Creating Corporate Training that Actually Works!

Tips from Top Corporate Training Company 

Companies need to do more than simply provide employee training.

Did you know up to 90% of corporate training is forgotten in the first week of the training event. 

Even worse, 50% of that gone in the first hour following the training?The goal of effecting employee training part the information employees need to improve job performance and productivity in their roles.

Great, well what happens if the organization thinks that this is happening but outdated training material, unengaging learning experiences and lack luster training events result in actually reducing performance, productivity and employee retention instead?

Sadly, this is not a far-fetched concept, with many organizations losing millions in a year to poor corporate training and development.

The main reason that poor employee development ends up hurting a company is due to the forgetting curve which looks at how much one learns and stays with them over time. 

Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve

The Forgetting Curve, developed by Hermann Ebbinghaus in 1885 based on experiments with his own memory, suggests that as soon as a learning event is completed, participants will start forgetting the material. The decline in memory is sharp immediately after the event and continues over time.

After one hour, people retain less than half of the information presented. After one day, they forget more than 70%, and after six days 75% of the information in the training.

Some of the factors that influence the Forgetting Curve include:

High Cost of Forgetting

According to Training Magazine’s 2017 Training Industry Report, the total 2017 U.S. training expenditures rose significantly, increasing 32.5% to $90.6 billion.  

That is a large amount of money to spend when learners are not retaining material, meaning that training events are not meeting the knowledge and skill gaps or business objectives they were designed to address.

So how do you minimize the Forgetting Curve and improve the return on your corporate training investment?

(Download 4 Ways to Curb the Forgetting Curve and start building out training that sticks.)

Before trying to figure out how to combat the forgetting curve, consider five common factors that influence learner retention and memory.

Planning a strong training program is only step one. Making it stick is the true challenge for Learning Leaders and something organizations continue to struggle with.  

Strategy is a key component to creating a true custom training solution and this can be done with a training needs assessment conducted either by an internal or contract Instructional Designer. 

This is another pausing point for Learning Leaders as they decide if they have the expertise in house and second if this internal resource of team of Instructional Designers have the time to complete the training project effectively. If not, then looking to an external contract Instructional Design company may be the best option. Looking to also work with a corporate training company that can take the project from start to finish may also be the optimal approach.

With the right expert in place, you can then move towards the training needs assessment.

(Download your free Training Needs Assessment checklist.)

This document forces you look deep into your corporate learning initiative and to work to answer all areas of the project. The final document if done correctly will provide clear cut information on whom the training is intended for, what are the real skills that need improving and what material will help fill this gap, what modality will this training be delivered in, and what are your measurable goals and results? 

Once your training program has been designed, you’ll need to look to a strong developer that can work with your instructional designer to ensure that their vision is captured. Again, if the internal team cannot support this need then a good way to help move the project along and meet deadlines is to look to a contract eLearning developer or a corporate learning solutions company if that’s the route your training is taking.  

While strategy, design and development may be something that internal teams may be able to support, the best material you can possibly create becomes useless if not delivered correctly bringing us back to the forgetting curve.

Ensuring that your delivery is relatable, engaging and relevant to your learners is critical to reducing the forgetting.

The person or people that will help you to do this are your corporate trainers. Whether you choose to go with in-class training or vILT your training event will impact your outcomes 100%.

Finding a trainer that understands your target learner audience is important and not always easy depending on the content that is being delivered. Finding the perfect match however, can take your training program to a whole new level!

Once again, the choice to use an internal trainer or to look to a contract trainer is always open. Using team members from other departments to do the training (i.e. IT for a new software training program or Marketing to talk through social media best practices) should be done so with caution. Although they may have all the knowledge necessary, they may not have the skills that a professional corporate trainer will have to deliver that training in the best way possible.

Introducing effective corporate training programs is not an easy feat and far from a black and white situation. Instead, organizations really need to consider all aspects involved from planning to execution and spend the time and money along the way keeping in mind that cutting corners along the way could end up taking a lot more off the bottom line.