How humour helped us through 2020 & uncovered a new direction
Photo by Aleksandra Boguslawska on Unsplash
Necessity is the mother of invention. The 2020 pandemic forced GRIST to swerve onto a new and unexpected path.
At GRIST’s strategic planning day in 2019, we had a robust discussion about online learning and our place in it. Many of us expressed concerns. Do e-learns work? Is the learning experience online compromised when compared to face-to-face training? Can learning be as effectively embedded online and will GRIST be able to deliver the same long-term results we know we can with face-to-face programs and follow-up?
Little did we know that 2020 was just around the corner, laughing at us with its buddy Covid-19 and waiting to annihilate the working world as we knew it.
Suddenly, we didn’t have a choice. Overnight much of our booked business was put on hold. At first, we hoped it was only for a few weeks, then a month or two. Gradually it dawned on everyone that the world wasn’t going back to normal anytime soon, or possibly ever. Phrases like “Covid normal” and “the new normal” were thrown around in these “unprecedented times.”
After years of talking about how and why companies need to pivot, now GRIST had to walk the talk. Our questions shifted from “Should we invest in this?” to “How do we deliver online learning to the same standards that we so consistently achieve?”
Thankfully, a quiet moment to sit and reflect provides fuel for innovation and creativity, and quarantine lockdown provided just that. We spent time thinking about what the world was going to look like after Covid-19. You can read some of our managing director Peter Grist’s thoughts about that here.
We already had amazing talent in-house and across our professional networks. We could apply GRIST’s specialist knowledge of using micro-behaviours to embed sustainable change and improve performance outcomes to online learning. Decades of experience in change management methodology meant that we knew what works to motivate people both offline and on. Our resident online delivery guru, Dan McPharlin, set about upskilling our team in online learning. We consolidated what we knew and then researched some more.
We returned to the problem of how to make online learning as effective as our face-to-face experience. One of our biggest insights was that so much online content is passive learning and as such, super boring. We needed to find a way to engage the learner’s attention and pull them into the content… and the answer was funny.
Humour. The right use of humour makes learning more engaging and memorable. And fun! You can read more about the science of humour here.
So, we reached into our networks and found capable writers, actors and producers. Writers who specialised in “micro-messaging” – communicating the essence of what you need to know in 15-90 second bites. Well-known and genuinely funny actors who regularly write and perform for Australian audiences. Experienced producers who had worked on professional projects across Australia.
With them we came up with our solution, not an e-learn, but an online capability development system:
The GIST by GRIST. Learning with a Twist.
The GIST is the essence of what needs to be learned (the micro-behaviours) delivered in bite-sized chunks for the digital age.
By GRIST, leveraging our unique and proven methodologies using micro-behavioural frameworks to measure, track and evidence capability improvement.
Learning with a Twist, using Australia’s most humorous storytellers in short, engaging videos.
GRIST’s new online learning system is more than just funny videos. To embed learning, it not only has to be engaging and memorable. It also needs reflection and practice and evidence of improvement. The GIST by GRIST builds psychological learning principles into the platform design, including:
Social incentives;
Immediate rewards; and
Progress monitoring.
The GIST by GRIST is our pivot into online learning for the digital age. We have come through 2020 stronger and better equipped to deal with the new world. GRIST will continue to deliver outstanding programs in-house and face-to-face, but now we can also provide an effective and engaging online capability development system.
Learn more about The GIST by GRIST.
Get in touch to chat about how The GIST can help your organisation build their capability and performance.
