coaches

Part One: Understanding the Learning Styles

Understanding the eight Learning Styles makes you a better coach & mentor. Point blank.

Now, to be fair, we all use a combination of them, but we tend to lean on one or two the most. Knowing which ones we gravitate toward can help us incorporate content that caters to the learning styles we don’t use as frequently, which means we are now communicating with people we don’t usually reach.

Do you know what your most dominant learning style is? If not, you can take my handy-dandy quiz to find out! (But read this first.)

When you create content specifically for each learning style, you create content that has a better chance of landing, attracting, & converting your dream clients because it has the ability to resonate with so many different people, simply because you’re applying varying formats.

But what’s cool about it is that it doesn’t actually take any more time to do it this way. In fact, it SAVES you time because all you have to do is repurpose one piece of content! (Part two of this article will be out on Friday, and it’ll walk you through my entire process for doing this in about an hour or two each week.)

And the bonus is that seeing the same information throughout the week, but in different configurations, helps everyone absorb it more fully, so never be afraid of “repeating” yourself. Look at it as reiterating and reinforcing the lesson.

So without further ado, let’s dig into each of the eight types of learners, so you can start accommodating them with your content.

Auditory & Musical Learners

Also known as aural learners, they like to hear solutions & examples explained aloud to help them grasp concepts more fully, and are able to work through complex problems by talking out loud.

They usually gravitate toward music & group learning as a way to process information, associate certain music with various emotions & memories, and have a good sense of pitch &/or rhythm. They also enjoy listening to music in the background while learning & working.

As a general rule, they are skilled at oral presentations & public speaking. 

This is the most difficult learning style to implement in a traditional educational setting because these learners respond better when given practical musical lessons or incorporating musical elements into other types of lessons.

To increase their success, offer them podcast-style audio training sessions and supplement them with reading material & exercises they can do aloud on their own, so they can hear the solutions. 

Video content is also effective as they can listen without watching if that’s what they prefer. They may also benefit from immediately relaying what they just learned to someone else vocally.

Linguistic & Verbal Learners

Those with this learning style learn best through the words they see & hear. They also love & excel in both written & spoken language.

Like the auditory learner, they like reading content out loud or having someone explain it to them verbally so they can process it. Linguistic learners flourish in reading & writing activities, ask questions, and have an excellent verbal expression.

They are often gifted at learning new languages, and have large vocabularies because they genuinely enjoy learning new words. They also tend to dislike silence and enjoy participating in study groups.

To increase their success, create “handouts” or visual aids you can share with them that summarize the key points in your presentation using clear keywords. Written instructions & exercises are ideal for these types of learners. 

Kinesthetic & Physical Learners 

People with this learning style are very hands-on learners who prefer to physically engage with the materials of the subject matter and learn best by actually doing. They generally enjoy activities such as jigsaw puzzles & making models.

They also have high levels of energy, tend to be very animated, and are likely to be excellent at interpreting gestures. They also notice & appreciate the physical world, such as textures & patterns.

Their deep appreciation for exploration means they don’t mind getting their hands dirty to gain some knowledge or learn a new skill. 

Those with this learning style possess exceptional motor memory and can often duplicate something after doing it once. Because of this, they also excel in art & drama, and enjoy sports &/or exercise along with outdoor activities.

To increase their success, allow them to dig really deeply into your teachings and learn by doing. “Learn, do, teach, repeat” is their motto. 

Visual & Spatial Learners

Visual & spatial learners enjoy diagrams, drawing out concepts, charts & processes. They prefer pictures, images, & mind maps to help them process information, and learn best by looking at visual concepts, creating them, & watching other people create them.

They have incredible spatial awareness & senses of direction, and can easily visualize objects, plans, & outcomes. 

They are often very creative &/or artistic and have what is considered a “good eye.” They also excel at using maps & rarely get lost.

To increase their success, use less text in your presentations unless it serves to amplify your pictorials & infographics, and when words are used, try to highlight the keywords in color. 

Vision boards are an effective way for these learners to visualize concepts, goals, etc.

Logical & Mathematical Learners

Not surprisingly, those with this learning style are good with numbers, pattern recognition, grouping & classification, and deducing the relationship between numbers. They tend to enjoy strategy games & brain teasers, and are adept at performing complex calculations. 

They also excel at planning agendas & itineraries, and creating procedures for future use, after coming up with a solution to a problem.

These learners like to classify & group information together to better understand it, and they find a statistical study more appealing than analyzing literature or keeping a journal.

Additionally, they have a deep desire to understand the reasons behind everything.

To increase success in internalizing new information for logical learners, be sure to share the fundamental concepts of a topic with them, as opposed to simply highlighting fun facts, because they are highly analytical & tend to look at every problem from a deeper perspective.

Social & Interpersonal Learners

These learners have a strong preference toward groups & collaboration, prefer direct involvement with others in group projects & socializing after work or learning, and are stimulated by dialog, so they may seek out feedback from coaches, mentors, instructors, & peers.

They like to bounce ideas off of others, work through issues in a group, and value cooperation over competition, so if they play a sport, it’s usually a group sport. They may also enjoy participating in activities, such as speech, drama, & debate teams.

They tend to be great listeners & mediators who are good at resolving conflicts, so they are often trusted by others to give advice.

To increase success for social learners, allow them the freedom to survey, sound board, & collaborate with others. Group activities & programs are ideal for these learners to immerse themselves in the learning experience. 

Solitary & Intrapersonal Learners 

People with this learning style can also be visual, auditory, kinesthetic, linguistic, logical, naturalistic, or a combination of more than one of these. For example, I’m an intrapersonal learner who leans toward kinesthetic, but actually utilizes all the learning styles in almost equal measure depending on the situation, as it turns out. 

Solitary learners are quite often autodidacts who are self-motivated, highly independent, introspective, and private. We spend a good portion of our time on self-analysis and require a lot of self-reflection.

We tend to struggle in large crowds & noisy rooms, and are usually socially introverted. (But not always. I’m an ambivert.)

We also have excellent self-management skills, at least partially because we like to set goals and make plans. We also tend to journal, write, and record our personal thoughts & events as a way to improve ourselves.

To increase success for those of us with this learning style, respect & nurture our independence & give us space to learn in our own way, but make yourself available to us when we need a little guidance. Check in with us periodically, but don’t hover. Encourage collaboration, but don’t emphasize it.

Naturalistic Learners

Those with this learning style learn best through careful analysis & observation, and they seldomly take anything at face value.

They will often go the extra mile to experiment with newly-mastered concepts, and they like to immediately apply new skills in real life after grasping the theoretical aspects of a topic. 

These types of learners categorize & catalog information easily, enjoy exploring outdoors, notice even subtle changes in their environments, and often dislike learning unfamiliar topics with no connection to nature.

To increase their success, give naturalistic learners the freedom to explore everything that can help them make sense of a concept. If they fall down a rabbit hole, as they sometimes do, be available to pull them out & help them get grounded again.

And those are the eight learning styles in a nutshell. Which one resonates most with you?

CONTINUE TO PART 2 to learn how to create & repurpose your content using the 8 learning styles in less than 3 hours each week!

Feel free to join my free Facebook group to watch the video training I did on this! (Please be sure to answer the three membership questions so you’ll be approved.)

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