Knowledge Retention Strategies That Maximize Corporate Training

 Training/education participants often forget much of what they learn just after leaving a class session. That know loss can impact corporate performance. For example the article Understanding the Science Behind Learning Retention indicates that 50% of info is lost in an hour, 70% is lost in 24 hours, and 90% lost within a week. That creates a big problem on training ROI. 

In today's market businesses should seek to maximize their human capital. Education can create a strong foundation and training can pin point that information for practical use.

The article suggests, 

-Simplify cognitive load. 

-Smaller component of information.

-Repeat information.

-Spaced intervals of information 

-Varied modalities of learning.

-Create stories and get emotional.

-Gamification can help (I would include the alternative solving practical problems where information must be used in novel ways.)

Let me also add a few pieces of advice from my own experience. Ensuring that information is relevant not only to the participant's success as well as market needs helps participant's find relevance in the information. Having participants solve a problem would force them to use that information and apply it based on their own personally earned knowledge mixed with new presented knowledge by experts. 

Information should also be presented in a way in which they can learn through different senses and activities. We all learn a little differently so providing variety can help. While it might not be possible in all types of training venues it is possible to encourage sight, sound, touch, social conversation, symbolism (its actually a learning tool), and anything that can create new neural pathways. 

Finally, let me also add follow up and metrics are also important. Providing the information again at some point in the future will help retain it. Practical application being high on the list when connected with other relevant information. Likewise, having some of the learning reflected in the job and on evaluations provides incentives to learn. Designing appropriate metrics can be some of the more difficult aspects of the business implementation strategy.