It was a pretty typical Monday morning….
My wife Kris and I were cleaning up after having a very tasty breakfast consisting of a veggie omelet, Tofutti Crepes piled high with tons of fresh organic raspberries and blackberries (and a dollop of chocolate pudding — because it just tastes better that way;) and a cup of Kris’s signature gourmet Tuccino/coffee blend.
Following in my fathers footsteps, I tackle the dishes after every meal, and on this particular occasion, as I was cleaning out the coffee pot, I realized I’d left the scrub brush with the long handle on the opposite counter within reach of where Kris was standing.
Without really giving it much thought, I said to her: “Can you grab me that scrubber for me please?”.
She paused for a moment, stood there starring at the scrubber and then looked up at me with a puzzled look on her face as I stood there holding the other scrubber (and waiting), but she seemed frozen and did NOT hand me the scrubber!
{Freeze Frame}
In my mind, I’d just made a very simple request. But for some reason my request just wasn’t “clicking”.
Normally this would trigger me getting frustrated that she didn’t just immediately hand me the scrub brush. Luckily I’d just gotten back from a weekend seminar up in Los Angeles where she and I had both learned about the 4 Dominant Learning Styles (Why, What, How To, What If).
We’d discussed this concept at length while driving back to San Diego the night before, and we’d decided that Kris was a dominant “WHY” learner, and I was a dominant “How To” learner.
Pausing for a moment I tried it again. This time keeping in mind she is a dominant “Why” learner, I altered my request just slightly:
{Back To The Scene}
I said: “Kris, the scrubber I’m using to wash out this coffee pot isn’t long enough to reach down inside the pot, can you grab the other scrubber with the long handle for me so I can wash out the coffee pot please?”
Immediately she handed me the scrubber without hesitating and with a big smile (having realized I’d just appealed to her WHY learning style)!
Each learning style is like a totally separate language. Even though I was speaking what I thought was English when I made the first request, it must have come across as Greek or something because she didn’t immediately take the action based upon my request.
But once I worded it in the “Why” learning style she was immediately inspired to take the action and meet my request.
I share this with you today because it’s completely transformed the way I communicate, in my businesses and in my personal life, I hope you’ll experience something similar.
The 4 Dominant Learning/Teaching Styles:
Here is a recap of the 4 learning styles and a short description of each so you can identify which one is your dominant. Doing so will allow you to consciously balance out your non-dominant areas so others will… (let’s not beat around the bush here)… DO YOUR BIDDING 
The Why Learner:
Why learners generally need to understand “Why do I need to learn/do this?”. This group comprises roughly 1/3rd of the population. They are generally less responsive to learning environments unless they are first told WHY learning/doing a particular thing is advantageous before they’ll “buy in” to an idea or take a specific action.
The What Learner:
What learners are most interested in “What It Is”, and are more abstract conceptual thinkers. These are people that like to know a LOT of “stuff”. They like to zoom out and see systems and processes and want to know the history behind things. Think- Professors, Historians, Teachers etc.
The How To Learner:
How to learners are always looking and/or waiting for the “procedure” or the recipe. Most “How To” learners (I can speak from experience here) have a hard time latching on to concepts until they are given the step-by-step or the how-to formula for something. This group loves doing exercises (as in step 1,2,3) and generally don’t care so much about the “why” and the “what”.
The What If Learner:
What If learners need the action. They want feedback ASAP. They are the entrepreneurs. People who don’t need to know all the in’s and out’s of something… all they care about is forming a hypothesis and then taking action to implement and see what happens. In fact many times What If learners are turned off by the other 3 and that can sometimes be to a fault. What If learners are triggered by being given a summary and being told: ”Do this RIGHT NOW”.
As you’ve probably realized, we each can tend to find parts of all 4 inside ourselves, but upon closer investigation, you’ll realize that there is generally one very clear dominant trigger or learning/teaching method that gets you into action or gets your wheels turning in your head more so than another.
Some of you reading this may be thinking to yourself…
A- “Kraig, WHY do I need to figure out my dominant learning style?”
B- “Wow Kraig, this is really neat, I want to learn more about WHAT this concept is all about!”
C- “Kraig, all I care about is HOW exactly do I figure out which one is my dominant?”
D- “Kraig, WHAT IF I try this at work tomorrow… I’d bet there are 50 different opportunities where I could apply this!”
To make sure you have an experience with this that will be memorable and get this information to “stick” for you, I want you to grab a pen and piece of paper right now, and write down an example of how you can put this concept into action right now (TODAY) using the following template:
1. Here is why… (what are they going to get from a particular set of instructions)
2. Here is what it is… (The facts and the story behind the instructions)
3. Here is how to… (The action steps: Step #1- do this Step #2- Do this Step #3- Do this etc).
4. Here is what to do first… (and watch out for xyz and if xyz happens then do pdq).
Practice using this template either written or spoken a few times today with your spouse, your kids, your co-workers or even when you are driving down the road.
You may experience like I have, a doubling or tripling of motivation in even doing some of the mundane tasks that before felt repetitive. But after looking at it from these different angles, the tasks may start to come alive with meaning and you may feel a surge of energy as you do them!
The deeper you take this the more you’ll come to make a pretty clear assessment about yourself on a percentage basis.
Last Example:
Using myself as an example I can tell you that I’m likely 40% How-To Dominant, probably 30% What, 20% What If, and maybe 10% Why. Scientific? No. Does it make sense to me and help me in my communication? Yes. That’s the point.
The Before Picture: In my personal and professional life NOT being aware of this would result in me trying to teach and share with others, coming from MY dominant head space, where I’d be unconsciously neglecting a pretty large portion of my audience.
The After Picture: By being conscious of MY dominant learning style (and by you being conscious of yours) with very little if any extra effort at all, tack on a bit more WHY early on and sprinkled throughout my communication, and make sure to add a big dash of WHAT IF (summarizing and giving 1 specific action step) at the end which will no-doubt make all the difference in the world for the rest of the audience.
Enjoy putting this into practice in your own life… and leave me a comment to let me know what you think below!
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