Counting Down My Top 10 Favorite Learning Experiences and Sharing Advice for New L&D Professionals
- 5 days ago
- 2 min read
#2: Dealing with News-Related Anxiety
Recently I wrapped up an article series focusing on the four essential elements of impactful learning experiences. When facilitators execute these elements successfully, learners leave their training sessions feeling informed, engaged, entertained, and inspired.
I was eager to author another series but was drawing a blank on a topic. As I began reflecting upon my early years in the postsecondary classroom and more recent years in corporate training spaces, several learning experiences stood out to me.
While a late night talk show host gig is probably not in my future, I decided to compile a list of my top 10 favorite learning experiences.
I hope that by sharing my work, I spark your imagination, inspire you to experiment with new approaches, and encourage you to pitch audacious ideas for your learning projects. At the end of each article, I‘ll offer a few suggestions for you to consider.
#2: Dealing with News-Related Anxiety
A common refrain I heard from learners across all roles at my organization was they lacked time to attend our one-hour lunch-and-learn sessions. Participants would routinely join late after coming from a meeting or leave early to attend their next one. To solve this problem, I conceptualized 15-Minute Fridays. These compact bursts of professional development took into account our learners’ limited availability. Open to everyone, the sessions were held every Friday at noon for 15 minutes. You can read more about the 15-Minute Fridays program in my Medium article here. This session was among the first several I facilitated.
Why This Experience Makes My Top 10
Reason #1: The topic was timely and resonated with learners.
After welcoming everyone to the session, I immediately launched an anonymous poll:
“In the past 2 weeks, how frequently have you felt anxious when reading, watching, or listening to the news?”
The choices included (a) Always; (b) Often; (c) Sometimes; (d) Rarely; (e) Never; and (f) Not applicable — I have not consumed news in the past 2 weeks. The results revealed nearly half of the respondents answered often or sometimes.
I confessed that I was a recovering news junkie. I would watch, read, and listen to the local and national news often throughout the day, particularly in the early evening.
However, over the past few months, I started to pay more attention to how my constant consumption of the news was making me feel. In a moment of transparent vulnerability, I shared with the group there were several instances when I felt anxious. Helpless. Distraught. Angry. And emotionally drained.
Motivated to better understand those feelings and by my natural curiosity, I decided to conduct online research. What I discovered about news-related anxiety was fascinating and ultimately the genesis of this session.
Read the remainder of this article for free on Medium here.
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