You send people to training. They go but nothing changes. This is acted out thousands of times every day all over the world. Billions of dollars are spent to train people but lasting behavior change rarely results. Why?
Training only addresses two of the three areas needed to create change. First – knowledge. Training can teach people concepts, absolutely. Second – skill. In a training situation, people can be shown how to do something and given the opportunity to practice. Great. Why don’t the newly learned skills stick? Well, they do if upon return to the normal work environment, there are rewards for the new behavior. Even better results occur when the new behaviors create an internal sense of reward. Which is harder? You guessed it, the second. Which is more valuable? Which requires more from the boss? Right again – Option Two.
If you manage people you need to understand that trainers can work on knowledge and skills but the boss needs to have an understanding of their people to spark the motivation that leads to lasting change.
If you want to educate people you must do more than send them to training. You must be a teacher.
