How can you reinforce employee training retention?

Employee training is a valuable investment for any organization, but it can be wasted if employees forget what they learned or fail to apply it on the job. How can you reinforce employee training retention and ensure that your staff benefit from the knowledge and skills you provide? Here are some tips to help you design and deliver effective training that sticks.

1 Use spaced repetition

One of the most proven ways to boost memory and retention is to use spaced repetition, which means reviewing the same material at increasing intervals over time. Spaced repetition helps learners consolidate and recall information by strengthening neural connections in the brain. You can use spaced repetition in your training by creating quizzes, flashcards, or summaries that cover the key points of each session and asking employees to complete them at regular intervals, such as a day, a week, a month, and so on.

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2 Provide feedback and coaching

Another way to reinforce employee training retention is to provide feedback and coaching throughout and after the training process. Feedback and coaching help learners identify their strengths and weaknesses, correct their mistakes, and improve their performance. You can provide feedback and coaching in your training by using various methods, such as observation, self-assessment, peer review, or mentorship. You can also use online tools, such as surveys, chatbots, or gamification, to collect and deliver feedback and coaching in a timely and engaging manner.

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3 Encourage practice and application

A third way to reinforce employee training retention is to encourage practice and application of the learned skills and knowledge. Practice and application help learners transfer what they learned from the training environment to the real-world context, where they can solve problems, make decisions, and achieve goals. You can encourage practice and application in your training by using realistic scenarios, case studies, simulations, or role-plays that mimic the situations and challenges employees face on the job. You can also provide opportunities for employees to apply their learning in their daily tasks, projects, or assignments, and monitor their progress and results.

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Timothy Poppleton

Technical Author, Project/ Change/ Infrastructure Management, PMO
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Agreed. This is by far the best way to promote retention (and development) of knowledge. It is well known that knowledge obtained from external training courses, for example, diminishes on completion of the training sessions, if not put to use. Additionally, if the training was not aligned with the organisations ways of working, etc. then the trainees are less likely to use their training effectively, so increasing the loss of identified benefits of the original training. So, any staff undergoing training should be allowed to put that training to effective use, at the earliest opportunity. Whilst they are aligning any aspects to the training to their organisations policies and procedures.

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4 Create a learning culture

A fourth way to reinforce employee training retention is to create a learning culture in your organization, where employees are motivated and supported to learn continuously and share their insights and experiences with others. A learning culture helps learners sustain and expand their learning beyond the formal training sessions, and fosters collaboration, innovation, and growth. You can create a learning culture in your organization by setting clear learning goals and expectations, rewarding and recognizing learning achievements, providing access to diverse and relevant learning resources, and facilitating social and informal learning activities, such as communities of practice, webinars, podcasts, or blogs.

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Timothy Poppleton

Technical Author, Project/ Change/ Infrastructure Management, PMO
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True, it is highly beneficial to support staff in their training requirements by supporting a learning culture. If you do not have a learning culture then you will be potentially reliant on utilising external training material, which, my not align with your organisations 'way(s) of working', etc., This in turn may increase challenges, knowledge gaps, conflicts in the ways of working, etc.

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5 Evaluate and improve

A fifth way to reinforce employee training retention is to evaluate and improve your training design and delivery based on the feedback and data you collect from the learners and the business outcomes. Evaluation and improvement help you measure the effectiveness and impact of your training, identify the gaps and areas for improvement, and make adjustments and enhancements accordingly. You can evaluate and improve your training by using various methods, such as tests, surveys, interviews, focus groups, or analytics, and applying the Kirkpatrick model, which consists of four levels of evaluation: reaction, learning, behavior, and results.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Timothy Poppleton

Technical Author, Project/ Change/ Infrastructure Management, PMO
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Training is an on-going requirement for virtually any job. So staff should be supported to increase their knowledge and to share that knowledge, wherever possible/ appropriate. Training requirements will vary over time. As a result any training model adopted by an organisation needs to accommodate these changing training requirements. Obtaining input from staff on their training requirements and related considerations, can be of significant help to an organisation. Expecting staff to do their own training, e.g. out of hours and not recognising those training efforts can result is staff dissatisfaction. Which, in turn can have knock on effects and can lead to potentially expensive ramifications for an organisation.

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How can you reinforce employee training retention?

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1 Use spaced repetition

2 Provide feedback and coaching

3 Encourage practice and application

4 Create a learning culture

5 Evaluate and improve

6 Here’s what else to consider

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