If you are a leadership trainer — or a leader committed to your team’s development — you have probably asked yourself this same question at least a few times over the years: will this training actually work?

You’ve spent weeks or months researching or building just the right training program, you’ve delivered a stellar event, and you’ve left participants energized and raving about their experience.

But, there’s still that nagging concern, like a pebble in your shoe, poking holes at your success. Did they learn what I needed them to learn? And more importantly, will they do something with it?

There is little doubt that leadership training is an extraordinarily powerful tool for organizations looking to enable their employees to grow into the best, most productive versions of themselves.

That said, training isn’t something easily executed or maintained if you don’t have just the right components in place.  It requires the best programs, employee buy-in, leadership support and the right tools to sustain the learning.

That last part — the right tools to sustain the learning — is something most organizations either overlook or struggle to provide for their learners.

It is one of the most common questions I get from leadership trainers all around the globe, “How do I make this training stick?”

To answer this question, we need to first acknowledge an important, yet frustrating fact: what worked for us in the past does not necessarily work for us now.  

Think about it this way: how much of your childhood schooling do you actually remember?

If I were to test you on things you learned in high school history class (the American Civil War or the colonization of America for instance) how would you do?  My bet is, not great.

I took 4 years of French in high school. You’d think 4 full years of conjugating French verbs and learning French sentence structure would mean I’ve got this for life, right? Wrong!

My poor French teacher, Mr. Regelbrugge, would be so disappointed in me.  Day after day of studying, and I’m no better now than I was the first day I walked into his classroom.

Why is this?

As kids, we are asked to drink from a firehose of information. We are taught that if we take copious notes, read that chapter over and over and over to ourselves, or put it on flashcards, it will magically stick…for good!  Not quite.

The reality is that most of the methods we’ve been taught for learning are not very effective. In their book MAKE IT STICK, Peter Brown, Henry Roediger III, and Mark McDaniel discuss two of these strategies that are often used but fail to promote long-term, deeper learning:

1. Massed practice. This is basically cramming for a test the night before. Repetition over and over again.

2. Re-reading of text. Going back over the text you’ve already covered, hoping to retain it, highlighting, underlining, reading out loud, etc.

Raise your hand if these are things you have done, still do, or encourage your learners to do!  If your hand is up, don’t fret, you’re in good company. We have been taught these approaches to learning from a young age. So then, what’s the problem?

These methods are time intensive.  They don’t result in durable, long-term learning, and they can create the illusion of mastery, while not actually mastering anything at all.

Mastery implies that not only do we know the concepts, but we also understand them at a deeper, more behavioral level. These methods simply produce rote memorization, not much more. (Thus, my failure in French fluency.  Darn!)

So why do we use these methods so often if they’re not effective?

Because they do work…in the short term. Cramming the night before may help us retain information long enough to walk into class the next morning and regurgitate the facts on a piece of paper, or color in the correct bubble in that multiple-choice question.

It helps us test well, but it doesn’t help us sustain learning long-term.

So, if all the learning methods we have been taught isn’t actually helping us learn, what will? According to Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel, the main takeaway if you want to achieve mastery in new information is:

The right amount of effort.

Minimal effort leads to minimal “stickiness”

In corporate America we have been lulled into believing that if we just schedule the workshop or the skills-training event, we’ve done our job.

Participants will show up, learn a few things, leave, and suddenly behavior will change! But it rarely works that way.

We need to see true learning as a continuous process, not something that starts and ends in the classroom. Think of it this way, the classroom is where new concepts are conceived…AFTER class is where true learning begins. The effort needs to continue long after class is over.  

Increased effort increases adaptation

Mastering a skill is like building any other muscle.  One strength training session at the gym is not going to give you rock hard abs for life. (I know, I wish it worked that way too.)

You need to apply consistent effort and allow those muscles to build over time. The brain is no different — forming new pathways in the brain requires effort. If we want to deepen our learning, we need to consider something called “neuroplasticity” or the muscle building part of our brains.

The more effort and time we spend on something, we become stronger at it, the less effort, it fades away. New pathways are formed through practice and effort.

So, while it would be nice if we could see instant results, the reality is we need to put in the sweat equity. That’s how it works.

That said, how can we approach learning in a way that will produce better results?

Here are a few strategies we should focus on from Brown, Roediger, and McDaniel:

Spaced. Spaced is the opposite of cramming. When we take in new information in increments, spaced out over time, it’s steadily reinforced and we’re more likely to remember it in the long term.  A few things you can do to create “spaced” learning in your classroom:

• Break up the learning. Are you trying to fit everything into a 9-hour day?  If so, you may be doing more harm than good.  At the very least you are throwing your resourced money down the drain.  It isn’t serving your participants.  What if you were to break up the learning into 3, 3-hour sessions over the course of 3 or 4 weeks?  Again, promoting that steady reinforcement over time.
• Start the learning process BEFORE the event. Consider sending out primers in advance. Share an article or two on the topic, ask your participants a few reflective questions to get them thinking about what they will be learning. We know it is important to warm up our muscles before using them at the gym, help your participants do the same for their brains. Provide “space” before the event for participants to “stretch.”

Reflection. Reflection is defined as “serious thought or consideration”. Once you’ve taken in and/or applied new information or new skills, it is important to reflect on the meaning and look for connections between what you learned and what you were able to do or solve with it.

Francesca Gino, a researcher at Harvard, did an interesting study a few years back titled “The Power of Reflection.” Through this study Gino and her team found those who took time to reflect on their performance/behavior outperformed those who did not by 20 to 25 percent.  Reflection is a powerful learning and performance tool!

Distillation.  Taking away what matters most.  For the great majority of us, we can’t possibly remember every single word we read in a book. Distilling involves focusing your learning efforts on the concepts you’ve decided are most important for you.

As a trainer, allow participants to think about, discuss, and write down the concepts and ideas that matter most to them.

To do this, you may need to provide more instruction than simply “take some notes”.  Ask questions like “Of these 5 data points, which one leaps off the page for you? Why that one?”  Or, which of the 3 strategies discussed today resonates with you the most?  Why? How can you leverage that strategy more when you leave here?

The more strongly something resonates personally with participants, the more likely it is to stick long-term.    

In the end, the effectiveness of your learning strategies can make or break the effectiveness of your training initiatives.

If you want to grow as a team or organization, the actual strategies used during the learning process are critical.

Here are some action items you and your team can apply to keep the conversations going long after the workshop has ended:

1. Create a post-training plan. Be deliberate. Incorporate processes intended to reinforce behavior and create new structures around the material that become “action triggers.” This could include something as simple as creating a list of daily questions for yourself accompanied by a goal, why the goal is important, and how you can focus on effort rather than the outcome itself. Post this where you can see it.  

2. Find the right resources. Find an accountability buddy to talk about what you’re learning and who can offer support when you run into challenges. Encourage leaders to be available to their teams as a resource and coach post-training.

3. “Study” appropriately. Implement practices such as spacing and distillation and provide options for your team. Commit to reflection – what went well?  What could you do better next time?

Not all learning is created equal. The methods you apply will make all the difference in whether you, your team, and your organization are able to shift behavior, understand new material at a deep level, and achieve mastery.

Let’s have some real talk for a moment: Have you ever told someone —your boss, a colleague, customers, or your spouse — what you thought they wanted to hear rather than what you were really thinking? Did you paint a false, rosy version of reality and gloss over the problems or pretend that it didn’t exist?

If you’ve found yourself being less than honest, know that you aren’t alone by a long shot.

The thing is, we have legitimate reasons for why we don’t want to fully disclose. Maybe last time you told your honest truth, it destroyed a relationship in your past, and you don’t want to do that again. Perhaps you have seen someone lose their job over disclosing more, and you happen to like your job. Maybe you truly don’t believe it is your place to say what you notice or feel (this is a popular one).

The kicker is that not sharing the whole truth is more costly in the end.

If you are out of integrity with yourself or others, research shows that it damages your health and wellbeing. Whether you’re not sharing your truth at work or at home, not being your authentic self can lead to loss of time, money, and/or complete failure to thrive.

That’s not a pretty picture. But you can empower yourself to become a fierce leader — a leader who comes out from behind what is holding them back and shows up every day as their authentic, true self.

TRANSFORM YOURSELF

Fierce leaders want to know the truth and in turn, also have to share the truth. Whether or not your role has the “leader” title assigned to it, you can be someone on the forefront innovating and promoting authenticity.

Organizations that encourage everyone, from individual contributors, managers, all the way up to the CEO, to take on a leadership mindset create cultures that don’t settle for a culture of fear.

Few companies are really in this place. Many choose to abide by an old rank and file hierarchy that squashes creativity, promote false security, and inevitably disengaging employees.

So what can you do if you work inside a culture where new ideas and honesty are not welcomed? Do you have to accept it for what it is and keep your creativity to yourself?

No, you absolutely do not.

The beauty of culture is that it is made up of the people who inhabit it. Meaning, everyone impacts how things operate, not just those at the top.

Here are three tips to propose new ideas and begin creating a culture that supports authenticity:

Tip #1: Lead by Example

This isn’t a blog that encourages you to throw caution to the wind and break the rules of your company and go spouting off every thought you have to your boss. However, I bet your organization has unwritten cultural norms that keep people from fully coming forward and innovating.

These issues can range from not bringing up a perspective in a meeting because you don’t want to rock the boat, to continuing a process that is outdated only because it is the way things have always been done.

Take this opportunity to start small and be the change you want to see. If you own a responsibility and you have an idea of a better way of doing it – do it. Try it out and create some metrics for yourself to see if it really does improve results. Keep track of those metrics and after a month, show it to your supervisor, pointing out how your new idea has worked.

Tip #2: Use Your Voice

A leadership mindset is not for the faint-hearted. It takes courage to put yourself out there and be the one who speaks to an issue honestly. The reward is that you directly impact how things happen and become a more active participant within your company.

If you’re in a meeting, use your voice. If someone has a different opinion than you about a topic, don’t sit there and internally stew about it. Voice your concerns and throw your own idea in the ring. If you’re not invited into the decision-making process and you have a strong opinion, even if it goes against everything your culture stands for, set up a time to speak with leaders and express your concern.

Make it clear that you understand it’s ultimately their decision, and you hoped to just share your perspective.  This can be very scary and not easy to do. However, it shows others within your organization that you have great ideas and that you care.

Tip #3: Keep Going

Let’s say you do tips one and two and have success, and you’re feeling pretty good about your job. So what’s next? Keep Going.

Let’s say you follow through with tips one and two, and it didn’t work out as well as you had hoped. You are probably slightly discouraged. What’s next? Keep Going.

The reality is being a leader isn’t a title, it’s a mentality. Innovating, being authentic and thinking outside the box are traits of productive individuals, and they take practice.

Realize that your job satisfaction rests mostly in your own power and that you can impact the day-to-day outcomes of your job. Even within a culture that doesn’t foster creativity and doesn’t empower honesty, there is room for you to be creative and lead the way to show those around you that they can go against the status quo and see positive results for the organization and for themselves.

Women want to be heard, cultural roadblocks be damned.

We saw this after the November 2018 midterm elections when 117 women — a historic record — were elected or appointed to Congress. We saw this with the launch of the Time’s Up Movement, aimed at addressing inequality and injustices in the entertainment industry.

We saw it with the continued focus on the #MeToo Movement and the Women’s March over the past year.

We also saw women making significant strides beyond social activism: last year alone, there were 1,821 net new women-owned businesses launched every single day, with women of color founding 64 percent of those new businesses.

That’s a HUGE accomplishment.

To say I am proud to be a female president at a women-owned organization would be an understatement.

I am also proud of the many women who inspire me regularly. There are so many I could shout-out, and I am going to highlight a few:

• My mom — without you, I would not be the woman I am and thank you for encouraging me day in and day out.
• Our Founder, Susan Scott, who has believed in me and our collective vision for building a better world, one conversation at a time.
• To Chris Douglas and Kim Bohr, for years of building together.
• Gloria Feldt, your work with Take the Lead has a bold mission that I am behind.
• Bonnie St. John, I love your tenacity and your work with women and diversity in the workplace to truly build new paths forward.
• Juliet Funt, your mission to help people, and women, build more white space in their lives is so needed.

There are so many more that I would love to share, and I’ll do that more in the next few days.

In honor of International Women’s Day, and to celebrate this year’s theme of #BalanceforBetter, I’m challenging all business leaders to take a deeper look at how they can continue the momentum we’ve had and make a strong commitment to diversity in the workplace.

For encouragement, check out these statistics on balance in the workplace from Randstad US:

• 78 percent of employees say a workplace where people are treated equally, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, age, race, or religion, is highly important to them.
• 56 percent of female workers and 52 percent of male workers say they believe their employers could be doing more to promote gender equality and diversity.
• 80 percent of women say they would switch employers if they felt another company had greater gender equality.

We took some large steps in 2018, but as you can see from this data, there’s still room to grow and improve so that employees can proudly say their organization is #BalanceforBetter.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

A great first start to cultivating a more diverse organization is by creating a space where every single employee feels that their voice matters.

Below are four ways you can foster more diverse voices within your company, and begin to bolster a stronger, balanced workforce:

1. Invite more than your usual team members to meetings

No one person has all the answers in your organization, and you can most likely predict your team members’ views on topics.

Because of this, it is incredibly important to include more than the typical individuals you regularly invite to meetings. Imagine the unique, diverse ideas that could come from employees you don’t normally think to ask to share their thoughts.

It’s important to remember that these people most likely won’t be the ones with the most direct experience with whatever your meeting is focusing on — they could be from completely different teams and departments, as well as various levels of seniority.

Their perspectives are useful because they will be coming from a place contrasting to what you expect.

Also think about including those who will be affected by any decisions that may come out of the meeting and those who have perspectives you don’t usually think about hearing such as customers, outside experts, and decision makers.

The more unexpected people you bring to the table, the more likely you will champion creative outcomes you never would have reached if you stuck with the status quo.

By going outside the usual suspects in meetings, you’re showing everyone at your organization that their opinions and ideas matter and you are open to hearing them.

2. Encourage every team member to share their thoughts and emotions

We don’t know what people are thinking unless they tell us. Even if they do, there is no guarantee they’re telling us what they really think.

This is why it is especially vital you embolden your team members to tell you their perspectives, especially if they differ from what you see or the direction you are leaning.

There’s no better way to convince people you care about their opinions than by asking for it and then truly, presently listening to what they have to say.

Also, be sure that you hear from every single team member during all variations of conversations.

If someone says, “I don’t know” when you ask them their opinions, or “I have nothing to add,” challenge them by asking what they would add or say if they did know or had something to add.

When you aren’t sure what someone’s comments mean or what they’ve said is incomplete, encourage them to describe further so you fully understand and hear their point of view.

The key here is showing that you want to hear and understand what they have to say and that their voice matters.

3. Check your bias at the door

The metaphorical phrase, “you can’t judge a book by its cover,” has endured as long as it has for a reason. It speaks the truth and it resonates with people.

In this sense, it is incredibly imperative to remember that employees shouldn’t be judged by the generation they represent, the religion they practice or don’t practice, the gender they identify as, or the socioeconomic status they were raised in.

What organizations can do is ensure employees become skilled at culling insights from people of all backgrounds and encourage employees to interrogate their own conscious or unconscious perceptions of reality.

Focus then shifts to the ideas, thoughts, and thought processes of the individual, rather than judgments you have because of an unconscious bias you may have.

Building a work environment where diversity of thought is valued begins with the commitment to enter into conversations without making assumptions by interrogating our own personal context.

The goal is to learn rather than to convince.

Curiosity not only encourages innovation and increases the likelihood of well-rounded decisions, it more accurately represents the people present.

4. Practice inclusion without illusion

Don’t just implement inclusion initiatives for the sake of best practices. Do so out of genuine curiosity and interest.

Inspire employees to check in with themselves regarding their approach — if they don’t believe another’s input to be valid or worth hearing, chances are, the other person will be able to pick up on it and see that their thoughts are being brushed under the rug.

Remember that every opinion has value (regardless of organizational level) and listen with an open mind.

An added benefit to inviting diverse perspectives is that on an individual level, we feel appreciated and heard. Knowing that our own perspective is being considered, regardless of the outcome, is a good feeling.

Leaders need to leverage the strengths that vary from person to person as well as our unique contexts, preferences, and life experiences.

Remind contributors to bring all of who they are to the conversation because their unique experience of the world is valid. Every perspective matters.

We need to continue moving in a direction toward a common goal in our organizations, and when everyone feels supported and free to contribute their perspective to this goal, we can get there more efficiently, more effectively, and more successfully.

Who are the women you want to recognize for all that they do for you? I’d love it if you used the hashtags #BalanceforBetter and #leadFierce together to tell me all about them! I can’t wait to read about the strong, influential women in your lives and to give them the credit they deserve.