Don't Do This

 

By show of hands, how many of you as L&D pros have ever been in the situation where performance is an issue and the proposed solution is to repeat training? It's happened to me several times - and I would exercise extreme caution before repeating and only use it in qualified circumstances. Take the below example into consideration.

Say your state decides to combat driving issues by requiring all drivers to complete a driving training and pass a test every year. What are the implications? For those that have had rule violations and/or crashes - the root cause is probably not that they don't know HOW to drive - it was more likely another issue at play (distractions, not following traffic rules, aggressive driving, etc.) And for those that don't have any tickets or accidents it's even worse - retraining is akin to punishment for good behavior (!)

With that in mind - would recommend asking yourself these questions before retraining:.

1) Are there issues affecting outcomes outside of talent performance? No amount of training or repeating training will fix faulty equipment, deficient procedures or unclear expectations. Root cause analysis may reveal quick and easy fixes that positively impact performance.

2) Is it a "skill or will" issue? This is especially true if individuals have demonstrated the ability before and/or passed learning validations and are no longer performing to standard. These generally require coaching, recalibrating expectations and/or performance management - none which repeating training will accomplish.

3) How will your audience react to repeating training? Things to consider - was it a 10 minute microlearning or a 10 hour workshop? How difficult will it be for users to repeat? Is this a widespread issue or is it isolated to a small group? Is the root cause a lack of knowledge or something else? Anticipating your audience's reaction may angle you towards an alternate approach.

4) ..is the training itself the issue? We're not perfect - if our deliverable didn't meet the need we may need to look in to the mirror and evaluate and course correct. Here Kirkpatrick's metrics can be invaluable towards identifying where the training needs an improvement before redeployment.

That said - there are some circumstances where retaining is beneficial and potentially required. Some that come to mind..

• When lack of knowledge is the root cause AND you have a receptive audience - repeating training may be required
• Training that promotes safety and mitigates risk - including regular safety updates and annual legal compliance training
• Training that contains a significant amount of updates that are integral to performance
• Trainees themselves ask to be retained

Do you have thoughts on retraining? Share them in the comments - would love to hear them! -Kevin