Making Learning Stick. Lean Six Sigma is a game-changer when it comes to improving how businesses run, making things more efficient, and keeping customers happy. But let’s be honest—getting folks to not just learn the principles but also put them into practice and helping the learning stick can feel like fighting against a brick wall.
Traditional training methods often don’t cut it, leaving participants with a head full of theory, statistics and formulas but not much else. That’s where engaging, hands-on workshops come in, making Lean Six Sigma stick like glue.
Why Traditional Training Falls Flat
Traditional training can be a bit of a snooze-fest. You know the drill—long lectures, death by PowerPoint, and a load of jargon that makes your head spin. Sure, it gets the information across, but it’s about as engaging as watching paint dry. The trouble is, if you’re not actively involved, you’re likely to forget what you’ve learned the minute you walk out the door. And that’s a problem when you’re trying to drive real change in your business.
The key is to get participants to use their hands, to move around and get talking and engaging with each other, as adults we learn best from experiencing and debating.
The Magic of Experiential Learning
This is where experiential learning comes into its own. Instead of sitting around passively, participants are thrown into real-life scenarios where they must roll up their sleeves and get stuck in. It’s all about learning by doing, and it works brilliantly.
Imagine that instead of just waffling on about waste in a process, you actually get participants to run a mock production line. Their job? See the waste, feel the impact it is having on their prestemd departments and spot how to improve it. This approach is hands-on, it’s practical, and it’s the sort of thing that sticks with you long after the workshop’s over.
The big goal here is to make sure that what participants learn sticks. You don’t want them leaving the workshop all fired up, only to lose momentum a few weeks later. Experiential learning workshops are great for this because they focus on real-world application, not just theory.
Participants walk away with practical skills and a toolkit they can dive into when tackling real challenges back at work. Plus, they know how to apply it in practice because they have already done it and built confidence in the workshop. It’s like planting seeds of Lean Six Sigma throughout the whole organization.
Lean Six Sigma isn’t just a bunch of fancy words and complicated charts. It’s a powerful way to improve your business, but only if people really get it and use it. That’s why it’s worth investing in workshops that get everyone involved, make them feel responsible, and give them the confidence to apply what they’ve learned.
So, next time you’re planning some training, think about ditching the lecture notes and PowerPoint slides. Instead, get everyone involved, keep it lively, and make sure what they learn really sticks. Your business will be better off for it, and so will your people.