The Change Signal with Julie Dirksen
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Julie Dirksen joins me to dissect why most corporate training feels like “high school, but worse.” She’s spent years figuring out how to design learning that actually changes behaviour, not just fills heads with information.
Her printer repair experiment reveals why engagement isn’t about jazzing up content — it’s about timing and immediate application. When your printer’s broken and you need it fixed, suddenly that boring YouTube video becomes fascinating.
But here’s what really stuck with me: change doesn’t just alter what people do, it shatters who they are. Take someone who’s unconsciously competent at their job and force them to learn new processes, and you’ve just broken their professional identity.
Julie introduces the elephant-rider metaphor to explain why purely rational training approaches fail. Your logical brain might understand why change is necessary, but your emotional, experiential brain — the elephant — often has other plans.
If you’re leading transformation efforts and wondering why smart people resist obviously good ideas, this conversation will shift how you think about supporting behaviour change in organizations.
ABOUT JULIE:
Julie Dirksen is a learning strategist, consultant, and the author of Design For How People Learn. She specializes in instructional design, behaviour change, and organizational learning. Her work focuses on making training practical, relevant, and aligned with how people actually learn and change.
Julie’s website: usablelearning.com
