Why traditional training fails
There has been much discussion in training circles about the effectiveness of traditional one or two day classroom training. I am one of those people who believes that this sort of training doesn’t work for a number of very good reasons.
1. People are given and expected to absorb huge quantities of information when we all know that, in reality, it is only possible to absorb two or three messages at any one time
2. Even with a lot of interactive opportunities, it is one thing learning a lesson and then having to take it into the workplace and make the same technique work – as a result the post training enthusiasm soon wanes and the old habits re-establish themselves
3. Once the training has taken place there is no opportunity to re-acquaint the trainee with the lessons learnt.
Behavioural change is most likely to work where a small number of messages are given, where the trainee can then try them out in the workplace and where they can repeatedly review those lessons until they find a way of turning the training into a reality for themselves in the workplace.
The challenge is to find that magic formula.