.

Forget Me Not uses microlearning, a technique that breaks down job role knowledge into topical, bite-sized chunks that is easier for employees and better for business.

Get in touch for a demo to see how easy it is to embed knowledge into your organisation.

How many of us remember exactly what we learnt in school or in college? We might remember pivotal moments like the graduation ceremony or our first school dance, but in terms of the content we rote learnt for years, it is a distant memory.  So when we attend training sessions at work, how do we know if the content and knowledge is retained, embedded and makes a business impact? In this blog, we explore the benefits of microlearning as an alternative and how it differs from traditional learning.

Limitations of traditional learning 

In traditional learning settings, learning usually is a classroom training session or enrollment in an eLearning module. 

The instructor or eLearning module moderates the flow of knowledge. 

Traditional classes are more suitable for young people who are yet to join the workforce. Regular attendance in classes helps them interact with others, be better disciplined and follow a regular schedule.

In the ‘real world’, employees who take part in the training set up by their managers can feel rushed. Why? Because time is limited, especially given our to-do list that grows each day. How many times do we see people multitasking at training workshops on their laptops or checking their emails while on breaks?

So, if we’re talking about a corporate setting and adult learners, a traditional sit-down classroom-style is not always the best use of time — and certainly not the most effective way to retain the information. 

Unless the learning needs to be in-person because there’s a practical component, then traditional classroom-style doesn’t work — especially in this time of COVID-19.

Let’s not forget that with the pandemic, in-person environments need to be COVID-safe. Organisations have a duty of care to make sure people are safeguarded against injury and illness, which means even more reason to seek alternatives to a face-to-face.

What is the alternative?
Introducing microlearning 

When training is too hard to digest and time isn’t on our side (that makes everyone really), a bite-sized approach is a great solution. Microlearning is more engaging and cost-effective to create compared to face-to-face workshops or bespoke eLearning modules. Depending on the learning objectives, microlearning may not be the best solution for every training need — but it’s an effective one for most workplace learning.

Microlearning delivers short bursts of content for employees to upskill in their own time, at their own convenience. 

Content can come in a variety of formats. For example: 

• Short phrases or paragraphs of text 
• Photos, illustrations, diagrams and infographics 
• Short videos and animations
• Audio which could be parts of a talk or music 
• Quizzes
• Spaced repetition using questions and practical challenges

Five benefits of microlearning

😀 It's fun and engaging

Going back to a classroom may seem like a serious chore to some, so microlearning offers a fun and engaging method of training delivery. It’s like checking your Instagram and Twitter at the same time — but actually learning something meaningful and related to your line of work.

🤔 Better knowledge retention

It’s known that when something is studied repeatedly, revisiting the content makes learning stick. Since micro learning modules are self-paced and bite-sized, they are so easy to return to.

😎 More flexibility and freedom

Classroom-based or online learning is much more rigid in structure and not great for learning on the go. Microlearning can adapt and personalise to the individuals need and be consumed during a lunch break at a cafe, while on the train or in-between seeing clients. 

🤑 It's affordable

A microlearning resource  is also much more affordable to create. Shorter development time frames reduce the cost of production and time to deployment. You can get learning into the hands of your employees faster. Microlearning resources can also double as performance support on the job when employees need to refresh their knowledge on a key process or procedure.

🤓 Efficient delivery of content

Scheduling people off work and backfilling critical frontline staff to attend face-to-face learning is not always easy — or the efficient thing to do. 

Save the headache and hassle — microlearning offers the flexibility to fit in learning whenever and wherever it suits your employees.  

So, what’s the catch?
Limitations of microlearning

There are so many benefits to microlearning, but it depends on the topic on whether this is a suitable method of delivery. Overall,

Microlearning is not suitable for complex concepts 🙄

It’s not entirely impossible, but for more complex or highly technical subject matter, microlearning may not be suitable. Delivering a course in a bite-sized way is great for providing a high-level overview of a subject.

Microlearning is not suitable for in-depth learning 🔬

If there is a topic that requires an in-depth level of study, microlearning may not be the best solution. For example, you can create microlearning for how to be COVID-Safe at work, but perhaps not for studying the principles of molecular virology.

Thanks to the uptake of smartphones, bite-sized training has become more and more popular. With busy schedules and shorter attention spans, microlearning is a great way to deliver training in a fun, engaging and cost-effective way. Organisations can use it for a variety of training needs, such as employee onboarding, compliance training, skills development, customer service and product knowledge.

Explore Forget Me Not

Forget Me Not uses microlearning, a technique that breaks down job role knowledge into topical, bite-sized chunks that is easier for employees and better for business.

Get in touch with us for a demo to see how easy it is to embed knowledge into your organisation.

Forget Me Not is based on three key principles:

1. Little and often

   Regular bites of learning and quizzing enhance knowledge retention.

2. Regular breaks are critical to embed learning

   Overloading or “cramming” the brain doesn’t create knowledge that “sticks.”

3. Questions are more important than answers

   Questions drive people to actively retrieve a piece of knowledge, and this results in improved retention and workplace practice.

In our last blog, we presented three core principles that serve as anchor points for best practice digital learning. One of these anchor points was the idea of ‘little and often’ which is scrutinized more deeply in this post.

The human brain is a wonderful piece of (biological) technology. It is literally designed to quickly let go of millions of bits of data (in the form of images, words, and sounds) it encounters daily while selectively storing only small amounts into memory. Our biological approach, to data management, can easily work against us remembering the things we learn!

When you combine the brain’s preference to quickly jettison data with the demands of modern learners who have only 4.2 minutes a day to learn, the value of ‘little and often’ becomes clearer.

If the brain needs to be ‘prompted’ to store knowledge (achieved through learning) and this prompting needs to fit in with the demands of a modern lifestyle; it makes sense that learning experiences should be little…

given that the experiences will be easier to store…

and therefore, will require less prompting…

and the experiences can more easily be squeezed in between other priorities and responsibilities the learner is managing.

But what does ‘little’ look like?

Microlearning provides one way of visualising ‘little’ digital experiences. Microlearning uses short, focused interactions targeting an increase in learners’ knowledge and skills across a single topic.

Microlearning fits seamlessly into modern learners ‘bite-sized lives’ – where everyone is multitasking and quickly changing between modes of work, travel and socialising.

As a result, microlearning needs to be ubiquitous… learning needs to happen everywhere (in fact anywhere) and whenever the learner has time.  But it doesn’t mean we flood or inundate learners… it’s about establishing a personalised rhythm (that fits within a negotiated organisational schedule or program).

Little = Chunks

Chunking provides another way of visualising ‘little’ digital learning experiences. Chunking helps us get around the short-term memory challenge which is based on the observations that the average learner can only manage seven pieces of information in short-term memory, at a time.

By chunking complex concepts into a sequence of little ideas. We support the learner to progress over time to the complex concept by adding one little idea to another little idea… and so on. Chunking helps us avoid cognitive overload and helps create new neural patterns which is the basis of learning.

Micro-learning is a form of ‘digital chunking’… and just like Barbara Oakley says:

“Chunking is the mother of all learning — or at least the fairy godmother!”

And Barbara should know; she does after all co-teach the world's largest online course: “Learning How to Learn”.

The Big Advantage of ‘Little’

So, our brain and our digitally dependent lifestyles can take advantage of an approach to learning that chunks knowledge and skills into microlearning experiences that are continuously consumed at a time and place set by the learner.

Consistently engaging with a supply of digital learning chunks establishes a rhythm and learning becomes habitual.

If this all makes sense, then why isn’t everyone adopting a ‘little and often’ strategy?

Why do our designs rely so heavily on intensive training rather than consistent training?

We need to find a way to support continuous, habitual learning using easily accessible stream of chunked digital experiences!

Since about 2014

Most research indicates mobile use levels have outstripped time spent on ‘traditional’ computers such as laptop since about 2014. And as part of this trend we have witnessed the rise of mobile ‘apps’.

Interestingly app users tend to adopt a “little and often” approach – users swap quickly from app to app as part of the bite-sized lifestyle.

The mobile phone-app environment tends to encourage consistent (and frequent) engagement over irregular intense engagement.

Consistency vs Intensity

When it comes to comparing consistency and intensity, Bruce Lee has this space covered… check Google out if you don’t believe me!

Simon Sinek emphasises the importance of consistency… he believes if you are interested in outcomes focus on consistency!

Simon believes we like intensity “because it is easy to measure”!

Pete Huang compares examples and the benefits of intense versus consistent learning regimes.

Of most interest is the learning approach designed by Karen Cheng called “Give It 100”. The "Give it 100" approach proposes and supports the concept of a 100-day challenge. Karen Cheng argues that through consistent application over 100 days you can gradually but confidently improve knowledge, skills and performance in a targeted area. Everyday learners share a 10-second video of their progress, tracking achievements every step of the way.

To support the modern learner build a continuous learning habit we need to:

1. promote the consistent and frequent use of chunked digital experiences
2. make chunked experiences accessible via apps
3. encourage sustained participation by tracking and sharing gradual improvements and mastery!

APP Learning

We can see examples of how little and often, delivered by an app, changes people through weight-loss programs, fitness programs, the “Give it 100” strategy and even language training programs. So why not leverage this successful formula and drive workplace learning through the roof in your organisation?

It's in your hands… you can remain committed to intensive approaches to learning because they are what people expect and they are easy to measure. Or you can explore the potential benefits of building a continuous learning habit that delivers sustainable improvements over time.

My guess is that if you are still reading this post, you’re committed to the concept of ‘little and often’ and you subscribe to the benefits of a continuous learning habit in the workplace. Low-cost technology is already available in the market to support your exploration of these ideas.

But maybe before you start downloading apps and working out which one provides both value for money and the outcomes your organisation needs… think about building support inside your organisation for a pilot or test & learn strategy that shifts the focus from intensive learning to consistent learning rhythms

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Right now your training consulting business is Clark Kent. Hard-working, reliable and trustworthy. But what if we told you that with some help, your consultancy could pop into a metaphorical phone booth and emerge as a superhero, or in this case super consultancy. With these training superpowers you could start to change the world, advancing knowledge for the good of us all.

Powers that revolutionise the way employees learn at work.

Would you want to find out more?

Of course you would!

So take our hand and hold on tight. We’re about to take you on a journey that will change the way you think about learning.

Meet traditional learning

In every superhero story there has to be a super-villain. And ours is no exception. The villain in our story is traditional learning and it has been around (and doing the same thing) for a very long time.

It takes the form of one size fits all, the leadership program with an upfront diagnostic, some workshops with a sage on stage and then a few follow up action learning or reflective activities. At least the workshop format is better than the alternative. PowerPoint presentations converted into eLearning modules pushed out by the LMS with an expectation that you do it once and somehow, you’ve mastered that skill or knowledge domain.

To make things worse, traditional learning is often extremely linear in its approach and only allows everyone to learn at one pace. That of the slowest.

As a result, it often leaves learners feeling dull and unmotivated.

The result? Information that goes in one ear and comes out the other.

It’s clear the world needs a broader mix of learning options to help people feel confident in their job role and thrive at work.

Who will save the day?

Remember the name 

Forget Me Not is a revolutionary mobile-first app that continuously builds knowledge and skills by engaging learners in regular 5-minute learning challenges. These repeat over days and weeks, until the knowledge is mastered.

It’s based on three key principles:

1. Little and often

2. Regular breaks are critical to embed learning 

3. Questions are more important than answers

We believe that it is questions that drive people to actively retrieve a piece of knowledge and this results in improved retention and workplace practice.

Microlearning, the source of our superpower

Our superpower doesn’t come from the sun or from a radioactive spider. It comes from microlearning, a technique that breaks down job role knowledge into topical, bite-sized chunks that are easier for employees to access (because they learn at their own pace) and better for business.

This allows employees to build their knowledge, skills and confidence in a timely manner that is convenient to their busy lives.

According to the Journal of Applied Psychology, microlearning makes the transfer of learning 17% more efficient.

Not only that, but it neatly removes the problem of filling their minds with information that is not relevant.

And, because of its social media type format and emphasis on acquiring knowledge rather than just “googling” it, microlearning also leads to 50% more engagement.

How super is that?

How Forget Me Not can super-power up your training

So now you know what Forget Me Not can do, let’s talk about what it can do for you and your training consultancy.

First up, Forget Me Not is going to help you stand out from your competitors. Just as a musclebound man in blue skin-tight costume, red cloak and external underpants, stands out.

Its power lies in its flexibility. It can be used anywhere and at any time during a learner’s journey. Because of this, it is perfect for building awareness, strengthening lessons learnt and helping to prompt the recall of key job role knowledge.

Forget Me Not can also be used in lots of ways to expand your market reach. It can help improve levels of client satisfaction and enhance learning outcomes delivered by your programs. Plus, it provides a way of digitising your training product, and this can broaden your delivery options and build new revenue streams. So don’t let your training consultancy fall victim to the perils of Traditional Learning. Embrace a new way of micro-learning that:

• Fits in with the busy time-poor lifestyles of today’s employees.
• Can be utilised anywhere
• Allows relevant task-related learning happen on the job
• Works in sympathy with the brain’s natural way of absorbing information
• Helps employees build their knowledge, skills and confidence.

Traditional learning has met its match.
The future belongs to a new type of learning hero.

I’m committed to helping our clients build the competence and confidence of their teams. To subscribe to this blog send your email below.

Over the last few years, like many in corporate HR, I've been drawn to Josh Bersin's research and insights. He has provided us with a perspective on the modern learner. Designing workplace learning solutions for these modern learners inspires our research and development activity at Obvious Choice.

It got us thinking about a little and often learning strategy to help constantly interrupted employees learn at work.

.

Why We MUST Call TIME on traditional Training? 

A Bersin by Deloitte study, claims most employees only have 24 minutes a week to focus on their own training and development. That’s just 1% of their working week. Today's time-poor workers no longer have time for traditional training programs. But they must still learn new skills for work. It feels like a suckers choice for us designing learning solutions. It doesn't have to be. If you want to keep employees motivated and engaged your business must find new ways to support a continuous learning habit.

Humans are forgetting machines

To further compound the problem of traditional training, recent replicated studies of the Ebbinghaus forgetting curve, suggest that any information employees do take in is often in one ear and out the other. In you believe in forgetting curve folklore, 50% of any new knowledge is forgotten within an hour of learning it, with this figure rising sharply to 70% within 24 hours if it is not followed up with some sort of spaced repetition.

Clearly, a traditional approach to L&D cannot cut it within these parameters. Businesses can no longer afford to spend money on training that creates waste. What is the point investing time and money in creating training programs, if employees are unlikely to retain the information or more importantly apply it on the job. 

So, is it possible to teach your employees useful and relevant information in a way that fits into the flow of work? Can you start to leverage the science of learning to enhance your practice?

Questions are a powerful learning tool but …

We have been focusing our energy designing questions mostly for the wrong things with very little pay-off for the individual employee or the business. eLearning quizzes are a measure of rote learning. We need to start using questions as practice retrievals events. Combining practice retrieval events (questions) with the spacing effect leads to learning that sticks, when employees need to apply or remember something or adapt performance to a job situation.

Forget Me Not is a mobile-first app that continuously builds knowledge and skills by engaging employees in regular 5-minute microlearning challenges. These challenges or practice retrieval events repeat over days and weeks until the knowledge is mastered.

It's based on three key principles:

1. Little and often

2. Regular breaks are critical to embed learning 

3. Questions are more important than answers

Questions drive people to actively retrieve a piece of knowledge and this results in improved retention and workplace practice. 

“It’s like having your very own memory coach.
And it’s all wrapped up in a natural social-media chat experience.”

- David Becker
Chief Learning Officer - Obvious Choice

I’m committed to helping our clients build the competence and confidence of their teams. To subscribe to this blog send your email below.

In October 2019, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety interim report shone a spotlight on some of the practices routinely occurring in Australia’s nursing homes.

The report makes for distressing reading, detailing as it does, elder neglect seemingly unimaginable in an enlightened country like Australia.

These issues are not confined to Australia, with the World Health Organisation reporting that 15.7% of people aged 60 and over were subject to some form of abuse or neglect. Shockingly, 2 out of 3 nursing home respondents reported that they had abused the residents in their care at some stage in the past year.

Whatever the reasons for this systemic abuse, it is clear elder abuse and neglect is a serious public health problem. No doubt, this issue will be more fully detailed when the final royal commission report comes out in 2021.

But we don’t have to wait till then to address one of the major problems so
clearly highlighted in the interim report - staff training.

OVERWORKED, UNDERPAID

The aged care sector suffers from severe difficulties in recruiting, training, and retaining staff.

One of the lead causes for this is pay and conditions. Remuneration is comparable to job roles with repetitive work tasks – even though the delivery of safe, quality, customer centred aged care draws on a much broader range of interpersonal and soft skills.

According to Louise O’Neill, CEO, Aged Care Workforce Industry Council,

“Aged care workers are paid less for working in aged care than if they were doing comparable work in another sector.”

In addition, workloads are extremely heavy and staff sometimes lack key skills and training to help them cope with their job. When someone doesn't have the knowledge or skill to do their job confidently,  consumer issues and incidents are inevitable.

According to the interim report (page 6) some of the common problems that stem from inadequate training include:

• Improperly administering medications
• Not changing the residents’ bedsheets or clothes
• Not checking for bedsores
• Not knowing how to perform CPR
• Not treating the residents properly for diseases or infections
• Not recognising when a resident has an issue or is in distress

Examples such as these clearly indicate how we train aged care workers needs a rethink if we want them to have the knowledge and skills to deliver great quality care. Our approach to staff training needs to be more consistent. We need to replace training intensity (one off training every now and then) with consistency.

TIME-POOR aged CARE WORKERS

Unfortunately, however, aged care is a notoriously time-poor sector, with employees working long and physically demanding shifts. As a result, they are often too tired, both mentally and physically to sit down in front of a computer and complete elearning modules. A little and often approach to learning is a more suitable alternative. 

And that’s where we want to help.

Since 2013, we’ve been examining the efficacy of eLearning and questioning if it has kept pace with the needs of today's workforce.

Research shows that eLearning is increasingly viewed as outmoded and of little relevance to today’s employees, with companies looking to new and innovative technology solutions to train their staff.

Determined to improve the business outcomes from learning, the research team at Obvious Choice started brainstorming new and better ways to help people learn at work.

The Result?

Forget Me Not is an app that continuously builds knowledge and skills by engaging employees in regular 5-minute learning challenges. Challenges repeat over days and weeks, until the knowledge is mastered.

“It’s like having your very own memory coach.
And it’s all wrapped up in a natural social-media chat experience.”

- QGirl, your modern learning Superhero!

Forget Me Not is based on three key principles:

1. Little and often

2. Regular breaks are critical to embed learning 

3. Questions are more important than answers

Questions drive people to actively retrieve a piece of knowledge and this results in improved retention and workplace practice. 

Forget Me Not uses microlearning, a technique that breaks down job role knowledge into topical, bite-sized chunks that is easier for employees and better for business. This is because of the forgetting curve but that’s a blog for another day.

Aged care workers need a variety of learning techniques to build their knowledge, skills and confidence.

Trial it now

A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOUT MICROLEARNING:

Microlearning is short form content that only takes between 1 - 5 minutes to consume.

It can exist in any media format including text, graphic, video or audio.

The main differences between microlearning and traditional eLearning are that it takes less time to create, is much easier to digest and focuses on a single concept, like how to spot signs of neglect in an elderly resident.

Turns out, our attention is a finite resource. A bit like time. Forget Me Not only requires a few minutes of focused attention and commitment to building skill and knowledge every day. 

And the app keep things interesting with different scenarios and challenges that maintains curiosity and engagement. 

MICROLEARNING & AGED CARE

Let’s say you run an aged care facility and you want to upskill your employees.

You simply sign them up to the Forget Me Not app and they will start receiving questions that reinforce how to deliver safe, quality consumer centered care.

These questions take the form of 5-minute top ups of knowledge every shift they work.

Staff will be able to reinforce key skills like how to communicate effectively with residents, problem solving consumer issues, situational awareness, prioritising work tasks and meaningful engagement.

The questions also help to highlight gaps in your workforce’s knowledge so you can identify individuals who may need additional support, coaching and supervision.

BETTER TRAINED STAFF =
HAPPIER RESIDENTS = HAPPIER STAFF

There is no quick-fix or one size solution to the problems highlighted in the Royal Commission’s interim report. But one issue, staff training and competency, can be addressed right now.

The automated delivery of microlearning content ensures staff are able to learn continuously and in a way that works for your business.

By learning new skills and topping up on old ones, aged care workers will be able to better understand and address residents’ needs.

Feeling confident solving problems and issues for residents will help aged care workers feel happier and give their work even more purpose. And when that happens, tasks that were previously routine become heart-warming activities.

Yes, I want to sign up

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