I’m staring down at a science textbook. The words seem familiar, but they don’t make sense to me. The very same words are spurting from the teachers mouth and I hear them – I’m absorbing them- but I don’t understand what they mean. I gaze across to the whiteboard, tracing my eyes back across the sketches and diagrams as the pieces of information finally start to fall into place. This childhood memory was the first time I became aware that everyone learns and understands information in different ways. 

Throughout my education, I often felt that unfamiliar concepts explained in spoken words and written text were regularly just not clicking – I relied heavily on visualisation. It didn’t seem to matter that the key information was spelled out verbally or written in my notebooks – I was lost without pictures, diagrams or someone acting the answer out in charades. 

As a product consultant, the very nature of my role begins with creating a shared understanding between individuals. Whether it is with software engineers over a refinement session or a presentation to stakeholders. Sharing the necessary information and bringing a group to the same level of understanding is a common theme and essential skill used throughout my day. When I consider facilitating a workshop, creating a presentation or even a simple process flow I think: how can I sculpt the same information into a shape that has the best chance of being understood by the most people?   

Take a refinement session for example. The group can be made up of individuals whose roles will be greatly different from one to the next. From software engineers, product owners, designers and SMEs, the way in which knowledge and information is understood and discussed will be truly unique for everyone. As a product consultant, people are often incredibly grateful for laying out the session in a language that is common to all in attendance. While the information being passed to each individual is identical, the individuals themselves are not.  

For a short period – some time before my career in technology - I was a secondary school teacher. And while I had other ambitions and interests outside of education, there was a valuable discovery that I took away:  

Being a good teacher doesn’t mean good teaching – it means good learning. 

This resonates with me every day when working with fellow colleagues and clients. It really doesn’t matter if I articulated every word perfectly, covered every business rule and linked to every useful piece of documentation – it only matters if the information has been understood. 

While it turned out that teaching was not for me, to this day many of the skills that I developed teaching are incorporated into my daily activities as a product consultant. I often find myself walking into a room (well, virtual room now) with new information that will need to be clearly and efficiently communicated to any size group of individuals. The key to developing an initial shared understanding will be to consider the many ways that individuals will question, discuss and form opinions about the knowledge they are processing. This stays true whether it is an important presentation with a client, a discovery workshop or a process flow document.  

Processing the information will happen differently for every individual, and they may need different types of stimuli to be able to understand it. As I found the study of learning much more fascinating than actual teaching, there are many models that I continuously attempt to factor into my communication skills. One of which is a concept developed by Neil D. Fleming in 1987 called the VAK model, in which it is believed that pupils learn most successfully through either visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic means. And while I don’t believe individuals should be categorised into one of these - I think it is important to cover these bases and accommodate in all areas. Many other models and learning styles are available, however I find VAK to be the simplest to keep in mind. 

In addition to raising awareness in this post of the importance of different types of learning, I’d also like to share ways in which these techniques can be implemented in day-to-day practice. Often if I feel the audience has not reached a shared understanding, I have some go-to techniques/preparations that can be attempted: 

• Visualisation – It may sound obvious, but a picture paints a thousand words. If there is a difficult concept, a slide full of tiny words or a conversation going nowhere, I’ll try to express the information by creating a diagram or leaping up to the nearest whiteboard.  

It may be as simple as remembering to attach the architecture diagram to a user story before discussing with the group or using icons in heavy text slides to help draw focus to the key points.  

• Auditory – When sending over new documentation for review, forwarding a difficult email thread to client or even setting tasks within a team, a little verbal explanation can set the scene for what is trying to be achieved. While working remotely can often force unnecessary hour-long meetings in the calendar for what should be 5-minute conversation across the desk, an instant message may not be enough to convey a new complex piece of information. Articulation and emphasis can play a large part in the way an individual determines which parts of information are essential to process.  

• Kinaesthetic - While it might be difficult to engage people in activity and make meetings or documents interactive, offering the right questions back to an individual or group during a presentation can encourage the mindset needed to digest new information. Physical workshops that involve the audience moving post it notes and describing their decisions are of course a great way to collectively share an understanding. Alternatives to this when working remotely are Mural, Miro and LucidSpark 

Knowing the audience 

It is important to note that this approach won’t apply to every situation, piece of work or conversation. I’m not suggesting that every NFR document must be accompanied by colourful diagrams and every stand-up must feature a team building exercise. Simply being mindful of non-exclusive learning and different learning styles can help positively impact our empathy in the relationships we build throughout our work. Knowing when and where to implement any of the considerations above is equally as important as knowing when not to use them. 

I set out this post to express the significance of moulding information to cater for different learning styles as a Product Consultant – but this doesn’t only apply to one role. No matter the type of work we are doing, we are inevitably collaborating with people and distributing information that needs to be understood by those engaging with it. Whether it is a customer, client, team member or user, becoming aware and connecting with our audience – whether it be big or small – is an essential step to convey new understanding. 

Want to learn more about re-skilling with Kainos and becoming a Product leader of the future?

Check out the application page here!