When planning your training reinforcement program, the right design can make the difference between a successful, impactful program and one that fails to create lasting change.
Sending repetitive emails or reminders about previous training material doesn't create lasting impact. Instead, begin by thinking about the desired behavior changes you want your learners to make. Build your program with these goals in mind.
Reinforcement objectives differ from training goals. A training goal focuses on the learner's knowledge on how to do something. With reinforcement, the focus shifts toward a more sophisticated model of applying their new skills on the job.
You must determine your reinforcement objectives to design a program that has impact. What do you want learners to gain from the training? After you determine your objectives, you can start to develop your training reinforcement program. We recommend designing a program using our Comprehensive Reinforcement Program Checklist.
Once you've designed the program, ask yourself if learners will naturally transition from knowledge retention to application.
We recommend a 21-point approach, where 19-21 microlearning messages is excellent and 15-18 is very good. Under 10 points is weak and won't reinforce skills.
When learners begin changing their behavior as a result of the reinforcement program, ask them to provide feedback. Using a survey or open response question in your program allows learners to reflect upon their experience and share in their own words.
You should continue to refine your objectives and establish your goals throughout the program to ensure it's as effective as possible. Download our Comprehensive Reinforcement Program Checklist to learn how to design a strong training reinforcement program.
This post was originally published on April 9, 2017.