At a business, the people are the greatest resource. They are absolutely vital to a well-functioning business. You can do without just about any other component, but you cannot run your business without people. Trustworthy, happy, productive employees make the business run smoothly. That’s the key to being successful. The key to keeping your employees happy is to understand them. You need to understand what makes them productive, what upsets them, and what encourages them to work a little bit harder. This can be a pretty serious task because it is different for just about everybody. That means you need someone who is going to be well-versed in the different ways of motivating people. In many offices, that is exactly what a human resources manager does. Many people think of the human resources department as strictly one for hiring and firing, but that’s not always the case. Managing the people in the business is an important task for the HR department.
An effective manager has to understand that not everybody is going to learn the same way. Some people are going to learn in a way that is not like that of the majority, but they could end up being some of your most valuable assets.
Kinaesthetic Learners
Kinaesthetic learning is also called tactile learning. This is a style of learning in which the student learns by carrying out some kind of physical activity as opposed to listening to lectures or watching others do a task. These people are commonly thought of as “doers” or discovery learners. They learn by figuring things out for themselves as they do them, instead of thinking and pondering before they begin acting. This might pose something of a problem if your office is not set up to handle that kind of learning; however, having kinaesthetic learners around is absolutely essential to a well-functioning business.
In school, kinaesthetic learners were likely to have excelled in art, acting, sports, and experiments. They are typically thought of as able to focus on multiple things at once, since they remember certain things in relation to other things they were doing at the same time. This type of multi-tasking is invaluable in an office setting; however, those people have to be allowed to learn and work in a way that is conducive to their personalities. Human resources management courses can teach you to manage your different employees’ strengths and weaknesses.
Depending on the nature of your business, kinaesthetic learners can contribute in many different ways.
Contributions
They tend to have great hand-eye coordination, which will make them ideal for any type of delicate physical task. That does not necessarily mean manual labour. It can mean assembling delicate parts or arranging items in your stock room. Whatever it is, they are well-suited, because research has found that kinaesthetic learners process things as a whole. They tend to read entire paragraphs and then process the paragraph all at once. That gives them the benefit of being able to visualise the bigger picture. This skill is absolutely essential to organising something efficiently the first time.
Visual
Visual learners are those who learn by watching someone else complete a task. Depending on the lecture, they might learn very well through this style as well. They’re pretty much the opposite of kinaesthetic learners. Visual learners are a little more common than kinaesthetic learners, but you still have to adjust your management style to them as well. When you’re presenting a concept or an idea at a meeting, you might want to make sure you have some kind of notes, graphs, or slides that show a conceptualisation of your plans. The visual learners will then be able to follow along much more easily.
You should not think that visual learners can’t learn through movement or that kinaesthetic learners can’t learn through lectures; these learning styles are mostly just preferences. These ways are how the different employees at your business learn most easily. They can learn in other styles, but don’t you want to make sure that they’re learning as quickly and as efficiently as possible? That will increase your output and improve your business.
Auditory
These learners are the ones who might look like they’re not paying attention at the meeting. They’re the ones taking notes with their heads down, not making eye contact. You might think they’re not paying attention, but they are. The auditory learners learn best by listening to something explained. To that end, they’ll often close their eyes or look down to reduce the visual stimuli and increase their auditory understanding.
However, some people at your meetings just aren’t paying attention. Can you tell the difference? The difference between someone not paying attention and an auditory listener can be subtle. The difference between someone who is bored and someone who is a kinaesthetic learner are also subtle.
Learning to Manage Them
So, learning to manage employees of multiple learning styles is one of the most important things you can learn by going back to school. You might think that your business is running pretty well, but it could always be going better. One way to improve the productivity of your business is to improve the way you deal with learners of different styles. That means incorporating different activities, visuals, and lectures into your meetings. Some people like to participate. Some people want to be left alone. You’ll learn how to deal with that when you take courses in human resources. You’ll also learn by spending time with your employees. You’ll learn which ones are naturally quiet and which ones are just slackers. Maybe they’re not even slackers, but rather it’s just that you’re just not engaging them properly. Knowing the difference could help you retain your best employees and put them to good use. Over the years, too many great employees have been let go because they were misunderstood. If you have a high-energy business, kinaesthetic learners might be seen as better employees than more reserved employees; however, all different learning styles are needed to make a business work. Too much of one type of learning leads to lopsided returns.
