I am sure you have heard the phrase “use it or lose it”, but have you ever experienced it yourself? Have you ever learned a new skill you now struggle to recall? Did you spend time and effort learning a new dance routine, a martial art, or mastering a video game, for example?
The need to replace skills is a part of life, but the principle is doubly important when investing in your people. Skills development does not stop at the end of a class. This is when it starts. Ensuring your learners can consolidate and sustain new learning is essential, but without a process and a plan, you leave money on the table.
We are all busy and face an ever-increasing number of distractions. Adults generally have little time to dedicate to learning. However, if they do not apply new skills and knowledge immediately they forget it.
The German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus is famous for the concept of the “forgetting curve”. He found that without any reinforcement or practice, individuals will typically forget half of what they learned within a day or two and a significant portion of what they learned within a week. The curve shows that the rate of forgetting is steepest in the first few hours after learning.
More worryingly, A survey by the e-learning company 24X7 Learning revealed that only 12% of learners apply new skills from training on their job. This may be due to poorly thought-out training content and experiences in the first place, but more often, it is due to a lack of planning to turn training investments into action. People and organisations are missing an opportunity to identify exactly what they need to develop next to make themselves more successful.
We have to start by being learner-centric. Too often people who get sent to a class are usually relieved at the end of it. They may think, “OK, learning completed, back to work”, or worse, “I don’t have the time, inclination or opportunities to use this learning now.”
Organisations, leaders and learning leaders must provide deeply contextualised learning and opportunities to apply it as small steps and quick wins. They must also ensure that learners reflect, help each other, and share insights to sustain new behaviours and skills.
An effective way to do this is to help them identify the faces and places where they will try and what will help them succeed. This will help individual learners immediately move their learning into their current context, and empower them to identify opportunities and actions that will lead to sustainment.
Additionally, remember that choice and size matter. Not everything is equally important to learners. They must decide the priority of what to use. The application also relies on confidence and motivation, so focus learners on small steps and quick wins to sustain momentum.
If learners see the challenges as too big or hard, they will not try. If they are juggling too many concepts and tools, making things actionable and small enough to try (not life or death) will make learners feel good, and do more. Getting it right requires learners to:
- Know what they are supposed to do and who with whom.
- Understand the most important things that will help them be successful on the job or in life.
- Choose where they will try.
- Walk out of a classroom knowing how they will sustain the new skills/behaviours.
So, before you organise your next learning experience, consider how you can do the following:
Identify practice opportunities. Self-selected real-life opportunities are best, but simulations, case studies, and role-playing exercises to practice in a safe environment also work. If they cannot find an immediate opportunity before the class, set them a stretch assignment or project to apply their learning.
Communicate expectations up front. Make application (based on clarity and buy-in) a clear expectation. Establishing these three elements ensures you are not wasting time and money. The clearer the expectation, the better they will understand the importance of applying what they have learned.
Follow up. If learners feel they are not being watched and supported they will be less likely to apply. Ensure they get useful feedback to support them in consolidating and using their learning. This can come from peer learners. Feedback improves performance and confidence.
Insist on reflection. Everybody is busy but real learning comes from examining what and how we do new things. Reflections do not need to be an embarrassing public ordeal but find a way to check their growing awareness and insights.
Celebrate. Recognise success and efforts. Celebrations do not need to be extreme, but positive reinforcement is important. Holding periodic celebrations among the learner group is particularly effective.
Getting it right requires a plan and a process. You need to create the above combination to get the most out of your learning programmes.
Arinya Talerngsri is Chief Capability Officer, Managing Director and Founder at SEAC — Southeast Asia’s Lifelong Learning Centre. She is fascinated by the challenge of transforming education for all to create better prospects for Thais and people everywhere. Reach her email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa
