The Two Questions about Training that Really Matter
Training is an important part of Human Capital strategy, and can be used to bring new workers up-to-speed, improve performance, prepare employees for advancement, or enhance leadership effectiveness. Whether the training delivers on its promise, however, depends on how employees answer two critical questions once they are back on the job: “Can I use what I just learned?” and “Will I?”
Unless the employee answers, “Yes, I can!” and “Yes, I will!” then the training will not have added additional value to the organization’s human capital; it will be just that much more “learning scrap.”
Every employee—consciously or subconsciously—decides those two questions at the “moment of truth.” The moment of truth occurs when, back on the job after training, an employee has to decide how to perform a task. Employees have two choices: to perform in the new way they just learned in training, or to keep doing things the “old way” they did prior to training.
The problem is that the “old way” is a lot easier. It has the force of habit behind it. The “new way” (the approach the employee just learned in training) is going to take a lot more effort to make it a part of the routine. Even though it may ultimately be more effective, initially the employee won’t be as familiar with it. It may take longer to do the process and there is a higher probability of error. So, other things being equal, there is always the risk that the employee will slide right back into old habits and the training won’t have much of an effect on performance.
For employees to answer “Yes, I can!” several things need to be true:
- The training needs to actually teach them how, not just the theory behind a new process.
- Employees need to be confident enough to try. This means the training must include sufficient time for practice with feedback, something most corporate training lacks.
- Employees need to be given job aids or other forms of performance support to help ensure success in their first few attempts.
- They have to have the opportunity, which means their manager needs to allow them to try.
Even if these conditions are true—and employees answer the “Can I?” question affirmatively—the training still won’t produce value unless they also answer “Yes I will!” The latter is a matter of motivation and it is effected as much by the post-training environment as by the training itself.
For employees to answer, “Yes I will!” the following are required:
- They are convinced that the new way they learned will produce better results.
- Their immediate manager encourages—ideally, requires—them to use the methods they were taught.
- Their efforts to implement a new process are recognized and rewarded.
Bottom Line: Training adds value to human capital only when it is used and applied on the job. For that to occur, employees must answer “yes” to both the “Can I?” and “Will I?” questions at the “moment of truth” when they are about to perform a job function. Since the “Will I?” question, in particular, depends on the employee’s work environment, training can’t stop at the classroom (or e-learning) door. HR and training professionals must learn to positively impact the post-training environment.
Roy Pollock is a popular author, speaker, consultant, and business executive with more than 20 years’ experience helping organizations create competitive advantage through learning. He is Chief Learning Officer of The 6Ds Companywhich offers training and consulting services to organizations worldwide on how to increase the return on their investments in training and development. Roy is the co-author of The The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning: How to Turn Training and Development into Business Results. A webcast of Dr. Pollock discussing the two critical questions is available online.