I have been challenging myself today about many things. Business cards, blogs, keeping track of my outstanding client calls, white boarding a couple of ideas, enjoying a run this afternoon and wearing my college fraternity shirt from 1984. I have a lot to remember. Oh, yeah there is also stuff at home, my dad’s birthday, a trip on Sunday, Grace is speaking in front of her class today and other stuff too numerous to mention. What will I retain? My wife already says I have the worst memory on the planet.
As we go forward, I would suggest putting on Counting Crows “Have you heard me lately?” It stimulated a fair part of my motivation. Adam Duritz, the lead singer (who by the way still has the dreads – you have to love his consistency) sings about things like “What do you remember about me?” And “Can you tell me one thing you remember about me?” I am paraphrasing, but also one section of the lyrics speaks a bit about “I remember me and all the little things about me.” I would add, did you notice?
I must stress this is what I absolutely have a heart to do with my clients, when people leave the learning session or event, what will they remember? And much, much more importantly are two things: were we all clear on what they were supposed to retain and what is in place to support it?
I am not kidding, after twenty plus years in learning and development programs, I see clients worry too much about the content or curriculum philosophy and do not have the front or the back end covered. The front end is defining what is the exact issue? What itch needs to be scratched? Does everyone deciding on the line of sight agree with what the desired result needs to be behaviorally and metrically? The back end is a huge piece of the overall experience – so what happens in 30/60/90/365 days? The adoption and follow-up piece is essential. Have you ever heard of the phrase “Flavor of the month” or have asked “how long will this last?” What causes this? May I share? I contend that one or probably much more than one initiative did not have something in place for follow up. How do you reflect on this?
My experience has found that “training” (a word which I am not infatuated with and the irony is this is what many hire me to provide) is simply the means to an end. And if you know your end, then the effort must be placed in how you substantiate and sustain your end. Training has a connotation. It has a reaction like “Oh no not that.” Or “Yeah, we went through this last month.” “Is it that guy who just reads his notes?” To be fair, there is good training. There are good trainers. Training should not have a bad meaning or reaction attached to it. I feel it is not the word or the act, it is what happens after it.
Think about your last training session. What do you remember? What knowledge or tip or tactic are you still using? What caused that then and what sustained that thing a month or year later? If you are contemplating a training session, you must pay attention to these types of questions. They must have an answer and strategy to ensure your return on investment. The return is not just the week after the session; it is about cemented behavior months and years later.
What do you remember about the training? Have you heard from me lately?