The Peanut and the Walnut: How to Make Knowledge Accessible

In front of you are a shelled peanut and a shelled walnut.  Which is easier to open with the only tool being your hands?  The peanut is the winner (unless you have Schwarzenegger’s hands).  The peanut is a more accessible nut.

Making Knowledge Accessible

Accessibility is a big deal in gaining knowledge and then turning that knowledge into an applicable skill.  Fundamental ideas and skills should be accessible, simple to understand and translate into direct action. 

I’m not talking about industry-specific skill needs.  I understand that the skills needed to become an actuary or a dentist is detailed and exclusive to a very particular field.  These are Byran Mills (Taken) style skills.

“If you are looking for a ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money, but what I do have a very particular set of skills, skills I have acquired over a very long career.”

I’m talking about fundamental skills, skills that are identifiable as leading to success.  Everyone should be able to learn these distinct activities and gain a level of expertise.

The entire learning design at Creative Ventures is based on this two-part idea:

• Accessible –  Our seven strategic platforms teach the type of skill sets applicable to any business and any professional.  They are for people that want to get better, to improve in order to compete.  We designed them around foundational competencies.  Anyone can learn and anyone can apply these concepts.  These include thinking, leadership, communications, idea development, storytelling, and story development.  Ideas that are open to everyone.
• Delivery –  We created a wide variety of delivery models for our ideas all interactive and supported by multimedia tools.  Learning should be as much around engagement as it is content.

We see so many “walnut” based learning programs, inaccessible to the audience.  I sit through many of these every year.  I wonder what the desired outcome was.  Did the presenter know what the problem was, what their expertise was trying to solve?

The Idea Journey

At the heart of any good learning program, one that is accessible to everyone is the IDEA JOURNEY –

• I GET IT:  I fundamentally understand this idea.
• I VALUE IT:  Based on my understanding I give the idea/skill my personal stamp of value.
• I CAN APPLY THIS IN THE CONTEXT OF WHAT I DO:  I can actually do this.  I can apply this skill set NOW and gain a benefit.

We design and deliver the peanut, not the walnut.