It happened again. Today I received information on two separate learning events promising me significant cognitive growth. Upon closer, inspection these two announcements reinforced the reason why business education just doesn't get it. Please let me explain.
You probably know without thinking what 10 x 10 equals. However, if I asked you what 25 x 24 equals your response would not be nearly as quick. The simple reason is that you practice 10 x10 numerous times through the strategy of rote memorization. Today we call rote memorization spaced repetition.
However, you may have only answered 25 x 24 once to two times during your entire lifetime. You did not have numerous opportunities to commit the answer of this multiplication problem to memory.
Yet, there are companies that cater to the professional training and development industry as well as the K-12 education industry that promise to change behaviors. The only problem is that this change is very short lived.
Remember back during your school days and cramming for a final examination. You poured over the books the night before hoping to retain all that critical information. By the time of the test, you remembered only 50% especially if this was your first exposure to the material. You had a 50% chance of getting a true or false question right. Actually, the cramming was far better for multiple choice and fill in the blank responses.
Research tells us that 16 days after a one time exposure to a learning event you remember only 2%. Unless you, the learner have multiple exposures to the information and multiple opportunities to practice what you have learned, you will simply not retain it. Yet, businesses and organizations continue to purchase and deliver learning curriculum that cannot, let me repeat, cannot deliver sustainable performance improvement.
To truly change the behaviors of individuals require far more than read it, learn, test it and forget it. We must restructure learning from a perspective of performance that being the application of knowledge instead of the current perspective of learning that being the acquisition of knowledge.
The American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) through its ongoing research continues to reveal that most training does not deliver a positive return on investment. Yet, companies continue to send their people to one to three day business education seminars in hopes to change behaviors.
Let me ask you a question. How long did it take you to become the person that you are? Usually, years is the answer. So how can you change years of behavior over the course of 1 to 3 days? Simply speaking, you cannot!
Possibly, this is why corporate coaching and executive coaching has taken off because many of the coaches utilize a developmental process where the learning is staggered over weeks and months not hour and days.
Several years ago, my coach and now friend, David Herdlinger introduced the concept of the K.A.S.H. Box. I then expanded it into the K.A.S.H. Box for Sustainable Change. The core message is that when resources are directed solely to the knowledge and skills while ignoring the attitudes and habits there is no sustainable change that being return on investment. Monies are drained away from the K.A.S.H. Box. As my husband has said: It is not a question of do I know it, but rather do I want to do it.
Until the beliefs are changed that learning something will change behaviors, we will still experience less than positive performance improvement from employees. This belief that learning will change behaviors is the greatest obstacle to economic growth barring none.
So save your dollars and invest those dollars in extended learning engagements that will deliver a positive return on your training and education dollars. Finally, remember, that the brain will absorb only what the butt will endure.