The power of decision-based learning
When you’re training someone to react and make an informed decision, nothing beats learning on the job. But rather than deploying a high risk ‘sink or swim’ technique, how do you recreate those circumstances in a safe, learning environment, and at scale? Here are two examples where we’ve used decision-based learning to elevate our training both digitally and face-to-face.
Decision-based learning gives learners realistic scenarios or case studies that mimic real-life situations, providing decision points that lead to different outcomes, and providing real-time feedback on their choices and their consequences.
This process creates adaptable, independent learners who can handle uncertainty, with great critical thinking and analytical skills.
Enhancing sales skills with decision-based learning
During the COVID pandemic, a leading tech company came to us with the request to place their retail sales assistants in a virtual environment that would help them practise their customer relationship and sales skills. So with decision-based learning and its benefits in mind, we partnered with adeptly to create a scalable, choose-your-own-adventure style game for retail assistants to hone their shop-front sales skills.
Learners started their journey by selecting one of three distinct customer types, each presenting different challenges and opportunities. This prepared sales staff on the shop floor to handle different customer profiles and secure a sale.
Simulating a virtual sales scenario where learners guided their own customer interactions, created a unique experience for each participant and helped train them in areas that needed the most work, ensuring engagement and effective learning. It meant they could apply their experiential knowledge to make informed decisions on the shop floor, all within a fun and gamified environment that taps into the growing ‘kidult’ trend.
"Play is our brain's favourite way of learning."
Diane Ackerman, Deep Play, 1999
Preparing for a crisis scenario
Decision-based learning is also highly effective in face-to-face training. In 2022, Cohesity approached us with their mission to radically simplify how organisations secure and manage their data, enabling them to unlock more value. To demonstrate their position as a thought leader and trusted advisor, we partnered with them to create a workshop that replicated the threat of a ransomware attack. A scenario that was fast becoming a reality for many companies with threats increasing by 80% in the first half of 2022 compared to the first half of 2021.
Our goal was to give attendees the knowledge they need to engage with stakeholders to create a robust response plan, the confidence to decline paying a ransom if they are attacked, and the inspiration to seek further training or professional services and solutions from Cohesity.
We delivered a 2-hour immersive workshop that simulated a ‘real world’ ransomware attack. Attendees adopted a player persona, were placed in ‘mission control’, and developed an actionable ‘resilience roadmap’ to kickstart their cyber resilience plan. Throughout, participants had to make decisions on how to navigate the critical hours after the ‘attack’ and mitigate risk, learning the importance of knowledge and preparation for attacks in real life. We had a great time crafting the experience, which is still being delivered, iterated and improved today.
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