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Too Busy For Learning?
Breaking the “Too Busy” Barrier
James Manktelow – CEO – MindTools.com

Bad News – People are Very Busy
§ Just 13% of workers have a good
work/life balance.
§ 94% work above contracted
hours.
§ ILM, 9 July 2014
§ 440,000 cases a year of
workplace stress.
§ 9.9 million days lost in 2014/2015.
§ Work overload a main cause.
§ UK HSE Labour Force Survey, Oct 2015
§ 22% of people “under extreme
stress”.
§ 70% experience stress from
work.
§ US APA, 11 Jan 2012
§ 66% of people too busy to do
more learning at work.
§ 62% “often defer learning to
focus on delivery issues.”
§ MindTools.com, Jan 2016
MindTools.com, January 2016 (Sample size = 2,303)

Good News – People Want to Learn
§ 97% Managers & Professionals “Responsible for my own
development”.
(61.17% (1238) “Strongly Agree”, 36.17% (718) “Agree”, n=2024.)
§ 97% “Self-directed learning improves my business performance.”
(51.63% (1044) “Strongly Agree”, 45.05% (911) “Agree”, n=2022.)
§ 83% prefer Self-Directed Learning to Prescribed learning.
(83.11% (1722) Self-Directed, 16.89% (350) Prescribed, n=2022.)
§ 46% use Self-Directed Learning during working hours at their desks.
(45.83% (967), n=2110.)
§ 65% engage with it at weekends and in evenings. (People also
engage with it during breaks, in lunch hours and on the way to work.)
(64.69% (1365), n=2110.)

MindTools.com, January 2016 (Q7, sample size = 2,069)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0%
What Percentage of Your Learning Time is
During Work Hours?
Prescribed training Self-directed learning
NumberofResponses

MindTools.com, January 2016 (Q6, sample size = 2,156)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
900
0 Up to 1 Up to 2 Up to 4 Up to 8 8 or more
How Many Hours a Month do you
Spend On...
Prescribed training Self-directed learning
NumberofResponses

0
100
200
300
400
500
600
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%
How Much Self-Directed Learning
is Focused on Organizational Goals?
NumberofResponses

This session is about how to do this.
There’s a massive
opportunity if L&D can help
them – in a way that suits
their hyper-busy lives
People want to learn.

Why Listen to Us?
1. We’ve done this every day for 20 years.
2. From blog background, not traditional elearning background.
Blogs live or die by engagement.
3. More than 25,000,000 people a year, of their own choice.
4. Many thousands pay out of their own pockets… and stay paying
for month... after month... after month. (Thank you!)

This Session
1. Understanding Busy People.
2. Getting Their Attention - Again and Again.
3. Delivering Learning That Fits With Their Lives.
4. Meeting Corporate Needs.
5. Five Key Takeaways.

Obvious - Always on, Global Business

Obvious – Life Outside Work
(We all Have Personal Lives…)

More Subtle
Busy people (managers and professionals particularly) are often
conscientious, putting customer needs ahead of their own…
§ “60% admitted the pressure to work extra hours was in part
self-inflicted.” - ILM, 9 July 2014.
§ Self-development quite important, but rarely urgent. Compare
this with customer demands!

What Does This Mean?
When Busy People’s Learning Happens…
0 200 400 600 800 1,000 1,200 1,400
When I needit
During eveningsandweekends
During work hours at my desk
When I'm alerted to updated information
At lunchtime
During breaks
On the way to/from work
On the way to meetings
I don't complete self-directed learning
When I Access Self-Directed Learning
Number of Responses

What Does This Mean?
§ Learning Needs to:
§ Be Front of Mind…
§ Fit Needs of Busy People...
§ Meet Corporate Needs as Well...

Front of Mind
Getting Their Attention Again
and Again . . .

Can you Compel Your
People to Learn?

If not, You’re in the
Marketing Business…

In the Marketing Business…
§ Think how many messages people see each day.
§ You’re competing for the privilege of their attention.
§ They’ll choose what they consume.
§ Don’t try to force - tempt.
§ Learn to copywrite powerful benefit messages.

Be Wherever They ��…

Delivering Learning That
Fits With Busy People

What’s Needed
§ Easily found, on demand learning.
§ Accessible whenever, wherever, however.
§ Easy access without slow, clunky logins.
§ Small chunks for small time slots - 3, 5, 10, 15, 30, 60 mins.
§ Different media formats for different situations - articles, videos,
workbooks, podcasts/audios, and so on.
§ Interesting, enjoyable and well-written - consumed away
from work.
§ Egoless writing - not showing off, academic or complex.

In a Format People Want to Use
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Articles
Videos
Webinars
Workbooks
Infographics
Podcasts
Quizzes
Games
Relative Popularity of Content Formats
Average Respondent Score (1 = Least Popular, 8 = Most Popular)

Traditional Learning vs. Busy People
Learning
Traditional Learning/Elearning Learning for Busy People
This is what you need to know. What do you want to know right now?
Step by step instructional process. Quick, straight to the point.
Single, defined learning path. Learner follows own path, at own pace.
Sessions often long. Sessions bite-sized, fit into small time slots.
Have to go and find sessions. Learning prompts surrounding learner.
One-off presentation of information. Steady “drip feed” of ideas, repetition.
Emphasis on completion. Emphasis on quickly meeting learner need.
Learner as student. Learner as valued customer.
Good for compliance. Good for on-demand learning.

Remove the Barriers to Learning
§ 97% “Self directed learning improves my business performance”.
§ Easy to Find Subjects – With Intuitive Navigation.
§ Available 24/7 – Responsive – Technology Agnostic.
§ Tempt Learners with Good Quality – Fresh Content.
§ Bite Sized – Just In Time – Engaging Multimedia.
§ xAPI/Tin Can – LMS Integration.
§ The Key for the Organisation is to promote the learning in a way
that overcomes personal barriers and tempts the individual.

5 Key Take Aways
1. People are motivated to learn. They’re just hyper-busy.
2. Traditional approaches don’t work well for busy people. They
need a much faster and more flexible way of learning.
3. Busy people want to be in control. Give them that control.
4. Understand where they are, online and offline. Market vigorously
to them, so that learning is at the front of their minds.
5. Make content easy to find, easy to access, and enjoyable, in
small chunks of time.

For more information & to
Request a Demo of our
Corporate Solutions visit
mindtools.com/corporate

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Too Busy to Learn? - Mind Tools @ Learning Technologies 2016

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Too Busy to Learn? - Mind Tools @ Learning Technologies 2016