In a market stuffed with expensive and ineffective training, it’s not surprising so many business leaders are left sceptical and keen to save those valuable training dollars.
After decades operating in this space, we’ve learned a thing or two about how to make your training investment work harder, so you’ll see real impact.
Here are seven of the best:
1. Weigh (hidden) costs and benefits
There’s no way around it; some training is more expensive than others. But sometimes that extra spend is justified.
If you’re looking to tick a box, there are plenty of bargain training packages available. But if you’re after sustained change and an improved bottom line, it pays to weigh up costs and benefits. Including the less obvious ones.
As an example, getting people back or into work sooner has financial impacts you can measure. And satisfying customer service KPIs helps you secure your contract. That’s money you can’t afford to leave on the table, so be sure to weigh it up against the cost of the training proposed.
Our clients routinely report that the outcomes they’ve achieved for a single case meant our training paid for itself overnight.
2. Leaders first
When introducing something new, it’s vital leaders are engaged.
If a leader is ‘too busy’ or ‘already knows it,’ this sends a clear signal to the team. They won’t view the training as important, and your training dollar is wasted.
We recommend a leaders first approach. Get them in the training room and recruit them as champions of implementation. Give them the tools to reinforce the training over time. It’s how adults learn.
3. Know when to bring in the experts
Going with internal trainers or online options feels easy. But bespoke, expert-led training designed to addresses the specific issues your company faces is always money well spent – and sometimes the only way to get the results you’re after.
From our experience delivering evidence-informed training (drawing from medicine, social and positive psychology, behavioural science and nudge theory), science-based course content has so much more impact coming from an expert. Especially when delivered face-to-face.
4. Set a solid foundation, then build
Building know-how is like building muscle; it takes sustained bursts of concentrated effort, repetition and daily application to make it stick.
That means it’s important to start with a solid foundation. The science of learning confirms we can only learn so much before reaching information overload. And retention is impacted by relevance, context, difficulty, stress levels and repetition.
Invest wisely by ensuring these ideas are considered in training design. Practical tools and case studies bring learning to life.
5. Apply immediately
The science of learning suggests that in 24 hours, 67% of training is forgotten. Interrupting this with immediate use helps provide practical tools that build capability AND the confidence to apply them.
Feedback from our own clients has confirmed this. We consistently hear that the methods we’ve taught have been used that same day, reducing that forgetting curve and increasing the value of our clients’ training dollar.
6. Knowledge into know-how
Without reinforcement and application, most learners retain only 10% of information after 60 days.
This makes booster training and coaching essential; bite-sized chunks of information delivered during in-team discussions strengthens learning and maximises the return and benefit of your training dollar.
This reinforcement of knowledge through putting skills to work in the real world can be supported by your business leaders but bringing in experts to offer real-time guidance on tough scenarios can really boost results.
Research suggests that follow-up coaching has the potential to create outcomes almost six times better than training programs alone. That’s why we recommend continuous learning, offering options that suit a team’s unique needs and learning styles, including:
- On-site foundation training
- Microlearning
- Coaching
- Team leader in-team packs
7. Make it a great experience
Too much training is dull, dry theory that’s hard to chew. Adults learn best when they’re having fun; it helps them feel confident and comfortable enough in their learning environment to give things a go. Training that stands out from the crowd is also more memorable, supporting retention.
By combining delivery methods and encouraging the team to put their new skills to work right away, training quickly becomes the “that’s how we do things around here,” turning knowledge into know-how.
We’re serious about helping our clients get results. So while our courses draw from our collective expertise in medicine, social and positive psychology, behavioural science and nudge theory, we won’t bamboozle you with science.
MOMENTA HQ makes learning fun, easy and engaging with clear, conversational language so it’s easy to grasp and share.
