This Tip suggests ways to avoid an 85% post-training loss of learning, primarily focused on what the supervisor can do.
“The way positive reinforcement is carried out is more important than the amount.” B. F. Skinner
How to Avoid an 85% Post-Training Loss of Learning
Research by Robert O. Brinkerhoff shows that only 15 percent of what is learned during training will be applied on the job if it is not reinforced and monitored.
So what does that mean for us as trainers and facilitators?
Involve Participants’ Managers and Supervisors
We need to actively involve our participants’ managers and supervisors in the training.
Ideally, they should be the individuals who originally identified the need for training. As a result, they should have a vested interest in the outcome. If that is the case, it would be helpful if the participants create action plans during class that commit them to apply what they have learned.
An Action Plan to Avoid Loss of Learning
There should be a place on the action plan for the employee’s supervisor to sign off as to having seen and discussed the action plan. Trainers could alert their supervisors to the need to review the action plans. Then they should both reinforce the new learning and monitor the employee’s performance.
Report on the Class
Another approach is for the supervisor to sit down with the employee . The supervisor should ask the employee to report on what they learned and what the plan is to apply what they learned. If a face-to-face meeting is impractical, the supervisor could require the employee to write a report along these lines.
Explain Learning Goals and Objectives
At the very least, we should initiate communications with the supervisors regarding the learning goals and objectives. That way, they will understand the changed behavior we expect to see when the participants return to their workplaces.
We could give them a monitoring checklist to make it as easy as possible for the supervisors to observe and document performance.
Reinforce Learning to Avoid Loss of Learning
We should also suggest to supervisors some strategies to reinforce learning.
The employee discussing the class or the action plan with the supervisor will provide some reinforcement.
The best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else. For this reason, we could recommend that the employee teach what they learned to other employees who could not attend the training.
What else can we do to ensure that the necessary reinforcement and monitoring occurs when our participants are back on the job?
May your learning be sweet.
Deborah
