When we launched Dragonsinger, the sailboat we lived on for two years, it came with a full set of modern instruments. You can see the instrument pod at the wheel in the photo above. There are a lot of them. In addition to speed, log, and wind instruments, Dragonsinger included an integrated chart plotter and radar display.
It came as a complete surprise to me how challenging it was to discover how to use all these instruments. At the time I had twenty years boating experience. I have a degree in computer science. I love technical devices. And still I struggled.
While my children were home schooling themselves, I was reading through all the instrument manuals. At the dock, I would turn the instruments on and play with them. When we finally got Dragonsinger moving, I turned the instruments on and really learned how much I still had to learn. After I climbed the learning curve, I then had to teach Karalee, Jocelyn, Kevin, and Allen how to use the instruments.
There were several things that I learned from this experience:
- Even when you have a lot of experience and training, there can still be a big learning curve.
- Having the safety and lives of your family at stake kept me motivated to keep learning.
- Hands on learning is far more effective than book learning or “learning at the dock”.
- The best learning comes from interaction. I learned the most about Dragonsinger’s instruments from other cruisers and from my children.
In a business context, we need to keep these lessons in mind. How far up the learning curve does a prospect need to come before they can grasp the value of your product or service? What is your training plan for customers after they have installed your products? Will customers maximize the value they receive by “learning from the book”? How can people safely test drive your products while they are in learning mode?
I have educated through articles, white papers, webinars, blogs, presentations, and on-site sessions. Even with that experience, it is easy for me to forget what it is like to be at the bottom of the learning curve struggling to make my way forward. When I’m forgetful, I remember the Dragonsinger experience and remind myself of how hard it was for me to learn our instruments and climb the learning curve, even when I was doing what I love.
What learning curve have you struggled with?
