Lessons all L&D Professionals Can Learn from Star Wars

May the Fourth Be with You! You might not instantly associate Star Wars with the L&D industry, but there are (inter)stellar lessons that we can learn from the franchise. Whether you’re a fan or not, we hope that this list inspires you to channel creativity into your learning.

Meaningful, Memorable, and Motivational training is key to any learning – whether you’re in Jedi training or corporate learning

In Star Wars Episode VII: The Last Jedi, Rey’s training with Luke was challenging – but allowed her to leverage her existing skills and build upon her Jedi ways to overcome the First Order and lead the Resistance to victory.

Your learner may not be taking on the First Order, but with the right Context, Challenges, Activities, and Feedback, we can create training that creates a greater purpose than simply completing modules.

Even Sith Lords can appreciate iterative design

When your first attempt at a tool or training module blows up in your face (literally in this case), it’s a great opportunity to reflect and rebuild with iterative design. Following the destruction of the first Death Star, the Empire was able to learn from its structural weaknesses and rebuild its successor quickly.

“Fear is the path to the Dark Side”

Master Yoda knew a thing or two about what it took to create great learning experiences, but one of the most valuable lessons that he instilled in Luke Skywalker was the power of confidence. Good training leaves our learners feeling confident and empowered and ready to take on the challenges they may face on the job. Creating a safe space to fail is a critical piece of the learning experience – and it creates much more psychological safety than being threatened with a chokehold!

It’s about the experience

One of the biggest reasons why Star Wars has become a timeless franchise is because of its ability to immerse audiences in the galactic worlds. The LucasFilms/Disney teams understand that to captivate audiences, it takes not only a great story and characters but also takes personal development and motivation for us to build a connection to the Star Wars Universe.  When we create learning, we should wield the same creativity and context to develop Meaningful, Memorable, and Motivational learning experiences.

What do you think? What are other lessons from the franchise that can help us in Learning and Development? Let us know in the comments!