Does Your Team Forget What They Learned in Training? Know Why the Training is Not as Effective!

Have you been a part of a training session recently? Something about the fancy techniques to be better at delegation or team management. They look so interesting while we are learning about them, right?

But how much of that information could you apply to your daily life as a manager? I'm guessing not too much! And you probably don't remember half of the things you learned in training. Well, forgetting knowledge is a common thing, which Herman Ebbinghaus first explained around 100 years ago. We often speak about remembering things, but today, I'll take you through the forgetting curve to know how quickly we forget and what can be done to enhance your and your team's retention abilities.

Remember how you forgot you had an exam or skipped studying for the exam until it was T-1 day? D day is approaching, and you start to read and cram all that is humanly possible for you. You prepare as much as possible, take the exam, and get a decent result. Many of us would have done this at least once, the frenzy study session one day before the exam, to get a good score. But were you able to retain that information? Did you forget it after a few days or right after the exam?

For the initial time after the training, the learning seems to be there and working in full force. But after some time, its impact starts to lessen. And we end up exactly where we began, with our old patterns and habits. This can happen with the best of the training programs and the best of the talent. Well, Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve explains precisely how this happens.

Ebbinghaus's forgetting curve is the genius of the German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus. He was the first person to study memory in 1885 when he gave us a graphical representation of the forgetting process. Through experiments, he found that we start to forget new information the day we learn it. And within the first 2 days, it's almost 75% gone.

Well, why do we even need to learn about this? We must focus on learning with the best material, experts, and training. However, it is equally essential to focus on retaining the knowledge gained. Learning new things might not be a problem for many, but retaining that for a long time and implementing it is a problem that is very common in workplaces. That's why I'm focusing on understanding why we forget many things so that we can work on it.

The first task of understanding the "why" is done; let's move to the "how" part now! You know how easily you might forget the knowledge you gain, so you'll automatically think about how to prevent it as much as possible. And this becomes even more important when you are responsible for a whole team as a manager. Well, here are some tips that would be helpful for you:

• Make the training relevant to your team- Making the learning meaningful by connecting and building upon previous knowledge helps connect to new information quickly and retain it for a long time. A manager can ensure that the training module for their teams is relevant to their everyday tasks and areas of interest.
• Focus on the type of content- It's no news that how we present information directly impacts how well others understand and remember it. It is essential to use simple yet engaging content. For example, IT is more about practical application; theory training won't be as effective as audio-visual aids, challenges, quizzes, and team activities. Also, storytelling is another very engaging way to help others stay connected to the learning.
• Have a quick recap- Remember your school teacher asking you to go home and revise what you learned during the day? And you didn't bother about that. Guess who was right? The acquired knowledge is fresh in the beginning, right after the training. It starts to decrease almost instantly after that, so we need to give our brain a quick recap then and there and store it firmly in short-term memory.
• Repetition- This is one of the techniques mentioned by Herman Ebbinghaus himself. And we just spoke about repeating the learning with a quick recap. But this is like the next step to it. There needs to be more than the initial overview. We need to also work on storing the knowledge in our long-term memory. Repetition of learning after certain intervals will help us retain and use that knowledge for a long time. Each time you revisit and relearn, you can remember more information for extended periods.
• Define the clear outcome of training- A leader's task is to define the outcomes for their teams. The same goes for training as well. As a manager, define and communicate the expected outcomes from the training. This will help your team members know how and where to use the new learning. This makes it easier for them to work with new information and retain it longer.

**Another bonus tip for all leaders:**Training should not be a one-time thing or something only the external expert must take care of. Take ownership and responsibility for ensuring that your team uses and practices the new knowledge after completing the training.

If you follow these steps, will you always remember everything? The answer is No; you will still forget it, but the rate at which you forget will be much slower, and you will be able to help yourself and your team make the most of the training given. I believe that training begins when we finish a course. Then, we start implementing it and reinforcing it into our memories. This is where the role of a manager or leader becomes essential in learning. So, the next time you train, focus on retaining the knowledge instead of just going through the course as a formality and see the changes it can bring to your teams.