Is Your Training Effective?

Training is used to improve skills and increase competencies in order to drive out variance that reduces performance. Everybody uses some form of training, but the useful question is sharper: is your training effective?

A class, slide deck, or workshop can feel busy and still change very little. Effective training has to move past attendance and into behavior: people understand the material, practice it, receive feedback, and return to a work environment that lets the new skill take root.

What Is Effective Training?

Effective training is a learning process that improves the way people perform a job, follow a procedure, solve a problem, or make a decision. It is not merely the transfer of information from a presenter to a listener. The test is whether the learner can use the information later, with less variance and better performance.

This is why training effectiveness should be judged by application, not by presentation quality alone. A polished lecture can explain the topic, but a useful training program also creates practice, interaction, reinforcement, and a way to review results.

Why Is Lecturing Used To Transfer Information?

The most commonly used method for transferring information in education today is the lecture. But is the lecture method the best at transferring information? The lecture method was established many years ago as a teaching process where the teacher read important passages from a book or text and then explained those passages to the students.

Each student was expected to sit, listen, and take notes. Today the presenter stands in front of a room and reads and explains text from a PowerPoint presentation projected onto a wall or screen. The rest of the room is expected to sit, listen, and take notes. Not much has changed in the last few centuries.

Why Lecturing Fails

Lecturing is a passive, one-way method with little real two-way discussion, maybe some questioning, and virtually no immediate use of the material being presented. That makes it one of the weakest teaching methods when the goal is behavior change. Lecturing requires the listener to fill in the learning gaps created by a lecture oriented presentation.

Lecturing also does not try to obtain any buy-in from the listener. So why do we lecture? Because the presenter probably teaches the same way they were taught as students, lecturing is easier than diagnosing why the student is not learning, and the presenter may know no other way.

Lecturing is all about the presenter and not the student. It is the perfect example of a ballistic process explained in procedure control. Little to no feedback is required in a lecture. The presenter knows the material, so their job is to present. The student does not know the material, so their job is to listen and learn.

If the student does not understand, then the student failed to do their job either listening or learning, and therefore the student is at fault. Fix the student. The student should repeat the material or obtain additional tutoring, which is really rework. Is it any wonder that students dislike lectures?

People Learn By Doing

To answer “is your training effective,” ask yourself if interaction is present. People learn by doing. Nobody learns much by listening or reading only. Would you want your surgeon to operate on you if their only learning experience was lecture? Lecture feeds the mind, ears, and the eyes a little bit, but the surgeon is using their hands.

So how do you train the surgeon’s hands? You train by doing actual operations, preferably in a controlled learning environment that is safe to learn in. The same idea applies to a Beer Game, Lean training exercise, Red Ball Exercise, internal auditor training class, or any process training where the learner has to make decisions instead of merely hearing about them.

What Makes Learning More Effective?

Interaction is the key. Student-to-student interaction, student-to-teacher interaction, and teacher-to-teacher interaction all matter. The more useful the interaction, the better the learning. All three interactions need to occur within an effective learning environment.

Interactions include two-way communication, question and answer, group and team events, demonstrations, case studies, problem-solving activities, games, student presentations, positive feedback, reinforcement, and reviewing results through discussion. To provide a quality education, it is important to focus on three areas: the learner, the learning event, and the work environment.

The Learner

In relation to the learner, consider how each individual might benefit and apply learning by taking into account their ability, personality, and motivation. Ability does not refer only to how intelligent they are. It includes overall background, experience, and skills. Why send an accountant, no matter how intelligent, to an advanced web programming class if they do not understand the jargon or the concepts of an advanced class?

It is important to distinguish, however, that in a learning organization accountants should be allowed to take a web design class, especially as organizations move to paperless systems. The important point is to find a class appropriate to their ability. After all, different people learn differently.

The fact that learners will mostly take their cues from the organizational culture cannot be avoided. Learning plans still center around individuals, and individual considerations such as ability, personality, and motivation are key factors when putting together learning plans.

Student-To-Student Interaction

When students interact with each other, they are forced to use the information, move it into long term memory, and retain it for future use. A room of people is collectively smarter than any one person. We want to harness the collective intelligence of the room and focus it on the task at hand.

A focused room of interacting students is a more powerful training device than a one-way lecture. Discussion also reveals misunderstandings early. If a learner cannot explain the procedure to someone else, they probably cannot apply it under pressure later.

Student-To-Teacher Interaction

The teacher can be a powerful facilitator. The teacher has a lot of information on the topic and can direct students to the most important information faster than the students might find it on their own. But the teacher should use that seat of power to question students, ensure students take notes, form good learning teams, and introduce useful learning exercises.

The idea is to provide less lecture time and more interaction time. Something like 15 minutes of lecture to 45 minutes of exercise is a good ratio. That ratio gives the teacher enough time to frame the idea and gives the learner enough time to use it.

Teacher-To-Teacher Interaction

The teacher is not an island. In order to keep improving, the teacher needs to interact with other teachers, question teacher performance, attend train-the-trainer workshops, and continue to learn how to be a better teacher. Teachers should audit each other teacher’s activities to provide additional feedback.

This is where the trainer’s process should mirror the learner’s process. If the teacher receives no feedback, the class can become another ballistic process. If the teacher reviews results and adjusts the method, the learning system improves over time.

The Learning Event

It is vital to have formal training programs that teach key job skills, organizational processes, procedures that implement best practices, and organization-wide mission and goals. For most internal learning events, attendees should be removed as much as possible from their daily work to avoid interruptions and distractions.

The key is to make the event seem fun, practical, and useful. A simple thing like providing treats can make the event seem livelier. Using diverse media that incorporates music and video can also make events lively, aid learning, and increase training performance.

Training is also an investment in workforce capability. The U.S. Department of Labor’s skills training grant programs treat skills development as a core workforce issue, not a side activity. For a business, that means training should be planned, supported, and measured like other operating investments.

Consider how you can get the most out of external training as well. For example, rate external learning programs in order to understand their effectiveness. Make a survey questionnaire for associates to complete upon their return from external training. Select dimensions that are important for a good training program, then ask several questions about each dimension and attempt to make a quantitative measurement.

After you collect data about different training venues and resources, you will have a better idea of which ones to use and which ones to avoid. Of course, do not turn sour on a training program just because you receive one bad report. Multiple opinions are required to get a clear picture.

The Work Environment

While all three factors are important to consider in getting benefit from training, there is nothing as important as the environment the associate returns to after a learning event. Is there fertile soil that will allow a seed to grow, or will it wither in a dry, hostile atmosphere?

Once again, complex cultural attributes guide the associate. How is learning valued? How much control do employees feel over their work? How much supervisory and peer support do they receive? If the workplace ignores the new skill, even a strong learning event can fade quickly.

Even in organizations where the culture makes training transfer difficult, managers can use specific approaches to improve learning transfer. One way is to conduct pre and post interviews with the learner. Before they attend training, talk to them about expectations and strategies for learning. When they return, talk to them about specific results and what was learned.

Ask what tangible things they feel they can bring to their job as a result. Discuss sharing what they have learned with co-workers through an informal discussion or presentation. As their manager or supervisor, showing that you are interested and willing to apply what they learned is extremely important.

How Do You Know If Training Worked?

Training effectiveness should be evaluated at more than one point. Immediate feedback tells you whether the event was clear and useful. Follow-up observation tells you whether the learner can perform the work. Manager interviews tell you whether the work environment is supporting or blocking the transfer.

The CDC’s training evaluation planning guidance emphasizes evaluation as part of the training design, not an afterthought. That principle fits business training as well. Decide what success should look like before the event, then check whether the learner, the event, and the work environment produced that result.

The key message is that effective training can make a difference in the organization, both directly and indirectly. Having clear and consistent methodologies based on best practices is one way to improve an organization, but a culture of learning and improvement is the key to long term success.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Makes Training Effective?

Training is effective when learners can use the material, receive feedback, and apply the skill in the work environment. Lecturing can transfer information, but interaction and practice are what move the lesson into daily performance.

Why Does Lecturing Often Fail?

Lecturing often fails because it is a passive, one-way method with little feedback or immediate use of the material. The learner is expected to fill in the gaps instead of practicing the skill in a controlled setting.

How Can Managers Improve Training Transfer?

Managers can improve training transfer by setting expectations before the event, following up afterward, and asking employees to show how they will use the learning on the job. Supervisor and peer support make the training more likely to stick.

What Role Does The Work Environment Play In Training?

The work environment determines whether new learning can grow or wither. If employees return to a culture that values learning, gives them control, and supports application, training has a much better chance of producing results.

How Should A Company Evaluate Training?

A company should evaluate training with participant feedback, observation, follow-up interviews, and evidence that the new behavior is being used at work. Multiple opinions and post-training results give a clearer picture than one survey response.