Think back to the last training you attended that you enjoyed. Ask yourself what you most enjoyed about it? Then ask yourself if you can name three key takeaways? Then ask yourself, how many things you can identify that you are doing differently because of what you learned?
Increasingly I’ve noticed that, even if I discount all of the trainings that I personally considered ineffective, uninteresting or useless (and I’ve been to a fair number of those), and focus on the trainings I really have enjoyed and been glad I attended, I still am disappointed often in how little I retained and how ‘even littler’ I have put into practice.
Why is this important? 1) It’s a priority for employees – multiple research papers show that employees, particularly Gen Z, prioritize learning and development when looking at and staying in jobs. New research by e-learning provider imc Learning reports that 92% of employees consider training a deal breaker if choosing between two potential employers. 2) Organizations are spending significant amounts of resources on training and development (according to a 2023 Training Industry Report which is well worth a read if you are interested in the details) – presumably they want it to be effective!
Given that I now spend a significant amount of my time either training, or attending trainings (have I mentioned that I love to learn!!), I have pulled together some lessons I have learned over the years both in terms of why training falls short and what we can do about it.
To my mind there are a few key reasons that training doesn’t have much longevity:
1. Motivation. Is the motivation for the learning coming from us or from somewhere outside (our boss, our organization, the need for a certain qualification to get a job)? When someone else wants us to learn and we’re not motivated ourselves, then we are less likely to retain the knowledge.
2. Knowledge vs Application. We don’t change by learning new stuff, we change by trying things differently. When training focuses simply on the knowledge without giving us a chance to practice doing something differently (either within the training or as an assignment afterwards), it is much harder to overcome the barrier to try something differently.
3. Isolation. A brilliant former colleague of mine (shout out to Emma Proud), introduced the challenge of training into my previous organization, using the analogy of a bathtub full of cold water that we are looking to heat up. When we send someone off on a training to learn something new (hot!), it is the equivalent of taking a cup of water out of the bath, heating it up and then pouring it back into the bath and expecting the whole bath to be warm. We know that isn’t how heat transfer works and we also know that one person is fighting an uphill battle to create change if they are coming back in as the sole holder of the knowledge.
So what can we do about it? Over the years, and influenced deeply by the work of Dr David Rock and the Neuroleadership Institute, who have researched extensively into ways to make training more effective, I have identified some key steps that increase the changes chances of the training you invest in having more impact – whether you are looking at this as a individual or as someone responsible for learning for your team or organization.
As the person initiating the training:
• Be clear on why this training is necessary/desirable and is it aimed on behalf of the individual or the team or the organization?
• Create an understanding of success together with other stakeholders and check back in afterwards. Be wary of success metrics which are simply counting participation or attendance.
• Think through what the best mode of learning is for this particular instance – online vs in person, in house trainers vs external buy in, depth vs breadth, individuals vs teams…
• Have a plan of follow up and follow through to keep the topic alive.
• Find trainers who are looking not only to deliver training but to provide wrapround support (e.g. debriefing, mentoring, follow up sessions) if necessary.
As the ‘trainee’:
• Get clear (and honest) on your personal motivation for doing the training.
• Make time after the training to think through what you are going to do differently – create a plan to make sure it happens.
• Find immediate ways to practice the new skills or capacities – this will greatly increase their sticking power. The longer you wait, the harder it will be to apply new learning.
• Find an accountability partner to help you stick to your commitments.
• Find ways to share what you have learned back into your organization.
As the supervisor/boss:
• Follow up on how the training went. Specifically ask them– what are you going to be doing differently based on what you have learned? Sharing learnings is a key step to integration.
• Create accountability– overworked team members will prioritize things that they know they will be held accountable to. If they know you think this is important they are more likely to spend time applying the learning.
• Find opportunities for intact teams to be trained together, so they learn and create the change and follow through as a team and support each other.
• If a team has been through a training together, find ways to integrate the learning into your regular day to day activities (e.g. practicing giving feedback)
Above all, my invitation is to bring intentionality to the training and leaving less to chance. Regardless of what function you hold. Please reach out if you are interested in thinking through how to make the training your organization invests in more effective. Or to share techniques that you have found work for you.
