I often hear clients lament that despite sending employees for numerous training programs, when they come back to the organization nothing changes (for long) in the area they were trained in.

# 1 – Ensure that they apply the new knowledge right away.
Make it a pre-requisite that after acquiring a new body of knowledge, the employee has to apply the knowledge in some form in his/her daily work.

# 2 – Engage employees in the training decision-making process.
When planning the training calendar, ensure that employees are giving ample opportunity to express the areas of professional and personal development that they are interested in. People are more inclined to absorb and apply new knowledge if they are interested in it.

# 3 – Follow-up on your training
Training is an on-going process that happens everywhere and not only in the classroom. The chances of new knowledge being absorbed into practice is greatly increased if there are follow-ups to the training. They can be in the form of tracking projects or mini-sessions on different aspects of the training involved.

# 4 – Teach what they have learned
Empower employees to teach others what they have learned in the training they attended. This can be carried out through in-house training for other employees in his/her department or creating a webinar/video which then can be used as a resource.

# 5 – Keep it short and simple
Attention spans are limited so ensure that employees attend training programs that are short and straight to the point. This makes it easier for them to understand the material.

– Davidson