The term "Educative Intelligence '' was coined by Sponge Brain in 2004. It is the human capacity to inspire, engage, and educate through the transmission of sensory information across teams, divisions, and even entire organizational structures and cultures.
More specifically, Educative Intelligence can be defined as a particular set of training skills applied at the right time, and, in the right context. These skills include the trainer’s:
● level of command in advanced instructional skills
● capacity to convey the most relevant content in a clear and concise manner
● ability to gauge and manage a trainee group’s degree of attention and interest
● presence of mind to adopt a training approach that best suits the current attention state of the trainees while continuously re-adapting guidance to the target audience
Furthermore, it is also what defines a trainer’s ability to identify and assess group dynamics in real-time. And when successfully combined with an additional, equally important derivative of Educative Intelligence, “Emotion Management”, the trainer can further filter, regulate, and optimize his/her approach with the trainees, ultimately leading to a more relaxed, attentive, and assertive training environment.
“The good news is that Educative Intelligence can absolutely be developed with the right tools”
How is Educative Intelligence manifested in training materials?
Despite its many advantages, digital learning platforms, unlike the human guide, lack the ability to sense trainee emotions and state of mind. For this reason, the development of e-learning and printed training materials should always consider and include the human training components that would have otherwise been applied had the training been frontal.
How is Educative Intelligence applied across organizational culture?
The application of Educative Intelligence, in this context, can be largely summarized with 3 main principles:
1. The degree to which the organization’s leadership is motivated and committed to the development and maintenance of company-wide training programs
2. The quality and effectiveness of the organization’s training staff and programs
3. The quality of the organization’s employee and customer facing training collateral
So with that in mind, have you or your organization’s training staff been naturally gifted with Educative Intelligence? Most likely not, unfortunately. An acquired, or even natural talent to perform in front of an audience does not necessarily reflect on one’s ability to “guide” an audience. However, the good news is that Educative Intelligence can absolutely be developed with the right tools, guidance, and practice of advanced training skills. Either way, it’s not a zero sum game, but rather a scale of impact. Ultimately, the quality of training, and the benefit trainees draw from it, will depend largely on the trainer’s degree of, hopefully, ever-growing Educative Intelligence.
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