According to a Harvard Business Review study, only 25% of employees think that training significantly improves performance, and only 12% of workers say they use the new skills they've learned in learning and development programs. Of those, 70% say they don't have the skills necessary to do their jobs.
According to a Harvard Business Review study, 70% of employees claim that they do not master the skills required to perform their jobs, and only 25% believe that training improves performance significantly. Only 12% apply new skills learned in learning and development programs to their jobs.
However, the fact remains that employees must learn on the job to be successful, so what is the best way to improve the situation? The first step toward resolving the issue is determining why it exists in the first place.
How do we learn today at work?
Employee training today typically takes the form of protracted, in-depth seminars, numerous videos, or books that need to be read. The majority of the time, this content is not updated frequently and becomes quickly out of date.
However, how we learn is more similar to information searching. By this model, people will weigh the time required to obtain an answer from a source against the likelihood that the source will provide the answer.
Are your employees likely to look for a video or recording of the training session when they need to remember something they learned in class? Or are they more likely to approach someone directly who can respond to their request quickly?
Employees forget new information easily
The so-called "forgetting curve" is one of the primary causes of the failure of traditional training. German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus conducted memory experiments in the late nineteenth century, and his results provided insight into how quickly the brain lost new information and a picture of how learning diminishes over time.
Most of us can relate to attending a lengthy presentation or LMS course only to discover that we remember less information later because there is a sharp decline in information retention if we don't consolidate what we've learned.
What does this reinforcement look like for a company trying to equip its staff with the knowledge to help them succeed? Research shows that we need to reinforce learning frequently to prevent knowledge loss.
Although it varies from one circumstance to another, there are recurring actions we can take to enhance the learning environment at work. The best time to learn something is when it is relevant and needed because most people prefer to learn by doing. It gets simpler once we can apply the knowledge to a practical situation.
5 steps to improve learning at work
The most important finding from studies on how adults learn is the importance of giving people the right information at the right time, highlighting the importance of learning at the right time.
Just-in-time learning aims to provide helpful information to employees when they need it. Remember that adults prefer to learn by doing, and because we all struggle to focus selectively, we must use it. We must present that information clearly and understandably.
Here are five steps to successful on-the-job learning:
1. Training is timely and relevant
Your staff members want to learn things that will be useful to them. Focus on how the information will help them, how you'll succeed in your job, and why it is worthwhile for their time. Try presenting information in plain content when needed rather than giving new employees information they're unlikely to remember. The easier the information is to comprehend, the better because our attention spans are short.
2. Consider the worth of employees' time
If you consider the employees' hourly earnings and the time they spend in training today, how much will your training sessions cost if the trainees don't benefit from them and don't retain the information? Even worse, if your staff members believe that training wastes their time, they may multitask while taking the course.
Make sure your employees understand the benefits of your training program when planning it, and develop it with specific, quantifiable goals in mind.
3. Engaging employees in the learning process
Are your staff members actively taking part in the training or are they just watching it? For various reasons, involving your staff in the training process improves effectiveness. Respect for one another comes first, followed by the fact that coworkers naturally communicate with one another more freely than senior management or a coach, and finally—and perhaps most importantly—when your employees are involved in the process, they take accountability for the outcomes.
4. Balance between learning and material needs
Your employees must be physically and mentally healthy for your training to be effective. Provide plenty of brain breaks, time to walk or stretch, eat healthy snacks, and encourage everyone to drink water and stay hydrated if you are hosting a rigorous live training session.
5. Build your learning program using a multi-pronged approach
Your employees will always need to improve and reskill their skills for your team to succeed, mainly as your organization works to survive unpredictable waves of change. However, there is no magic formula for learning; the best approach is to develop a learning strategy that is flexible and all-encompassing to benefit the majority of your employees.
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