Employees often tell me they know when their manager or supervisor has been to training or has read a book with new ideas. With a “this too shall pass” attitude, the employees wait for the new manager behavior to “blow over” so they can return to normal.

Management and supervisor training/development are among the top content areas on which companies provide training, according to numerous surveys including those conducted by the American Society for Training and Development and Training/HRD Magazine. When you consider that skills such as communication, delegation, and conflict resolution are learned at a very early age (literally at our mother’s knee), it’s no wonder that these habits are so difficult to break and that it is challenging to make this training stick. Here are some practices that trainers and managers have found help managers and supervisors adopt new skills:

• Multiple modalities. I mentioned in last month’s sticky note that more organizations are providing multiple means to access training – in addition to or instead of the traditional classroom. Articles and other resources on the company website – perhaps with a special link for program graduates - help people remember. Blogs, bulletin boards, or discussion groups are more ways to reach program graduates. Our book The Making Training Stick Field Guide has more ideas on modalities.




• “Relapse Prevention.” This specific type of discussion during training has been proven by research to increase on-the-job application. The discussion should include how new skills will be applied, under what circumstances they might be forgotten, and how to overcome these obstacles.




• Impact Map. Similar to an action plan, this document is completed by the trainee at the end of the training or afterwards. It identifies which specific skills will be applied to specific applications, the key results expected, and the link to the corporate or department goals. Increase the impact by involving the manager of the trainee with this document.

One more thing – try to avoid a “do as I say not as I do” message. Role models – senior managers and the trainee’s own manager - send a powerful message and motivate newly trained managers to try out and use what they learn.

Until next time,

I used to think that the most important time period for making sure that training sticks was during the training session. You know, that’s when participants learn what they are there to learn, and when they are most motivated. But I was wrong!

Which time period do you think is most critical (that is, important) for making training stick?

* Before the training?
* After the training?
* During the training (in spite of what I just said)?

Of course all of these time periods are important, each in their own way. But researchers Mary Broad and John Newstrom surveyed a large cross-section of corporate managers and employees and they found that while during the training is considered important for transferring training to the job, before the training is even more important.

Our special research report has more information on these time periods as well as the people/roles critical to training transfer.

What happens – or should happen - before the training to make it stick?

* The trainees’ manager tells them how they will use the training in their job.
* The trainer briefs both manager and trainee on the skills/learning in the training and ways that it can be applied on the job.
* The trainee talks with previous attendees about how they liked the training and how they are using it.
* The trainer communicates with the trainee, setting positive expectations for the training.

For attention-getting steps to “set the stage” before training, check out Making Training Stick: The Training Transfer Field Guide. Research has found that when techniques such as these are used, participants retain more of what they learn and they are more likely to use what they have learned in their jobs.

Until next time…

There are lots of strategies that organizations can use to increase the transfer of learning to the job. But like so many other things, transferring learning is best accomplished when you “become a product of the product”, when you “practice what you preach”, so that you use strategies and techniques to increase the transfer of your own learning to your own work.

When was the last time you took a class, elearning course, or webinar? Took a certification course? What did you learn from it? How are you applying what you learned? Or, did your learning fall by the wayside and get lost in the daily stream of deliverables, preparations, goals, and daily to-dos?

I may be “preaching to the choir”, but here are some of the benefits of continuing your learning and professional development:

* Credibility in the eyes of peers, your manager, and participants
* Continuous improvement of your skills and techniques
* Update information you need to know to do your job
* Increase efficiency and effectiveness of what you do
* Preparation for additional job responsibilities or even a new career
* Empathy for learners (it’s different on the “other side of the fence!”)

Here are a few suggestions for you – or any individual learner – to increase the stickyness of what you learn, so that you and your organization will experience the benefits from it:

• Before the next webinar, elearning, or face to face class you take, communicate with your manager about the specific benefits and learnings, and these might be applied to your work. (As a result, you may decide that this learning event isn’t the best use of your time and you might opt out.)
• Solicit input and feedback from others who have taken the class to compare your expectations with their results. Modify your expectations or your decision to participate in the learning as appropriate.
• During the learning, discipline yourself – and your coworkers if necessary – to focus on the learning. Put away the PDA/phone, turn off the email message and IM notification, put away the laptop unless you’re using it for the learning event, let the desk phone go into voicemail, and avoid the temptation to navigate away from the learning event (“just for a minute”), or to daydream. Research has shown over and over that it is not possible for the mind to “multitask”. Whether or not you realize or admit this, you will miss information in the training. If you find the training is not valuable, leave and focus your full attention on a better use of your time.
• Immediately after the end of the learning event, spend a few moments reflecting on key learning points and how you will apply them. (I often do this sitting in my car, in a parking lot.) Take notes to help you remember. Also reflect on what might keep you from doing what you said you will do, and how you can overcome these obstacles.
• Make tickler reminders to yourself for 1 week, 3 weeks, and 6 weeks after training: “Am I _________(doing what I said I would do, to apply this learning)?”

Check out a few more suggestions on how to make training stick as well as information on my two books, Making Training Stick and The Making Training Stick Field Guide on my website: www.MakeTrainingStick.com.

Until next time…

Ever since I’ve been in the learning and development field (and that’s a long time), I’ve heard people say when budgets are tight, the training budget is the first to get cut. In the big recession of 1974 (yes, I was there – I was a newbie then), many organizations completely eliminated their training departments. In the downturn of the early 1980s, learning and development functions that had been gradually brought back from the previous decade were again reduced to nothing or near-nothing. In the early to mid 1990s the mild economic downturn then led to cutbacks in training that were again gradually regained. Then in 2001-2002 — something interesting happened. Learning and development budgets were cut, but they weren’t cut any more than any other area of the organization. For the first time in many or most organizations, learning and development was coming to be viewed as an essential part of the organization, and necessary to achieve strategic objectives.

As for our current economic situation, it is admittedly more severe than any of the other periods I’ve mentioned. Yet ASTD’s State of the Industry report that came out a few months ago showed sustained support for corporate learning. Yes, there have been budget cuts, and in some cases these cuts have been severe. But, rather than eliminating the learning and development function, most organizations today are focusing doing more with less. In fact, there was a marked increase in the number of learning hours delivered last year despite the decreasing budgets.
Here’s a brief recap of what some organizations (maybe yours too) are doing:

• “Insourcing” previously outsourced learning and development provides huge savings. I talked with a training manager the other day who is getting the necessary certification so she can deliver internally what they had previously been using an external consultant to do. Now there are some very good reasons to outsource some training, not the least of which is that participants tend to listen more carefully to an “outside expert”. Nonetheless, in the short term “insourcing” may make sense, and there are some excellent resources available to keep prep time to a minimum.




• E-learning conversion of existing instructor-led courseware or other sources of information can be expensive, but it quickly pays for itself when the cost vs the savings is evaluated. If your organization does not yet offer e-learning as an option or an alternative, start investigating it. While I don’t believe that e-learning will ever completely replace face-to-face learning, it is an attractive option when money is tight.




• Other technology such as webcasts, podcasts, and self-service websites provide effective learning at a fraction of the cost of face-to-face learning. “Is it as effective?” you may ask. While the jury is still out, there are some indications that not only are these types of learning as good as face-to-face learning, but for some people, they are better. (Gasp!)

What are you doing to “do more with less?” Add your comments below.

Until next time…

I’m reading the book Made to Stick by Chip Health and Dan Heath. The title drew me to this book, since my new book, Making Learning Stick will be out in December of this year (more about in a later newsletter).

One of the ideas in Made To Stick is the Curse of Knowledge. The authors explain that once we know something, it is hard to imagine what it is like not to know it - like the old saying about asking someone what time it is and they tell you how to make the clock.

The Curse of Knowledge often rears its ugly head when a manager asks us to teach employees a particular skill….and we talk about terminal and intermediate instructional objectives, SMEs, target populations, and Levels 1, 2, 3, and 4. Management doesn’t care about any of this! They just want employees to perform better on the job.

The Curse of Knowledge shows up in the classroom (in person or online) when the instructor impresses learners with his/her skill and knowledge, providing mountains of information, diagrams, and other lecture material but leaving them ill-equipped to sort out what they need to do, 1-2-3, to learn the new skills. Is it really helpful to talk about increasing shareholder value in a class of call center new hires? Wouldn’t terms such as “keep customers coming back” or “make customers glad they called” work better here? It’s about the participants, not about the instructor!

Here are a few tips and suggestions for neutralizing the Curse of Knowledge:

• Cut lecture material in half, yes that’s 50% (you will be surprised at how easy this becomes).




• Use teach back methods, so that you allow trainees to teach parts of the material instead of lecturing to them. (Note: Trainees As Teachers is one of the techniques to make learning stick in my new book Making Learning Stick due out in December.)




• Develop short tag lines and slogans instead of overloading trainees with lots of detail. You can find ideas and guidance for these slogans and tag lines in our books, Making Training Stick and Making Training Stick: A Training Transfer Field Guide.




• Stop lectures short of complete closure. The Ziegarnik Effect lets the trainees’ subconscious minds continue to work on what needs to be learned, after the lecture.




• Use a pre-test to determine prior knowledge, then omit this from lectures. Note: email, web-based survey tools, and course web pages make pre-testing easier than ever.




• Don’t talk about it, do it. Modeling the skills being taught is more powerful than talking about them. My blog has more commentary on this powerful teaching method.

Key takeaway from Made To Stick is to forget about how much we know, and focus only on what the learner needs to know.
Until next time…..

The stressors of today’s economic and political climate place an added strain on the workplace learner, as if the busy work life and lifestyle of the average person wasn’t enough. The stressors include: increased job demands perhaps due to downsizing…..career concerns…..sagging sales…..demanding customers…..personal concerns about the mortgage, credit cards, bills…..expectation of constant busyness….even “success fatigue,” when things are going well.

The accumulated impact of these stressors is an inability to concentrate and perform cognitive tasks as well as they can be performed under optimal conditions. The impact on learning and application of the learning is obvious.

I found some of the recent information about stress and learning interesting:

* Certain “proactive” personalities support better learning under stressful conditions.
* A sense of mastery – of a particular skill - also results in lower levels of job stress.
* Motivation to learn partially reduces the negative impact of stress on learning.
* Positive stress can intensify when the usefulness of the learning goal is realized.

We seldom are able to “pick and choose” the personalities of who is in the classroom, but these tips may help workplace learning professionals capitalize on the other findings related to stress and learning.

* Ramp up the “I know you can do it” messages. Perceived mastery - the belief that they have mastered the skill and the belief that they can master the skill – inhibits negative stress.

* Review the learning design. Is the skill practice easy enough to promote success on the first try so that learners have a high chance of success? Consider adding skill practices with progressive difficulty.

* Set realistic learning goals, given the available time and focus of the trainees. Link learning goals to participants’ jobs and careers. How will learning the skills and knowledge help them do their jobs better and enhance their careers?

* Don’t demonstrate the skill any more than necessary. Seeing a skilled demonstration may actually reduce their perception of their own ability and/or their perceived mastery.

* Provide frequent pep talks to boost their belief in their ability to learn and master the skill.

* Provide stress-relieving breaks – stand-and-stretch breaks, silent meditation,

Trainers can’t make the stress go away but these are some techniques to reduce the negative impact of the stress on their learning.

How do you think stress is impacting workplace learning these days? Do certain personality/behavior styles seem to respond to stress is particular ways? Post your thoughts here!

Sight is one of the most powerful senses, if not the most powerful for learning:

• “Seeing is believing” is a popular saying with a lot of truth to it.
• 60% of people are primarily visual learners (while only 30% are auditory and 10%, kinesthetic).
• “Out of sight, out of mind” is the flip side of this.

Famous psychologist Albert Bandura in his Social Learning Theory introduced the concept of modeling, and besides, parents and teachers have known about it for centuries. Bandura said that when a person sees someone doing something (the “model”), they have a tendency to imitate the behavior. The more powerful or influential the model, the more likely it is that their behavior will be imitated. Haven’t we all seen a little child imitating their mommy or daddy?

We also unfortunately see the influence of modeling in our motion pictures and TV programs. Violent and unusual crimes depicted in movies and on TV are often imitated on the streets, as most law enforcement officials will attest. The movie/TV medium seems to intensify the power of the modeling, and as Bandura pointed out, the more powerful the model, the more likely it will be imitated.

I’ve found that in my training when I instruct participants on how to do something, some of them may pick up a few tips to use.

• Many of the participants say they enjoyed the training and “got a lot out of it,” but when pressed to discuss how they have implemented the new skill(s), they most often are at a loss.




• When I demonstrate the skill(s) in front of the class, however, more participants report later that they have used what was demonstrated.




• When I use video segments in addition to talking about it and demonstrating, more participants seem to “get it” and later describe how they have used the skill. Other trainers report similar experiences.

Training and learning events that include role playing and practice are important, but without appropriate demonstrations participants are less likely to learn “how to do it right” and the learning is less likely to stick.

Whether you conduct the training or sponsor training that others conduct, make sure that the desired skills are demonstrated by the trainer and modeled through use of visuals, preferably video. The more powerful the visuals, the more likely they will stick. Click here for my top 4 favorite training video sources.

What about one-on-one learning and coaching? Video segments today can be delivered via the internet either from websites of video producers and distributors, or, the latest technology, embedded in Powerpoint. This makes it very easy to sit side-by-side at the computer and view a short segment that demonstrates the skill being coached.
We have new programs from Inscape Publishing with embedded video segments – IDX Ready series and DiSC Application Library series — check them out and you’ll see why they’re getting rave reviews.

Have you ever noticed that when you finish something you can put it out of your mind but if you don’t finish something it keeps “nagging at you” until you go back to it? If you’re like most people, you’ve experienced these feelings. This effect is called The Zeigarnik Effect, named after the researcher who first investigated it.

Russian psychologist Blyuma Zeigarnik discovered through a series of experiments that tension aids retention and satiation eliminates tension and therefore satiation also eliminates retention. In a series of 43 tasks such as sketching, printing names and assembling puzzles, some tasks were interrupted before completion and other tasks were fully completed. In recalling several mixed series of these completed and uncompleted tasks, the uncompleted ones were remembered 90% better than the completed tasks. Further research by organization development guru Kurt Lewin and others has supported this conclusion – what gets interrupted gets remembered.

So in a learning event, if an individual is allowed to come to complete closure on a topic or the event, they are not likely to think about it as much or as often after training. If, however, the trainer or course material leaves some “loose ends”, the trainee is more likely to think about the topic afterwards and put the skill into practice. Of course these “loose ends” often result in trainee frustration, so the interruptions or lack of closure needs to be carefully balanced. One way to do this is to promise participants at various points in the learning that everything you (the trainer) do has a purpose and if there is a question about what the purpose is, to ask.

For more information on using The Zeigarnik Effect in training, see Making Training Stick.

My most vivid childhood memories are of the first days of school each fall: the hustle of getting clothes and supplies ready, practicing the walking route (when the school was new), the fresh smell of the halls and classrooms after their summer cleaning and buffing. Most of all I remember the feeling of being mentally ready and receptive to learning after a summer where my brain was less than active. I think most of us can relate to that “back to school feeling”, especially those of us who have children so we can relive it.

There’s a “back to school feeling” at work too, I’ve noticed. People seem more interested and ready to learn new skills – in face-to-face classrooms, elearning courses, and informally on the job. Enrollments and registrations usually pick up the end of August and continue through October. Instructors and facilitators are usually more enthusiastic and focused as well, it seems to me.

As a trainers, training managers and administrators, and as learners, we can capitalize on that “back to school feeling”:

• Increase class offerings and be prepared for increased enrollments.
• Increase publicity and “marketing” for programs and classes at this time of year.
• Connect with line managers – they often have a back to school feeling too and may be more inclined to support enrollments for their employees now.
• Theme “back to school” in communications (you know, chalk and blackboards, apples) and class props (PowerPoint has several fun templates with this theme).
• Be prepared to help learners focus. After a more relaxed summer that probably included at least one week of vacation, they may need a little more assistance getting focused.
• Use “back to school” as an opportunity to reconnect with previous participants to reinforce what they have learned previously.
o Spruce up that course webpage
• Send an email asking participants’ managers and/or trainees themselves how they are applying their learning
• Remind participants how they said they would overcome obstacles to apply what they learned.
• Check in with training buddies and/or support groups
• Pay a visit to a job site to check in on previous participants

For yourself:

• Consider your own professional development. Take a class. It’s always interesting to be on the other “side of the fence” for a change.
• Consider a certification for yourself. These days more importance seems to be placed on certificates and certifications. How do you stack up with your peers?
• Ask yourself: what do I want to learn that I don’t know? What’s the best way to learn it? Check out our Sticky Workshops for increasing your knowledge and skill at making learning stick.
• If you’re not taking at least 2 weeks of professional development each year, you’re not keeping up with your learners!
• Consider going back to school and getting a degree or another degree. Many online programs make this more convenient than ever.

Until next time…