Maximise your Training ROI

We humans can be lazy at times. We let projects slip and make unfulfilled promises. We get easily distracted, come up against obstacles and always manage to find more interesting things to do, rather than what we should be and have committed to doing, even though these things will take us toward our goals.

So, in order to reach one of your goals, you have recognised a need for training. You have found the right course, but how will you ensure that the learning from the course will be sustained? Many delegates will return back to the workplace, be thrown back into the routine and pressures of office life with the usual practices that they know and are comfortable with.

Train and retain: ensure you implement your knowledge

The right training will unlock a person’s potential, and can offer an avenue for development that will benefit not just them, but the company as well in terms of increased productivity and more efficient methodologies. But the information learnt during the training period is only half the story. Without follow-up, delegates only retain 20% of what they learned on the course if it is not reinforced and implemented soon after.

As a manager, to get the most out of training, ensure that learning objectives are agreed before the course, and follow up with reviews to check on progress.

Ensure you get the most of training:
• Firstly note that you are to follow-up not check-up. Follow-up requires an ongoing relationship, supporting the delegate with their success in mind. Checking-up implies a lack of trust and often results in losing sight of the objective.

• Help the delegate to devise a plan of action on how the learning will be implemented, being sure to have an overall objective or goal.

• Be responsible for holding others accountable. If they are not fulfilling their promises then it is your job to find out why and what might be holding them back.

• Make sure that the follow-up is consistent and on time. A regular appointment should be made and stuck to.

With this before-and-after learning plan in place, you’ll be able to maximise your investment by helping the delegate to retain – and most importantly implement – the knowledge they have gained.

Written by Yvonne Bleakley
Learning Consultant, Capita Learning & Development