Embrace The Weird In Your Workforce Development Team

Even before these unprecedented, stressful times, talent development has not been easy. In the professional space, it can be hard to let our true identities inspire how we interact with clients and employees. To truly create a good talent development team, however, one must not be afraid to show their human side and take pride in being different. 

Many run-of-the-mill talent development industries don’t have a very extraordinary learning philosophy. They instill total uniformity in their team because being unique and quirky can at first feel like a fault. Being unlike the other industries can feel like more of a risk. But with higher risk comes higher reward, and being vulnerable enough to show your human side will help build trust and respect in clients.

The Unique Talent Acquisition Strategy

In psychology, being unique is akin to being novel; in other words, unique is something new and different. Studies show when we have a novel experience in a comfortable context, that novel experience is more likely to stick with us. New or novel experiences activate the hippocampus, otherwise known as our memory center, even more than everyday stimulus does. If we are particularly moved by the new experience, the emotional processing in our amygdala also kicks into high gear and helps make the experience more memorable. 

It’s probably no surprise to you that our brains break down sensory information every moment of the day. The role of the hippocampus is to compare new stimuli with the knowledge that is already stored in our brain. Our brain actually rewards us for embracing novel activity! 

On a biological level, we release dopamine when we have a new experience, which explains the human desire to explore new territories and feed our curiosity. So, how can we harness the biological benefits of novelty and use them to inform our talent development strategy? Let us guide you and provide you with some useful steps toward embracing a novel learning philosophy and learning experience. 

The Novel Design System

Take the next step in your professional development method and explore new experiences. Perhaps you can increase employee engagement by taking a group field trip or holding a weekly zoom meeting that discusses fun topics like food or foreign cultures. 

For your own development, perhaps try listening to new genres of music, or even put your skills to the test at an open mic. Especially in today’s political climate, maybe it would be beneficial to read news sources that don’t align with your current political views. 

Encouraging this novel activity can increase employee retention rates and employee engagement. Learning new things about the world and themselves will give your team fuel for creating better content, whether it be more memorable digital learning experiences or better workforce development methods. 

Staying Constantly Connected With Your Inner Weirdo

Among your team members, you might have leaders with extensive experience in creating unique content. Put your minds to the test and suggest a brainstorming session for new learning methods using interactive games, music, and visual art. Using more than one medium in your brainstorming sessions will help your team engage all their senses and be fully involved in the main learning development goal. 

Empowering people to explore each other’s differences encourages experimentation in the workplace and a more authentic creative process. Novelty can encourage learning, and by becoming comfortable with the unexplored areas of life, your team members will gain confidence in themselves as well. 

Overcoming Workforce Development Challenges Through Novelty

When you embrace more novel learning approaches with your managers and team members, you inspire other key stakeholders to pave new educational pathways as well. 

In the workplace, the word “professional” is considered of utmost importance. While respecting your colleagues and clients is crucial, most people are looking for special, authentic leaders. Truly novel approaches to employee engagement and workforce development boost creativity, because employees feel encouraged to express themselves and give their creative all. 

Have you tried to embrace your uniqueness in the workplace? If so, what are the challenges and victories of doing so? Share with us, because at WeLearn, we learn together.