The Training Trap: Why 95% of learning happens after the course

Just like performance is 5% talent and 95% discipline and hard work, learning and development is 5% training and 95% what you do after (reinforcement, empowerment, practice). 

Very few organizational issues can be solved by delivering more training to employees. And I say this as a professional trainer, having designed, organized, and delivered thousands of training hours yearly. 

The training seems the most important part because it is the starting point.

That’s why it’s the most sellable service, the easiest part of the learning process, and the go-to choice for leaders after performance reviews or a bad audit score. 

The biggest effort of a training coordinator should go into planning and following up on consistent, meaningful reinforcement actions: practice sessions, daily rehearsals, role-plays, micro-learning, feedback, competitions, recognition, accountability systems, self-audits, empowerment, and many more.

This is human nature - we need to be kept accountable. We need nutritionists to tell us what to eat, fitness instructors to make us come to the gym, coaches to ask us difficult questions, and reminders to make us drink more water… although we all know, in reality, what to do.

I am a very strong self-learner, and even so, after being motivated enough to attend a workshop, pay for it myself, and spend 2 days, body and soul into it, I will only implement 20% of the information, and this with a strong will power and discipline.

________________________________

I remember introducing a new standard in the daily operations of a luxury hotel: showing direction with the palm. 

The message was simple: starting tomorrow, instead of pointing towards something, we will use an open palm and extend the arm to show direction, location, present someone or something, etc.

What a successful and fun training that was!

The day after, I took a tour of the property, observing guests' interactions, only to realize that NO ONE was showing directions with the palm. What a shock, right? 

I gave it a week of allowing the leaders (who were learning as well) to reinforce the usage of the new gesture. 

The progress was slow to none.

Why? I asked! 

“Because we forget! When we are involved in assisting the guests, we go back to the comfortable ways!”

Then I shifted the entire focus to reinforcement actions: assigning accountability partners, daily reminders and practice, individual and team competitions, on-the-spot recognition, and it still took a few months for the new gesture to become a routine and for all employees to be aligned. 

__________________________________

Now replace the learning of this simple gesture with implementing complex changes, mentality shifts, behavioral adjustments, new procedures, learning new software, creating a culture, and imagine the impact of training without reinforcement actions. How can that work?

What is your no.1 reinforcement action?