Why Training Programs Fail Without Reinforcement?: What you do post training is key

What are we trying to achieve with our training programs? We know that organizations in the US spend up to $160 billion on formal employee training each year. We also know that 70% of what employees are learning is forgotten within the first 24 hours after training is completed.   

How can we make training more efficient so that the skills learned are retained over time?  

Training reinforcement (or burst and boost training) addresses the challenges of current training programs and is a must-have when training the modern learner. Let’s take a few minutes to discuss those business challenges and how training reinforcement helps.  

Training Challenge #1: Keeping Learners Engaged  

A recent study conducted by Bersin by Deloitte showed how distracted and impatient today’s learners are.  

Modern learners are overwhelmed, distracted and impatient, and state they only have 1% of their typical workweek to focus on training and development. Now, let’s pair that troubling statistic with cognitive psychology and how the human brain operates.  

The theory of cognitive load refers to the total amount of mental effort being used in the working memory, and the theory states that as learners, we have memory restrictions.  

So, not only do learners have limited time to dedicate to learning a new skill, but their memory can only absorb so much content within a certain period of time.  

What can we do to overcome this limited mental bandwidth?   

Here at BizLibrary, we use the term “burst” to describe our 5 to 7-minute microlearning videos. As we mentioned earlier, the modern learner does not have time to sit through a 1-hour eLearning course. Not only do they not have time, but research has already shown that short videos are more effective.  

According to an employee report we conducted in May of 2015 on the true state of employee training, when eLearning was compared to online video training, video was found to be more effective at teaching employees new things, improving their performance and preparing them for the future.  

Employee learning delivers substantially better results when the content is delivered via online, short-form videos or as we call it, bursts.  

Microlearning, or burst-style training keeps learners engaged and allows organizations to provide content that addresses the needs of today’s workplace.   

Training Challenge #2: Measuring Training ROI  

The topic of learning retention leads us into the second challenge with today’s training programs: Effectively measuring training ROI.  

It is great to see that most organizations do understand the benefits of providing training opportunities and are continuing to invest in their employees, but the scary part is how much of that investment is going down the drain because that training doesn’t meet the needs of today’s learners.  

Herman Ebbinghaus’ forgetting curve shows that people forget 70% of what they learn within 24 hours of learning a new skill. That equates to $42 billion being thrown away each year!   

When we don’t provide learners with an opportunity to recall the key learning objectives of a training session, how can we ensure they will remember it in the future and successfully apply it to their jobs?   

Without training reinforcement, more than half of the knowledge is simply lost, along with your investment in training and development.  

To quote well-known professor, Art Kohn, Ph.D., “What you do after training is more important than what you do during training.”  

Training reinforcement provides learners a learning “boost” in the days and weeks following training.   

Through BizLibrary’s training reinforcement solution, upon completion of a video lesson or video course, learners are automatically enrolled into a booster program, which includes 4 boosts over a 2-week time period.  

These boosts (delivered via email) include different types of questions which ask the learner to recall specific information from the recently completed training. This process ensures they retain the information they’ve learned.  

By boosting the training in the days and weeks following learning, you can reset the forgetting curve and maximize long-term retrieval of the new information.  

In conclusion, the solution is simple. Providing learners with the unique combination of short, microlearning video “bursts” and training reinforcement “boosts” will significantly increase learning retention, along with your training ROI.  

Research shows that adding multiple reinforcements to training programs will increase retention from approximately 20% to more than 90%. T&D  

Author Bio  

As the Content Marketing Manager, Erin Boettge is responsible for all aspects of content development at BizLibrary, including development of blogs, eBooks, guides, infographics, webinars and more. She conducts research about Learning and Development and HR topics to deliver the most relevant content to the BizLibrary audience.   

Visit www.bizlibrary.com  

Connect Erin Boettge  

Follow @ErinMBoettge  

Additional Resource  
The Modern Learner: Does Your Training Content Meet Their Needs?  
http://www.bizlibrary.com/article/the-modern-learner-does-your-training-content-meet-their-needs/  

BoosterLearn Platform  
http://www.bizlibrary.com/technology/boosterlearn/