Certified Professional Facilitator

There are many reasons why new learning from training courses does not get implemented. They can be divided into three key areas of where the blockage occurs:
•    With the learner
•    With the manager of the learner
•    With the organisation

For each of these there are many things that can be done to support the embedding of learning. Here are just a few:

Techniques for the learner

1.    Keep a journal of your thoughts and ideas: By reflecting you are more likely to remember concepts and use them.
2.    Review course material regularly: By rereading through the material occasionally you will remember key ideas and points from the course.
3.    Research a topic: Pick different topics from the course and research them more by reading websites, books and internal online resources. Make a mind map of the
4.    Set goals and review them: set yourself goals to implement ideas and the tools from the course and review their use periodically. Use Six hats and thinking tools to carry out the review.
5.    Buddy up with another participant: take time to lunch or have a coffee break together to discuss issues and peer coach each other. Twice a month would be perfect.

Techniques for the Manager / Team Leader

1.    Show and tell sessions: At team meetings get participants to do a show and tell session of 15 to 20 minutes around a topic from the course.
2.    Create follow up meetings: Take time out to review the use of course materials in day to day work. Understand what is being used and the impact it is having.
3.    Set special projects: Ask participants to focus and investigate a specific business issue and suggest some key actions to take. Then delegate to them the activities to make the changes happen.
4.    Teach others: Ask participants to teach some of the core concepts and ideas to their team or other teams under you control. Create some free time so that they can do this well.
5.    Reinforce the performance management process: Make the course and the learning from it a formal part of the performance and development cycle.

Techniques for the organisation

1.    Create time to review: Budget time and a room to allow participants to get together to review the course content and how they are using the material to impact the day to day operations of the business.
2.    Formalise learning review: Ensure that all participants have a formal course learning review meeting with their manager shortly after a course.
3.    Don’t overload participants: Don’t pile on too much work just after participants finish a course as they need time to reflect and implement ideas.
4.    Reinforce a learning culture: Think about different ways you can reinforce the need to learn and develop organisational competence in the business.
5.    Search for success: Ask participants for success stories from the implementation of ideas from their courses. Post these publically and use in internal newsletters.