But we already knew that, right?
Countless studies have proven that in order to realise the full benefit of a business training program, you must not only train, you must not only retrain, but you have to put the knowledge from the training program into practice, and then practice it. Until then, it's just education!
Add another study to years of research: Knowledge Pool's recent white paper, "They Think It's All Over: Why what happens after the training is as important as the training itself".
A few key takeaways:
- Learners must use what they've learned in order to achieve a business benefit
- There is a direct correlation between performance improvement, transfer of learning to the workplace and line manager support for transfer of learning
- Learners who receive line manager support overwhelmingly (like 94%!!) apply what they've learned
Our own experience with the continued practice of business training programs is similar and best reinforced by Terry Smith, Founder and Managing Director of Exclusive Tyre Distributors:
"We have used training programs from Fortune in the areas of Leadership and Sales. The critical difference with Fortune is its unique, inhouse approach to training. While it has been highly cost effective, our managers find it very easy to implement and support the training ourselves, and we always follow it up on the job. This helps everyone on the team better understand how their job contributes to serving customers and growing our business."
Although the premise is nothing new – we've been preaching and practicing it for years! – the facts and figures cited from this research make it a very worthwhile read. Let's hope businesses take it to heart.