Up to this point, you have created a strong foundation with Principles 1, 2, and 3, and are driving the engagement with Principles 4, 5, and 6.

Let’s recap the three principles that help you drive engagement. A focus on engagement is needed to increase participation. Read this recap carefully and be sure you have no more questions before moving to Principle 7, “Place the Learner in the Center.”

PRINCIPLE 4: PROVIDE THE PERFECT PUSH AND PULL

1. The brain sucks up 20 percent of your overall energy. Your brain is always looking for shortcuts that will allow it to avoid using energy. For that reason, you continually need to “push” the brain and avoid using shortcuts, or else stop mastering new knowledge and skills.
2. Not all your push is a pull.
3. A perfect balance between 40 and 65 percent is pull.
4. Check your reinforcement program, and use the pull thermometer in Figure 10.2. If your score is below 35 percent, your program has characteristics of a micro learning module.
5. If your score is above 70 percent, you have a lot of pull messages. Too many and your program has characteristics of an assessment.
6. Use memory techniques to update knowledge and avoid mistakes.

PRINCIPLE 5: CREATE FRICTION AND DIRECTION

• Friction is when brains need to work because the situation and/or question presented is not clear or completely spelled out.
• To create friction and activate learners’ brains, you should:
  1. Avoid predictability.
  2. Omit some information.
  3. Switch the usual order of information.
  4. Leave some details to the imagination.
  5. Stimulate discussion.
  6. Use the “less is more” approach.
  7. Write so your words personally touch the learner.
  8. Make your messages easy to read.
  9. Avoid verbs that don’t convey action.
• To create direction and avoid learners dropping out, you should:
  1. Be clear on what you expect.
  2. Describe clearly what needs to be done.
  3. Avoid giving direction that can be interpreted different ways.
  4. Repeat assignments.
  5. Use a clear and recognizable structure.
  6. Summarize at crucial moments.
  7. Encourage learners to reflect and look to the future.
  8. Use questions to check whether learners are on track.
  9. Avoid dense text.
• Balance between low and high direction and low and high friction. High direction and high friction results in a “guided challenge.”
• How much is too much?
• Write in the second person, avoiding the third person.

  Second Person	Third Person
  Your client	The client
  You	The leader or the . . .
  Your market	The market
  In your role	At company X

• All messages keep the brains in an alert mode and don’t kill brain activity.
• Stimulate social friction.

PRINCIPLE 6: FOLLOW THE REINFORCEMENT FLOW

• In your reinforcement program, strive to process all four levels of feedback:
  • Task.
  • Process.
  • Self-Regulation.
  • Self.
• The CCAF model is a great to use in your reinforcement program.
• Reinforcement flow is all about balancing skills and challenges.
• Check your reinforcement flow.
• Use more difficult questions (not the answers) over time.
• Three common pitfalls exist while creating your reinforcement flow:
  • No back and forth move between challenge and rewarding.
  • No break for the learner.
  • No feedback to guide behavior change.
• Use the three zones: comfort, flow, and panic.
• If you want to use your reinforcement program to help your learners to leave their comfort zones, don’t “push” them too far. Stay within the flow zone.
• To grow, you should leave your comfort zone. The reinforcement flow helps learners leave the comfort zone.
• Check the performance curve for peak performance.