Does Employee Training Change Behaviors?

Alignment

The expectation should be set at the onset of the training program. When you ask your employees to attend a training session, you must be very clear about what you want them to focus on in the program. They must be clear about what they are expected to learn and report back, which behavioral change is required, and what kind of results they are expected to achieve. If you skip this step, you leave your employees to figure out what they should learn. The ideas that they take away may not be in sync with the organizational expectations. The learners may also feel as if the additional training is a nuisance if not given a clear expectation of what they are expected to achieve.

Assimilation

The learners need to assimilate the learning that resonates with them. If your employees are given an opportunity to apply what they are already aware of and then build on those skills, they will return to work with the knowledge on how to apply those skills when faced with a similar situation. When you expect a behavior change in your employees, it is imperative to focus on the learning style and relevant skills of the learners. That way, the learners will remember what is taught and translate it back to their job.

Applying

When the training is successful, it will create a behavior change where the learner will apply what they have learned. That is the end result that learning designers aim for. Most of the learning takes place in the application phase. This is where leadership support is required. When the top management encourages application, there will be less resistance to change.

The role of reinforcement

A reinforcement plan is critical to ensure employee behavior changes after training. It involves providing content as a training follow-up. Spaced repetition of the content already taught helps learners to recall information and transfer it to their long-term memory. Without a spaced reinforcement plan, your employees will not remember most of the concepts taught. The information will be forgotten naturally.

You may want to use things like multiple choice questions, polls, thought questions, videos, job-aids, course assessments, and similar things as reinforcement tools. The idea is to help the learner absorb the information and think through the concepts before applying it. Manager involvement is important here. They should encourage their employees to apply the concepts learned and monitor results.

Training, on its own, cannot change employee behavior. It is important to have an engaging learning experience that will talk about expectations, along with a reinforcement plan after the training program.