Key takeaways
- Training should be at most a third of total programme time.
- Without manager checkpoints, field assignments do not get completed.
- Measurement uses behaviour and business metrics, not satisfaction.
- Without internal trainer capacity a programme cannot scale.
The post-training gap
Classic corporate training runs like this: a two-day programme, high satisfaction, a distributed deck, then silence. When the participant returns to work, the old system pulls them back into old behaviour.
What behaviour change requires is not better training but a structure that governs the 8–12 weeks after it: field assignments, peer groups, manager checkpoints and short measurements.
Manager support is decisive
The strongest distinction we see in the field is this: in teams whose manager owns the programme, completion of field assignments is markedly higher.
So we prepare managers with a separate short module. What we ask of them is not to teach but to ask two questions regularly: “What did you try?” and “What did you learn?”
Field assignments must come from real work
Simulations and case studies help during learning but do not build behaviour. When the assignment is taken from the participant's real work, transfer happens by itself.
Assignments should be small, measurable and completable within a week. A large assignment is a postponed assignment.
Set up measurement from the start
The first step of programme design is deciding which business metric it connects to: sales conversation quality, resolution time, error rate, first-90-day productivity.
That metric must be measured before the programme starts. Without a baseline, every impact claim is open to dispute.