Introduction

One of the biggest challenges we face in managing projects is getting everyone to hear us (let alone respond).  We are all bombarded by information every day – how do we project managers break through the noise and get the attention we need to guide our projects successfully to completion?

One of the best tools I’ve found is learning styles.  By understanding – and catering to – each person’s favorite (and usually easiest) way to process information, we can break through the noise and move to the top of the list.

 What Are They?

Learning styles were ‘discovered’ by behavioral scientists in the 1970s. 

The basic theory is that there are different ways of taking in information.  Everyone can process information in all the styles, but typically one style is easiest for each person.  For project managers, finding the easiest way to get through to a person is exactly what we need.

For thirty years after the discovery learning styles were used almost exclusively in primary education, testing the theory that children learned better or more easily when taught in their dominant learning style. 

Eventually it was found that test scores for the children didn’t differ significantly when they were taught in their own style – but that particular lack of evidence doesn’t have much bearing on the concept’s usefulness for general communication.

In the early 2000’s, neuroscience caught up to the behavioral science and we could actually see the various areas of the brain firing as people processed different inputs.  At that point the research exploded and many new learning styles were cataloged.

The basics

Styles

There are five basic styles that are useful to us as project managers:

·        Visual: visual learners look for visual cues – pictures, videos, charts and graphs, colors, boldface print.  Be sure to present information succinctly for them, preferably including pictures or charts to help focus and provide a shortcut

·        Reading/Writing: these learners prefer to process written or printed words.  They’re the ones who actually read and respond to emails.

·        Auditory: these are the folks that never read your emails, but do answer their phone.  When you need them, call them!

·        Tactile: tactile learners like to touch the information.  For the most part, this means that they take a lot of notes, grab handouts when they’re available, and like using the whiteboard and post-it notes.

·        Kinetic: these learners want to move the information or, barring that, themselves.  Like Tactile learners, they tend to take a lot of notes and use whiteboards and post-it notes.

Why use learning styles

Because there’s so much information available to us all (not only available, but being thrown at us), everyone has a sorting function.  Learning styles are a shortcut – most people prioritize the pieces of information easiest to process highest.  If we present information to each person in the way they process the fastest, we’ll get attention from them.

How to figure out someone’s learning style

You can ask people to take an online test to find out – everyone likes those kinds of things – but you can easily determine a person’s learning style just by observing.  Do they take a lot of notes?  They’re probably tactile or kinetic.  Do they answer your emails?  Probably reading/writing.  Answer their phone but not their email?  They’re likely auditory.  Quickly interpret charts?  Visual is a good guess. 

Techniques

Personal contact

When making personal contact, once you understand a person’s learning style you can use that style for communication whenever possible.  You may like emails, but you’re going to need to pick up the phone to get the attention of an auditory learner.  Start with email, though, for a reading/writing learner.  If you’re contacting a visual learner, come prepared with something visual.  (Email is OK if the visual is in view in the email preview.)  For tactile and kinetic users, bring post-it notes and write on an available white board (and encourage them to do the same). 

Meetings and presentations

With a little practice, you can hit all the learning styles at once in meetings and presentations.  Send an agenda ahead of time for the reading, tactile and kinetic learners (the tactile and kinetic learners will print the agenda and bring it along). In meetings, cover the agenda out loud at the beginning for the auditory learners (who won’t have read your email).  Wrap up meetings and presentations verbally for the auditory learners.  In presentations, have some kind of picture or graphic on each slide for the visual learners.  Encourage people to write on the whiteboard during meetings (even if it’s a virtual whiteboard).  And always bring a couple of printouts of any handouts, even if you sent them earlier, for the tactile and kinetic learners.

With a little bit of observation and practice, you can use learning styles effectively to communicate with your team, gather information, and help them work with each other.

Want more information on learning styles and how to use them in project management?  Take a peek at my book The Socially Intelligent Project Manager: Soft Skills that Prevent Hard Days for background, tips, and techniques.