What We Can Learn about Change from Duolingo

Table of Contents

• Hello

• What I’ve Learned from Duolingo

• 1% Solutions

• Things I’m Reading and Listening To

• Can I ask you for some help?

Hello

What a month. The road to recovery has been a slow one, but as of Wednesday, I am 100% tube, catheter and antibiotic-free. I can lift things over five pounds and raise my right arm higher than my soldier. Health issues truly help you to appreciate the small things. We still have a few steps more before I can go to PT but just feeling like there is progress has been enough.

Last Wednesday, I also led a group of managers in my new workshop, Leading Cross-Functional Change. Too often I’ve seen midlevel managers not get the time, coaching and support to really reflect and improve on their leadership. This impacts the organization and their career growth. Further, investing in leaders earlier in their career can help create equal access to opportunities later on. The best part of this workshop is that folks are working through actual issues, so they walked away with a plan and next steps.

While the workshop was 3 hours (and can run as an intensive that way), it can also easily be a day-long session or a 6 week cohort sequence. I’ll be thinking of the best way to configure the material. In the meantime, if you have any midlevel managers who would benefit from dedicated planning and processing time, let’s talk. I have a few open spots in July- perfect for those leaders planning 24-25 school year initiatives.

What I’ve Learned from Duolingo

If you’ve followed me on instagram, you know that I have been an avid Duolingo user for the last 880 days (yes, that number is correct as of EOD June 3). What started as a pandemic experiment later became a way to prep for my sabbatical trip to Rome, which then just became habit. It’s a bit of an escape from the current crises that exist in the world, gives me a sense of accomplishment and- if need be- makes me feel more comfortable if I did want to relocate abroad at some point (look, I need options at this point).

But how does an app- that mind you I pay for- keep folks hooked? (Also, I don’t actually pay but my brother-in-law does and I’m on the family plan) And yet, I’m hooked without any incentive other than fake coins, a leader board, and a fear of dropping out of the Diamond League (loss aversion is REAL).

There are so many things that Duolingo does well. It uses science but also has a real sense of humor. It has an easy to use interface. I think there is a lot that leaders can learn from Duolingo as they lead change or craft initiatives to shape behavior.

Here are a few of the leader lessons that Duolingo can teach us:

• Start simple- Any language course in Duolingo starts with simpler exercises. Getting those quick wins at the beginning gives us a dopamine boost to keep going. How can you get quick wins early on to build momentum?

• Make it simple to check your understanding- Unless it is a end of level quiz, you always have the ability to check the meaning of a word anytime you have to translate into English. Making it so easy to check any terms removes friction from self-check; and that is its own form of studying. Translating this to work- how can you make it as simple as possible for folks to do what you need the to do? How often do you define the terms in a policy or document or hyperlink the relevant policy? Just because a process is clear to you doesn’t mean it will be clear to someone who has spent far less time on the process.

• Using the same content to train for different skills- Especially at the beginning of a course, Duolingo will ask you to both translate a phrase from and to English, write the same phrase based on listening to someone say the phrase, and then read the same phrase out loud. Practicing the same content in multiple ways helps to internalize words and pronunciation. How can you provide numerous at-bats for teammates as they prepare, launch and norm? When doing a training leading up to a change (say a webinar or loom), how are you walking folks through a process in multiple ways?

• Choose the right hill to die on- Duolingo’s goal like any app is to keep you on it, and it designs it’s processes around that. I recently learned that one can amass more points and thus climb higher on a leader board by doing more than one course. For me, the ability to switch keeps me interested- and on the app. Does it mean I may be slower to deepen my knowledge of Portuguese? Sure. But that’s not the hill Duolingo is dying on. Be sure to know what your goal is, and stay laser focused. Or as a former colleague used to say, “You are going to drop a ball; just make sure it’s not the glass ones.”

• Create a culture of learning- After every round, Duolingo congratulates you and shows you your stats (like time to complete and percentage correct) with a descriptor. If you take longer than a few minutes Duolingo doesn’t say you are slow- it says you are Committed. Committed means I push through, and there’s an assumption in the word that I will get better. How are you shaping your language and your incentives to reward progress, problem identification and problem solving?

My guess is you can look at any of your apps to glean something about creating change and building culture— though I am fearful of what I would learn from Hinge- I’m not sure if that’s a newsletter or a comedy routine, to be clear.

What are your favorite apps? What leadership and change management lessons can you draw from them?

1% Solutions

• Talk to candidates about salary, location and career aspirations from the jump- studies have shown that candidates are 33% less likely to withdraw from the process and converted into hires at 30% higher rate when recruiters discussed compensation, work location, and why the candidate was looking for a new role. While I do think these actual questions matter, I also think that treating candidates like autonomous beings who are also interviewing you is general a strong move in recruitment.

• Audit and design key policies- Whether it’s designing new policies or reviewing the ones on file, it’s important to evaluate them based on key criteria to ensure they embody your values and are clear. This EdFuel checklist can be very helpful here, particularly if you want to delegate initial review to someone with a less experience in policy design.

• Where are your policies and processes? You know that policy or process that you want everyone to follow? How easy is it for them to find it? How readable is it for someone who is not a subject matter expert? How user friendly is it? We spend time crafting policies and processes that can sometimes be buried in a google drive or Box folder- let’s simplify people’s lives, especially if our goal is to have them do something specifically.

Things I’m Reading and Listening To

• How To Get More Out of AI-Assisted Search in LinkedIn Recruiter- I’ve become fascinated by the use cases of AI. For talent work, it feels like the power of AI is in figuring out better prompts. This article suggests a few smart ways to use AI in your recruitment searches.

• Right Kind of Wrong- Amy Edmondson is famous for her groundbreaking work on psychological safety. In this book, she takes it a step further to discuss the different types of failures- the kind that can drive innovation and experimentation forward and the kind that can lead to crisis. If you are interested in building a learning culture or minimize risk (or both!), this book is for you. Plus, there are so many great anecdotes that will help you in your own storytelling (I have pages of notes, quotes and statistics).

Can I ask you for some help?

I’d love to be able to talk to more folks here. If you like what you’ve been reading and find it useful, can you either:

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Also, my fractional dance card is now full for the remainder of the calendar year (Yes, I am watching Bridgerton). However, if you or someone you know is looking for focused strategic advisory work, short-term audits, or leadership development workshops, let’s talk!