PSYC 642 Week 4 Learning Strategy Project Example

Learning Strategy Project: Helping a New Project Coordinator Speak Up in Team Meetings With Goals, If-Then Plans and Modeling

Introduction

Jordan, a coworker who joined my company's operations team as a project coordinator four months ago, told me that he has ideas during our weekly team meetings but rarely shares them. His manager had mentioned the same concern in his ninety-day review. Together we defined a target behavior: offering at least one idea, question or suggestion during each weekly team meeting, unprompted by a direct question. This paper describes the learning strategy we used over four weeks, reports the results and evaluates what they show.

Learning Principles Behind the Strategy

Noe (2017) describes several theories of how adults learn and change behavior at work. Goal setting theory holds that specific, challenging goals direct attention and effort better than vague intentions. Locke and Latham (2002) drew on thirty-five years of studies to show that hard, precise targets beat a vague request to "do your best," and that the advantage is largest for people who accept the target and see regular evidence of how they are doing. Social learning theory, also described by Noe (2017), holds that people learn by observing models whose behavior is rewarded and that self-efficacy, the confidence that one can carry out the behavior, grows through successful practice and encouragement. Reinforcement theory adds that behaviors followed by positive consequences are more likely to be repeated.

A fourth element addressed Jordan's specific difficulty: he knew what he wanted to do but hesitated when the moment came. Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006) meta-analyzed 94 studies of implementation intentions, plans that tie a chosen response to a specific cue, written as "when this happens, I will do that." Across those studies, adding such a plan to a goal raised the odds of acting on it by a medium-to-large margin, apparently because the plan makes the cue easier to notice and the response more automatic.

Method

Before starting the strategy, I counted Jordan's unprompted contributions in three consecutive meetings; he made none. The strategy then ran for four weeks. First, Jordan set a specific goal of one contribution per meeting, rising to two after two weeks. Second, he wrote two if-then plans: "If the manager asks for project updates, then I will add one observation about scheduling," and "If someone proposes a change, then I will ask one clarifying question." Third, he observed a senior coordinator, Alicia, who contributes often and briefly, and noted how she framed her points. Fourth, with Jordan's permission, his manager agreed to acknowledge his contributions during or after meetings. I recorded his contributions each week, and we met for ten minutes after each meeting to review progress. In those reviews, Jordan rated his comfort speaking from 1 (very uneasy) to 10 (completely at ease) and named one thing that had helped and one that had made speaking harder.

Results

Jordan met his goal in every meeting of the four-week strategy, moving from no unprompted contributions at baseline to two per meeting by the final two weeks. In our reviews, he reported that the if-then plans helped most in the first two weeks, while the manager's acknowledgment and seeing Alicia's short, practical comments made him more willing to speak by the end.

Evaluation

The results suggest that the strategy worked, and each element appears to have played a role. The goal gave Jordan a clear standard, consistent with Locke and Latham (2002), and the increase from one to two contributions fits their finding that challenging goals raise effort once commitment is in place. The if-then plans addressed the moment of hesitation, as Gollwitzer and Sheeran (2006) would predict. Modeling and reinforcement, described by Noe (2017), supported his growing self-efficacy.

The evaluation also has clear limits. This was a single person over a short period, so the results cannot be generalized. Because I was observing and Jordan knew it, some change may reflect the attention itself rather than the strategy. The elements were introduced together, so I cannot tell which mattered most. A stronger design would add elements one at a time or continue observation for several weeks after the reviews end, to see whether the behavior lasts without support.

Transfer and Maintenance

Noe (2017) stresses that learning has value only if it transfers to the job and is maintained over time. Two features of the project support transfer: Jordan practiced the behavior in the real setting rather than in a role play, and his manager's acknowledgment built support into his work environment. To support maintenance, Jordan and I agreed to drop the weekly reviews gradually, first to every other week and then to a monthly check, and he will keep a short note of his contributions for his next performance review. If his contributions fall back to zero, the if-then plans can be renewed.

A Biblical Reflection

Proverbs 16:3 urges believers to commit their work to the Lord, with the promise that their plans will be established (English Standard Version Bible, 2001/2016). Jordan's growth combined careful planning with encouragement from others, and the verse suggests that such planning is not merely technique but a way of offering one's work faithfully. Encouraging a colleague's growth is also a form of service that builds up the whole team.

Conclusion

A simple combination of a specific goal, if-then plans, a respected model and positive reinforcement helped Jordan move from silence to regular contributions within four weeks. For workplace training, the project suggests that small, theory-based strategies, applied consistently and reviewed often, can change behavior that formal courses alone rarely reach. The same approach could be offered to other new employees as part of onboarding, with managers trained to provide the acknowledgment that made Jordan's progress visible.

References

English Standard Version Bible. (2016). Crossway. (Original work published 2001)

Gollwitzer, P. M., & Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(06)38002-1

Locke, E. A., & Latham, G. P. (2002). Building a practically useful theory of goal setting and task motivation: A 35-year odyssey. American Psychologist, 57(9), 705-717. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.57.9.705

Noe, R. A. (2017). Employee training and development (7th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.