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March 2005 |
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Spend More Time Before and After Training to Increase Application Back on the Job
How do you make sure that you are getting the most out of your training investments? This issue of Ignite! focuses on what you can do before and after training to maximize application and impact in your organization.
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 | Before You Begin: Set the Context for the Training
By setting the context correctly, you can significantly increase the retention and application of concepts and skills back on the job. This occurs because people approach learning differently when they know that what they are learning will help them succeed when they get back to their jobs after class has ended.
For example, imagine that you work in a call center and that you have been asked to attend a communication skills class on the importance of asking open-ended questions. You may have some interest in the class depending on how relevant you feel it might be to your success in your job. Now, imagine the increase in your interest level if, before going into that same class, you know that using open-ended questions had been identified by senior management as the key skill to reduce rework on orders and to improve customer service scores in your department. For most of us, seeing this link between training and the business goals that are being measured greatly increases the relevancy of the training and subsequently, the amount of information we learn and how much we apply back on the job.
Use Impact Maps
To set the context for your next training initiative, we recommend that you use Impact Maps. In their simplest forms, Impact Maps are a way to visually connect training to business results in a spreadsheet format (see below).
| Job Role |
The job role being mapped is entered here |
Example:
Call Center Representative |
| Strategic Competencies |
The key skills and knowledge to be learned |
Example:
Ask open-ended questions |
| Critical Action |
How the skills will be used back on the job |
Example:
Use open-ended questions to more quickly and accurately categorize customer orders. |
| Key Results |
How the skills will impact unit goals |
Example:
Reduce rework on orders by 20% and increase number of customers served by 10% |
| Unit Business Goals |
The goals of the unit where the person works (e.g., sales, finance, HR, manufacturing) |
Example:
Reduce costs and improve overall productivity by 15% |
| Strategic Goals |
The organization's top goals for the next 6 to 18 months |
Example:
Be the lowest cost provider of choice in our market |
Used correctly, Impact Maps create relevancy for learners by letting them see how what they are learning in class can help them on the job once class is over.
Does it work? Yes! Here's an example from a client's recent initiative. An international materials handling equipment maker had two groups of 25 managers participate in a Situational Leadership® II training program. One group used Impact Maps to create a clear connection from the training to each participant's job, while the other group did not. The differences in how each group assessed the training later were striking. The group that used Impact Maps rated the training as three to four times more successful in helping them apply the training to critical business issues back on the job than the group that did not use Impact Maps (see below).
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Survey Question |
With Impact Maps |
Without Impact Maps |
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"To what degree have you applied the learning from the course on a critical business issue?" |
84% rated High or Very High degree of application
(21 out of 25) |
24% rated High or Very High degree of application
(6 out of 25) |
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"How significant have the changes been in the results/responses/actions of those you lead when you used the learning from the course?" |
76% rated Significant or Very Significant changes
(19 out of 25) |
16% rated Significant or Very Significant changes
(4 out of 25) |
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"Overall, how would you rate the impact this course has had on your ability to lead others in the production of critical business results?" |
80% rated High or Very High degree of impact
(20 out of 25) |
12% rated High or Very High degree of impact
(3 out of 25) | | |
| After Training: Applying New Skills and Behaviors
Just as important as developing solid strategies before training, good post-training strategies make sure that there is a support plan in place for using and applying the learning after class is over. The best companies are the ones that expend ten times the amount of effort reinforcing the classes they deliver as they did conducting them. Rather than looking for the next great management concept, they make sure that existing training is sustained and supported. There are three ways that you can reinforce your next training initiative.
Using a Success Anecdote Approach
If you are pressed for both time and resources, use a Success Anecdote approach to follow-up training. It requires virtually no financial investment and only minimal investment of a sponsor's or a training manager's time. With this method you identify the highest-level sponsor you have for your training initiative among the senior management ranks of your company. Then you ask this sponsor to help you with three tasks:
- Send an e-mail to all class participants within one week after the class.
- Select one person at random each week to share a success story with the sponsor and all the other participants.
- Recognize and reward those sharing examples of the best application of new skills.
This three-step system works because it creates accountability for on-the-job application of the new skills as participants think about what they will say when it is their turn. A great side benefit is that it also provides an opportunity for participants to learn from each other and discover how others have applied the learning.
 Using an Online Reinforcement System
For larger initiatives that require an automated approach, use an online system to keep track of people's progress. At The Ken Blanchard Companies® we have a system called the 5-Minute Follow-Through. With this system, the facilitator reserves the last hour or two of the training class to have participants complete a goal sheet. Each learner sets two or three goals for new behaviors to use or new ways of acting on the job. Then they project what impact meeting those goals will have on their job and on the organization. Every two weeks the participants receive an email to remind them of the goals they have set along with instructions to go to their personalized 5-Minute Follow-Through web site to update their progress.
Once there, learners are asked to do three things:
- Update their goals
- Indicate the extent of their progress towards achieving their goals
- Identify the next action they plan to take
While participants are the only ones who can update their personal goals and progress, the actual goals and progress are visible to everyone who attended the same class. This provides a tremendous incentive for participants to stay committed to applying their learning back on the job--they know that others will be able to see the progress that they are making and will compare it to their own. In addition to holding each other accountable to act on their good intentions, this "Shared Reports" aspect of the online tool provides participants with examples of the ways that others are tackling similar objectives.
 Coaching to Follow-up Training
The most powerful way to support your training investment is to provide coaching as your primary follow-up strategy. Research has shown that coaching improves application back on the job from 20-80%. In addition to providing an accountability component, coaching helps people diagnose, prioritize, and plan a course of action. The Blanchard Coaching Services Team recommends three sessions over a six-week period to help participants turn what they have learned in the classroom into practice in the workplace. In these three sessions coaches work together with participants to keep the learning top-of-mind and provide a time where people can think seriously about how they will implement the learning. Most importantly, coaches help participants to take their first steps toward implementation.
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| Support Your Training with Best Practice Retention Strategies
Organizations looking to maximize their return on training investments must make sure that new concepts learned in the classroom turn into new skills and behaviors in the workplace. By correctly setting the context for training through the use of Impact Maps, companies create the clear connection between training and success on the job. This connection sets up an environment where participants are more motivated to learn in the classroom and to apply what they have learned back on the job. Good follow-up strategies that provide support, reinforcement, and mutual accountability will help keep people on track and committed to their desire to improve. | |
 | Would You Like to Learn More about Tools and Techniques for Making Training Stick?
Join Blanchard® Consulting Partner Vicki Halsey, PhD, for a free, complimentary webinar on tools and techniques that will help you bridge the gap between learning and doing in your organization.
Tools and Techniques that Guarantee Sustainability
Wednesday, March 16, 2005
9:00 - 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time (12 Noon - 1:00 p.m. Eastern)
In this session, Dr. Vicki Halsey will focus on changing behavior through sustainability. Learning-doing organizations know that, for training to be sustained successfully over time, specific processes must be in place to reinforce what has been learned. Discover for yourself the latest sustainability tools and strategies and see how coaching, impact mapping, and performance planning can create dramatic results that will significantly improve your training initiative.
Register for this event today!
(Event is Complete) | |
| Creating the Learning-Doing Organisation
This 18 May 2005, join us for an exclusive United Kingdom event at Sopwell House, formerly the Georgian country home of Lord Mountbatten.
In this unique setting, Ken Blanchard, Scott Blanchard, and Linda Miller will be addressing the crucial issue of how to ensure skills learned in training are applied in the workplace. Helping people move from learning to doing is one of the most important roles training can play in an organisation. The journey from learning to doing requires a combination of top management support, learning that is tied to organisational objectives, and systematic reinforcement and follow-up that drives sustainability and impact. This event will show you how you can transform your organisation and what role you can play in making it happen.
(Event is Complete) | |
 | Sign up for a Workshop or Training for Trainers!
The Ken Blanchard Companies® offers Public Workshops and Training for Trainers (T4T) sessions in leadership, relationship and team building, customer service, and the empowerment process. Our workshops provide the opportunity to learn critical skills to meet the many challenges of today's working environments. Our Training for Trainers sessions give prospective trainers the knowledge and tools needed to roll out a program into their organizations.
Public Workshops Coming Up!
Whale Done! ® The Power of Positive Relationships, March 15-16 in San Diego, CA June 13-14 in Orlando, FL
Building High Performing Teams®, March 29-31 in San Diego, CA
Gung Ho!, April 11-12 in San Diego, CA
Situational Leadership® II, March 21-22 in Shanghai, China, April 11-12 in Toronto, Canada, April 18-19 in San Diego, CA June 20-21 in San Diego, CA
The Magic of Situational Self Leadership, April 4-5 in San Diego, CA
Situational Frontline Leadership, May 23-25 in Chicago, IL
Coaching Essentials for Leaders, June 27 in San Diego, CA
DiSCovering Self and Others, June 23 in San Diego, CA
We also offer Training for Trainers (T4T) sessions for most of the programs listed above. Learn more about our training for trainers!
Learn more about our public workshops! | |
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