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[Free eBook] 6 reasons your training isn’t effective

Here at Stellar Labs we’re all about designing and delivering effective training that drives behavioural change. To do that, we believe you need to blend evidence-based learning with neuroscience, practical ideas and creativity.

Blog Posts
[Free eBook] 6 reasons your training isn’t effective
December 1, 2020
:
5
Minutes
[Free eBook] 6 reasons your training isn’t effective

Here at Stellar Labs we’re all about designing and delivering effective training that drives behavioural change. To do that, we believe you need to blend evidence-based learning with neuroscience, practical ideas and creativity. But sadly, much of the training in the market isn’t adequate and is quite simply ineffective.

We don’t want your training to fall into that category. So, in this blog we’re going to explore six things that make training ineffective:

1. Focusing only on knowledge acquisition

When people out of the industry think of training, they think of traditional ‘classroom’ based training. The roots of which lie firm in the 18th century industry revolution. Although traditional training was injected with insights from psychology and technology in the 20th century, it still falls short for one reason: the focus is on knowledge acquisition alone.

For training to be truly effective it must focus on more than learners acquiring knowledge. Instead, we must focus on retention, engagement and work-based application. And to do this, we must tap into learner curiosity and motivation – focusing on the what’s in it for them. What is the real takeaway from taking part in your learning? Aside from ticking the compliance box?

2. Overwhelming your learners

Training designers are often tempted to cram in as much information into a course as possible, to ensure the learner gets a full picture of the subject matter at hand. Then, in an attempt to make the course engaging, they cram in as many modalities as possible, switching between images, video, audio and text in a short space of time.

But this tactic is distracting, overwhelming and increases cognitive overload – making the learning process more challenging for all. Don’t do this, chunk your content up, space it out overtime, and reduce the pressure associated with “quickly finishing” a learning experience.

3. Talking at your people

Can you imagine having a conversation with somebody who just spoke at you? Who never stopped to ask your point of view? You wouldn’t enjoy that conversation would you? Well training is the same.

Your training programme needs to be a two way street, and engage your learners. A great way of drawing your learners in (and encouraging them to give their own thoughts, feelings and opinions) is storytelling. Encourage learners to tell stories in your training, and watch your engagement skyrocket.

4. You’ve lost your personality

Every training course, whether it’s virtual or face-to-face, relies on one key thing: human connections. Whether that connection is through a self-paced, digital module, or a face-to-face training session – it’s the people that matter.

To do this, you must focus on one key thing: emotional connections. Emotions (good or bad) make experiences more memorable. In fact, every single memory you have is likely connected to some kind of emotion. So triggering emotions in your training (even when it’s digital) is a great way of making your content stickier.

5. Focusing on one event

In today’s age, single learning experiences aren’t sufficient – they never were.. Learners want more, they’re demanding more. They want to be able to learn when they want, in whatever way they want. To truly engage your people and create effective learning experiences – you have to utilise the tech at your disposal and explore blended learning.

But blended learning doesn’t just cater to your learners needs. It’s also baked in learning science as it introduces more repetition. When you repeat what you learned in one domain in others it increases the likelihood people will remember what they learned, which is the first step to application. Win, win, right?

6. You’re ignoring the science

It’s no surprise that here at Stellar Labs we really believe in the science of learning. A human brain contains, on average, 86 billion neurons that in total make trillions of synaptic connections. When our brain is active and learning, neurons are re-routed and synapses are activated and often altered. And our synapses are the building blocks of memory.

So leverage, or create neural pathways by connecting your learners with what they  already know, implementing spaced repetition and ensuring that you offer your learners continued practice and support.

So,  there you have it, six common mistakes that make training ineffective. But how do we overcome these challenges? Our latest eBook answers just that. Download “6 tips to make your training more effective” today for our top tips on how you can make your training more effective.

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