…but you can’t make him drink.
If you consider the amount of money spent on training–average Fortune 1000 is spending about 2.5% of its operating budget on the learning function–(Bersin) and then retention and application percentage…there is a considerable amount wasted. It is estimated that between sixty and ninety percent of job-related skills and knowledge imparted in training programs are not being implemented (Allen, 2008). It has furthermore been estimated that only five to ten percent of expenditures on training actually result in transfer of skills and knowledge (Phillips & Broad, 1997). If you learn something but don’t apply it, how can it have an impact?
Training must be reinforced with application, so there is retention…and then business results. Action plans are commitments to apply learning, and these are most effective when they are not only public but also active and full of effort (Cialdini, 2009). These must pertain to specific behaviors or actions, as this produces a heightened cognitive accessibility which “makes it easier to detect the critical cue in relevant situational contexts and to readily attend to it even if one is busy with other things,” which in essence significantly boosts the effectiveness of goal intentions (Achtziger et al., 2008). Learning without application is worthless.
Do you have an action plan out of your learning program?
