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Sustaining the Impact of Training
March 4, 2008 • By Liz Wheeler

Training must be a process rather than a stand alone event in order to create long term impact. The Bob Pike Group has taught this for years and it’s a philosophy shared by the Ken Blanchard Companies.

 

At the 2008 BPG Training and Performance Solutions Conference, M.J. Coulson of the Ken Blanchard Companies will present a session on sustaining learning’s impact long after the training is over. “Our process ensures that we secure top management buy in, create strategic integration between training and your business issues, set the context and create relevance for the training to take hold, and spend considerable time on follow up and reinforcement in order to cement new behaviors and skills,” said a Blanchard spokesperson.

 

“We believe that organizations must spend 10 times more energy on follow up than they do on the delivery of training. So we provide a robust set of reinforcement tools, and add-on modules ensure that the focus and momentum of your training is sustained long after the event itself.”

 

Organizations invest millions of dollars in training to develop employees’ skills and increase overall productivity within their companies. Still, research shows that the best training in the world won’t translate into changed behaviors back on the job unless initiative leaders and participants understand their roles and responsibilities before, during and after any learning initiative.

 

Sustainability includes the learning process and activities that need to occur before, during, and after training to ensure on-the-job application of new behaviors that are required to maximize the probability of achieving business results. “There is a vital link between learning and development, your business issues and strategic goals, and accountability,” the spokesperson said. “It rests with having a sustainability strategy for turning learning into behavior. We call it the ‘know-can-do model.’ ‘Know’ is to learn new techniques. ‘Can’ is to resolve to use them. ‘Do’ is to put them into practice.”

 

In this interactive session, participants will learn how a combination of top management support, learning that is tied to organizational objectives, and consistent follow-up drives sustainability and impact. MJ Coulson will be the presenter for this session.

 

For more information on this or other concurrent sessions at this year’s Training and Performance Solutions Conference.
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