reasons why learning & development isn’t working … · the first stage is learning. learning...

REASONS WHY LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT ISN’T WORKING TODAY

BET TERUP // 5 REASONS WHY LEARNING & DEVELOPMENT ISN ’ T WORKING TODAY

In an era plagued by unrelenting and disruptive change, 70% of CEOs believe their organization, and more specifically their people, lack the skills to adapt quickly enough. This is a sobering, yet telling, statistic that helps explain why companies today are spending hundreds of billions on learning & development (L&D) solutions to equip their people with the behaviors, skills, and mindsets necessary to thrive in today’s workplace.

Unfortunately, many of today’s L&D solutions don’t work as well as they should. For example, despite the huge amount of time, money, and resources invested in L&D solutions, most simply deliver information without effecting lasting transformational change. In fact, after a year, only about 30% of employees successfully transfer their learnings to the workplace.1

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Effective L&D solutions offer transformation. They help employees identify and capitalize on strengths. They help employees understand areas for development so they can improve them. Effective L&D solutions help employees build resilience and agility. Your people become the best version of themselves. Unfortunately, most L&D solutions are failing us. A new approach is required.

In this whitepaper, we share five shortcomings of today’s L&D solutions. We explain how they fail to account for the stages of personal development through which one must pass to achieve lasting change. And, we offer insights into how you can create a program that delivers the business outcomes you need, while enabling your people to thrive.

Understanding the Three Stages of TransformationMost learning solutions offer a lot of helpful and valuable information. Even so, they fail due to the lack of frequent reinforcement necessary for helping learners retain information. In fact, if you don’t take immediate action to reinforce what you’re learning today, you’ll forget 50% of it by tomorrow. This is called the “Forgetting Curve.”

How much do people forget? Research shows that within one hour, people will have forgotten an average of 50% of the information you presented. Within 24 hours, they have forgotten an average of 70% of new information. And within one week, the Forgetting Curve claims an average of 90% of the new concepts you’ve taught them.

Research shows that within one hour, people will have forgotten an average of 50% of the information you presented.

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THE THREE STAGES OF TRANSFORMATION

A team member learns what behaviors and changes they should make to be successful.

LEARNINGSTAGE 1

A team member begins practicing the necessary changes, building out the neural pathways necessary to sustain the new behaviors.

At the final stage, the behaviors are effortless. This is where the new behavior becomes part of an employee’s state of being.

DOINGSTAGE 2

BEINGSTAGE 3

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Science demonstrates that people must graduate through three stages of personal development before new skills and behaviors can overcome the “Forgetting Curve” and become a permanent part of who we are. Employers must account for these three stages of development in order to implement a program that generates transformational results.

The first stage is Learning. Learning is simply gaining access to information and understanding why applying new behaviors will work. This is the educational stage. The goal of learning is to enable the deep integration of new knowledge across multiple cognitive domains. Learning is ONLY a precursor to changing behaviors, not the end goal itself.

The second stage is Doing. This is where learnings have turned into performed behaviors. Despite such heavy investment, only 30 percent of employees have successfully transferred newly acquired leadership skills to their jobs. The Doing stage is an important step, but the behavior change is not yet sustainable. The new skills and behaviors learned aren’t natural and effortless yet. Instead, employees need to remember to perform these new behaviors, constantly reminding themselves of what to do. However, in their already over-subscribed lives, it’s hard for them to convert these behaviors into new habits.

LEARNINGSTAGE 1

DOINGSTAGE 2

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The third stage is Being. Being represents the culmination of one’s transformation. Here, the new behaviors become effortless rather than effortful. Importantly, this is also where the employee is able to coach, teach, or mentor others in the organization on the new behavior, further solidifying the employee’s new state of being. It’s only here that your organization sees a return on your human capital investments.

BEINGSTAGE 3

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5 REASONS CURRENT L&D SOLUTIONS ARE FAILING

INSUFFICIENT PERSONALIZATION. The solution isn’t personalized to an individual’s unique needs.

INSUFFICIENT MOTIVATIONAL SUPPORT. The solution doesn’t offer motivational support to assist a team member through their transformation.

NOT ENOUGH PRACTICE. The solution doesn’t account for the Forgetting Curve, which demonstrates that individuals forget information they learned rapidly.

LACK OF FEEDBACK. The solution doesn’t offer consistent feedback for helping team members stay accountable and make the changes they desire within themselves.

LACK OF SELF-REFLECTION. The solution offers no support for self-awareness and self-reflection, preventing employees from understanding and celebrating the changes they make.

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5 REASONS CURRENT L&D SOLUTIONS FAILIf your L&D solution isn’t delivering the results you want, there’s a reason why. Most likely, it’s lacking the necessary elements for transformation. From a lack of personalization and accountability, to insufficient support, there are a number of factors that prevent L&D solutions from offering the types of transformational experiences that employers need. Here are the top 5 reasons why current L&D solutions fail:

Every member of your team is an individual with a unique set of skills and a unique perspective. But too many L&D solutions are one-size-fits-all. This lack of personalization renders workshops, training, and other programming ineffective. It means that team members aren’t interested in your offerings, and won’t take advantage of the opportunities available. The L&D opportunities you offer must be personalized to be effective.

INSUFFICIENT PERSONALIZATION

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Change is hard. People need continual motivational support as they work to develop new behaviors, skills, and mindsets. This support is not present in most of today’s L&D solutions, such as e-learning systems. Some people are internally motivated and can reach their goals by sticking to a schedule they give themselves. But most need motivational support to reach their goals.

Because of the Forgetting Curve, most learning solutions fail given the lack of opportunity for learners to practice, which is necessary for retaining information and codifying new behaviors. Research on the forgetting curve shows that within one hour, people will have forgotten an average of 50 percent of the information you presented.2 That’s why opportunities to practice must be part of an L&D solution.

INSUFFICIENT MOTIVATIONAL SUPPORT

NOT ENOUGH PRACTICE

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People are less likely to follow-through on making meaningful changes without consistent feedback and accountability. Most L&D solutions lack built-in feedback loops for accountability that help an employee stay on track. And, if an employee makes a mistake or has questions about how to make progress, there’s nowhere for them to go. Without proper feedback for promoting accountability, it’s easy to slide back into old habits.

In order to reach the Being stage of transformation, an individual needs to be able to reflect on where they are and where they want to go. Unfortunately, most L&D solutions don’t offer a means for improving self-awareness and performing deliberate self-reflection. In order to make a change, employees have to understand the what, why and how to make it happen. Without proper self-reflection, sustainable change is less likely.

LACK OF FEEDBACK

LACK OF SELF-REFLECTION

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THE TRANSFORMATIONAL POWER OF COACHING

An individualized approach

Motivational support

A facilitator for self-reflection

Consistent feedback

Opportunity to practice

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IMPROVE L&D THROUGH PERSONALIZED DEVELOPMENT Above are the top reasons why current L&D solutions miss the mark. Fortunately, there’s a way to rectify these shortcomings and drastically improve business outcomes. It’s personalized development through one-to-one coaching offered to employees at all levels of your organization.

Here’s what personalized development through one-to-one coaching provides:

An individualized approach There’s nothing more personalized than a one-on-one relationship with a coach who considers all the facts of an individual’s position. A coach takes into account a team member’s motivations, strengths, weaknesses, and challenges in order to develop an individualized solution that leads to transformational outcomes.

Motivational support A one-to-one coach offers better motivational support than any other solution. Consistent (weekly or bi-weekly) check-in calls help motivate team members and propel them forward. A coach serves as a cheerleader who can give actionable advice and support, and help team members power through when they’re feeling a lack of motivation.

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Opportunity to practice To overcome the Forgetting Curve, employees need to practice and reinforce what they’ve learned. Role play and rehearsing difficult conversations is key to cementing new behaviors. For L&D solutions to truly be effective, the opportunity to practice new behaviors must be included as a component.

Consistent feedback A world-class coach serves as an accountability partner by providing regular feedback. A coach is in a special position to support the individual in identifying the personal techniques that will help them stay on track. In so doing, a coach can reflect back on progress and provide feedback when needed on how the practice may be going. This kind of feedback can support the employee in understanding how their new behaviors impact the outside world, thereby promoting accountability and continuing to facilitate the change desired.

A facilitator for self-reflection Perhaps most importantly, expert coaches facilitate self-reflection. New ways of Being become integrated fully into who people are when they achieve awareness and understanding of the change they have achieved. Despite conventional wisdom, the deep learning we’re talking about doesn’t come from experiences. It comes from reflecting on those experiences.

Despite conventional wisdom, the deep learning we’re talking about doesn’t come from experiences. It comes from reflecting on those experiences.

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BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION STARTS WITH YOUR PEOPLE Effective L&D solutions account for the three stages of personal development: Learning, Doing, and Being. It’s only then that your people can sustainably develop the behaviors, skills, and mindsets that enable them to be agile and adaptive in today’s rapidly changing business environment.

Organizational transformation is completely dependent on personal transformation at scale. Most L&D solutions fall short because personal transformation is hard. Your people need the motivational support, accountability, and reinforcement that only one-to-one coaching provides.

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©2018 BetterUp Inc. All rights reserved.

www.betterup.co

1. Saks’ (2002) survey data; http://www0.dmst.aueb.gr/nikolaou/blogs/

training.pdf

2. Murre JMJ, Dros J (2015) Replication and Analysis of Ebbinghaus’ Forgetting

Curve. https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.

pone.0120644

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