Earlier this week, we learned deliberate practice is what turns average performers into experts. The deliberate practice framework can be easily applied to a simple process such as physical skill improvement (ex. improving your golf swing), but is it useful in an area as complex and fluid as recruiting? According to author Morten Hansen, it can be helpful in improving soft skills by using something researchers call “The Learning Loop.” The Learning Loop has four sequential components: 1. Do: Select a task to perform (ex. conducting an interview). 2. Measure: Pick several things about the task to measure (ex. time of interview, engagement level of the candidate, likelihood of candidate moving to next step in the hiring process). 3. Feedback: If a metric is less than ideal, what can be done to improve (ex. candidate engagement was low, you talked too much early in the interview)? 4. Modify: Make a plan to modify your behavior based on the feedback (ex. I will only ask open-ended questions for the first 20 minutes of the interview). The Learning Loop then restarts the next time you perform the task and loop through the same learning steps. Over time, this process has been shown to produce remarkable improvements. Hansen reports that individuals who implement and use The Learning Loop process typically end up in the top 10% of organizations. With this type of upside, you owe it to yourself to give it a try.