Within Lessonly, some people love building lessons. Others find it to be a challenge. No matter which camp you fall into, you’ve probably found yourself going through this inner monologue while you build:
Is this helpful? Am I missing something? Gosh, is this clear enough? Uh oh, is this getting too long?
The good news is, there’s a simple way to answer all of these questions: it’s called Sharing Before You’re Ready, and it’s a sure-fire way to build better Lessons, faster. Here’s how it works Spend 30 minutes to one hour on the first draft of your lesson. Then, share the draft with 5% of its intended audience. You can do more or less than 5%, depending on the size of your audience—the point is to get it out of your thought silo and into the hands of the learners who know what they need. Identify the people in your Learner population who are vocal but respectful with their feedback, and send your lesson their way. Getting a mix of newer hires and seasoned vets is best. Each will have their own perspective and will likely highlight different areas for feedback. Ask them to answer the questions that were running through your head, while also providing any other feedback they have:
- Is this helpful? If so, what makes it helpful?
- Is this Lesson missing anything?
- Is this Lesson clear enough? How would you make it clearer?
- Is the length of the Lesson appropriate? Too long, too short?
- Anything else you’d add?
If you use Lessonly, you can gather this feedback in context, using the Lesson Builder’s commenting features. You could also assign the lesson or share it in Slack with a preview link. However you do it, just do it.
By getting the lesson out of your silo and into the hands of real learners, fast, you are much more likely to create a great lesson in less time. Don’t fret about the lesson being imperfect—the whole point here is that you will never make it perfect if you don’t get feedback from the people who know best what they need.
Note If you do not know who the tactful and vocal learners are, here are two ways to find out:
- Ask other managers which people on your team regularly give great feedback.
- If this data is not available, there’s no better way to find out than trial and error.
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Max is the CEO and Founder of Lessonly, the world’s leading team learning software. Lessonly helps thousands of learners around the world do better work by translating important company knowledge into lessons that improve team productivity.