When talking about training, most people refer solely to the actual learning intervention, whether it happens in a classroom or online. The biggest challenge of training is to prove effective even after that singular occurrence - learning should stick and new knowledge ought to be applied in the workplace leading to groundbreaking innovation and better results.
It sounds like a bumper sticker when taking into consideration that at the end of a session people normally remember somewhere around 30% of the presented information. It’s clear that a lot more effort needs to be put not only into the design and delivery of a learning unit but also into follow-up activities and interventions.
A former Judo Olympic competitor, Anthonie Wurth, noticed while he was working with a large multinational company that lack of reinforcement lead training participants to have unsatisfactory results. With this in mind, he drew on his sporting experience and found that there are seven principles of learning reinforcement.
In this post we’ll focus on the first two principles of learning reinforcement in training programs, and we’ll dive into the other five in a future one.
I remember the feed-back I got from the trainer who facilitated a rather long and not too exciting session about the products of services of the telecommunications company I was working for at the time. She said „you are very skilled in talking to people and you are very convincing, but as far as information goes you have managed to acquire some gaps. Like Swiss cheese.”
I happen to like the dairy product yet I got that her comparison din not make the situation positive. Generally, gaps need to be filled and that’s what the first principle of reinforcement postulates. In order for learning to stick and make an impact, L&D professionals must find ways to close five important gaps:
Read more: Implications of the Self Determination Theory in the workplace
Learning is mainly about a desirable change in behavior. The second principle that Anthonie Wurth identified has to do with masterfully dealing with the three phases that behavioral change happens in:
Read more: Why each employee needs a learning path
These first two principles alone sound like a lot of work. For a quick assessment on how well your organization is doing, find here and here two short quizzes, one for each principle.
Keep an eye on the Business Blog, as next time we’ll talk about the other five principles of learning reinforcement and how these should be applied in a training program.