Emotions are one of the most powerful natural memory triggers we have. Whether the emotion is positive or negative, they activate memory formation in the brain. When employees participate in emotionally engaging learning in the workplace, their investment either grows or decreases.
This connection between emotion and memory is a critical factor for effective e-learning. Without an emotional connection, employees won’t be able to apply what they learn in the future.
Recent research highlights how emotion in learning influences attention, cognition, and motivation. Emotional events create stronger, powerful memories. Even negative emotions, like the fear of failure on a simple assessment or test, can act as useful motivators to accomplish goals.
By designing learning experiences that evoke emotions, your employees will be more engaged – and more successful with the skills they learn. Immersive simulations are a prime example of this type of emotional learning, leveraging emotional engagement to improve outcomes and transform the learning experience.
Want to elevate your team’s performance and effectiveness? Check out this guide on how to incorporate emotions into the learning process.
The emotional framework for learning effectiveness
To bridge the knowledge and the behavior, training should be designed in a way that provokes emotions. Take a look at these 5 critical states you can use in learning to improve emotions within training.
- Social Connection: People are at their best when they feel understood and valued. Training should create a feeling of belonging by producing an environment of psychological safety and human connection.
- Meaningful Context: Information sticks when learners see its relevance to their work. Connect every concept to real-world challenges in the workplace and organizational goals to drive engagement and retention.
- Creative Engagement: Active problem-solving builds stronger neural connections. Plus, it activates the emotions within someone’s brain while learning. Real-world scenario-based learning isn’t just more fun to go through – it makes learning permanent.
- Productive Tension: The balance between challenge and stress is key. Too much stress blocks learning, but a moderate level of tension within the training encourages emotional investment and strengthens memory.
- Personal Investment: Motivate employees to participate in the training. By taking time to understand employees' career goals, you can get an emotional investment upfront before training even begins.
Bringing emotion into training design
It's easier than you think to transform these insights into action. Here are some strategies that you can integrate to create emotionally engaging learning experiences:
- Start with purpose: Dive into content only after making employees understand how the training will improve their work and advance their career opportunities.
- Scenario-based learning: Plan training based upon the specific workplace problems your employees are facing at work. This will infuse an emotional association and make the information be directly related to their daily work. Not just a click-next training session.
- Social learning: Infuse interaction in the process of learning. Group activities, peer discussion after the training, and mutual objectives all assist to promote emotional engagement.
- Reflection moments: Framework is given to help people reflect upon things they have learnt. This will aid in setting up the material much deeper inside their minds due to reflection and discussions. Immersive simulations offer a great way to make this happen.
- Design for immediate application: Eliminate the space between learning and doing. Provide assignments or activities that encourage the workers to use their knowledge immediately. Ideally, the training program allows employees to practice in a risk-free environment too.
The bottom line
Research shows that emotions play a significant role in an effective corporate training program. Programs that elicit emotional involvement are much more effective than simply delivering the content in the form of traditional e-learning.
In organizations that create emotionally engaged cultures, people learn and retain more knowledge, try harder, and do a better job. Adding emotional relevance to your corporate training will enable you to create programs that result in meaningful, sustainable change with measurable return on investment.
Explore how simulations can invoke emotion during corporate training >>