Learning That Clics: Using Behavioral Science for Effective Learning Design

Make Learning Stick Through Deeper Analysis
Achieving lasting learning starts with understanding our psychology―how we process, retain, and apply learning in our everyday work. It also starts with understanding how our brains work and how they receive, process, encode, and recall information―the essence of learning. Without factoring in these realities, behavior change at scale will remain unnecessarily difficult.
Learning That CLICS: Using Behavioral Science for Effective Design introduces the CLICS framework, a concise, practical way to apply brain science and a human-centric approach to the art of learning design. Created by learning practitioners for learning practitioners, the CLICS framework is a five-step approach that deepens analysis and increases the likelihood that learning will occur.
Capacity considers our brain’s cognitive space for learning given our current work priorities. Layering fills in learning gaps and the knowledge we need before integrating new concepts. Intrinsic enablers address motivation and personal relevance. Coherence ensures the “fit” of concepts with one another as well as how new concepts will relate to past learning experiences. Social connections―peers, managers, experts, and others in our work environment―offer feedback and modeling, helping us to learn optimally and be effective. Once we appreciate how our brains learn, our ability to conduct a CLICS analysis can promote giant leaps forward and ensure learning that lasts.

Janet Ahn, PhD is an experienced experimental social psychologist preparing some of the world’s biggest organizations for the challenges of tomorrow and believes in the power of behavioral science to transform lives and companies. As the chief behavioral science officer at Mind Gym, Janet leverages her behavioral science expertise to lead Mind Gym’s global product innovation, research and development, and digital solutions expansion, including on topics such as how leaders can effectively manage teams in a hybrid workplace, organizational responsibility for individual employee wellbeing, management and leadership development, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Her work has been featured in various media outlets such as Axios, Women’s Health Magazine, NPR, American Educator, Business Insider, CBS, and USA Today.

Mary F. Slaughter is a seasoned corporate executive, human capital consultant, and published author. Her global enterprise roles have included chief learning officer, chief talent officer, global head of employee experience, chief diversity and inclusion officer, and chief human resources officer. In addition to consulting with Fortune 100 firms on their talent agendas, Mary has worked for such notable brands as AT&T, Lucent Technologies, Wachovia, SunTrust, Morningstar, The NeuroLeadership Institute, Deloitte, and EY. A frequent industry speaker, Mary has been featured in Harvard Business Review, Business Insider, PwC’s strategy+business, Fast Company, Quartz, Reworked, Talent Management, TD, CLO, Selling Power, and Consulting magazines. Jon Thompson has spent the past 25+ years serving clients, stakeholders, and learners in the talent development space. He has held roles at organizations of all sizes, from startups to global corporations, both in industry and in service, as an internal and external consultant with organizations such as IBM, SunTrust Banks, Deloitte, The NeuroLeadership Institute, EY, and The Coca-Cola Company, where he currently serves as director of learning experience and innovation. Additionally, Jon served four years in leadership positions with the Greater Atlanta Chapter of ATD, including two years as the VP of Technology on the chapter’s executive board. Jon also has been part of two ATD BEST and Training Top 125 award-winning teams.