I’ve just returned from San Francisco where I spent the day with the fund development team of an organization raising money for science research. Their success means that we’ll be able to better respond to pandemics, solve Alzheimer’s Syndrome, and advance climate change science in a way that changes the trajectory of our earth. Did you know 10% of people over 65 have Alzheimer’s Syndrome? The lifetime risk for Alzheimer’s at age 45 is 1 in 5 for women and 1 in 10 for men. We can solve this – retain the memories of our grandparents – with investments in basic science.
I was yet again struck by how important it is that we evangelize research-informed adult learning practice across the social sector so people like these fund development officers deliver more powerful, more memorable, and more action-focused learning experiences with decision-makers.
Bethany Snyder and I delivered adult learning tips for advocacy leaders in May. You are welcome to explore the resources shared in that webinar here.
Three topics felt most resonate to these folks raising money for science research:
1. Feedback
It is common for content experts to think in terms of presentations. I’ll share what I know for 45 minutes, and then we’ll open up the floor for Q&A. The challenge is that the presenter then has no feedback from the listeners as to their understanding of what is being said. An unknown term could have been used in the first five minutes, causing the listener to stop listening.
Learning must be effortful. If there are five things to know about Alzheimer’s, we must stop after each one and engage in a conversation about it. The presenter is checking for understanding, and the listener is sharing their experience or connection to the topic.
2. Emotions
Scientists tend to focus on content, yet when we talked through what they believed was holding decision-makers back, it wasn’t the content. It was how well decision-makers prioritized this issue, or how confident they feel advancing a decision within their organization. In short, it was often an emotion influencing success, not understanding of the content.
Ultimately people are motivated by their emotions. People have motivations related to the content (how they feel about climate change or degenerative brain disease), and emotions related to how empowered they feel to take action within their organization.
A powerful way to bring people along an emotion-rich journey is through story. Is climate change a story of “overcoming the monster” or a quest story? How you tell the story may determine how well the decision-maker wants to become part of the story.
3. Graphics
One of my favorite parts of the session was when one participant, well after we talked about the power of graphics to balance out content, shared his a-ha moment. If he used a visual of a researcher talking to university students, he could show how investments in STEM ripple across generations. He could essentially bring the funder into the classroom to “experience” STEM as opposed to talk about it.
If I could do one thing to improve teaching and training, it would be to amp down the content and amp up the use of graphics. Color, imagery, and navigational graphics lead to more memorable learning experiences.
A final thought. In preparing for this session, a scientist friend suggested I read Alan Alda’s If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look On My Face? Based on an improv exercise Alda describes in this book, I created a feedback exercise where participants had to practice eliciting feedback on their shopping list… and then their list of five things to know about their topic. I was struck by the number of conversations that pairs were practicing, getting ready for real conversations with funders. They shifted from talking to people to talking with people, and that is a powerful shift for us all to practice.