Class is over and employees are energized. They rush back to their offices where a screen full of email, a stream of voicemails, and piles of work quickly suck them back into the world of old habits – business as usual. Where is the hope? How can they possibly digest what they have learned, figure out how to apply it, and then find the opportunity to practice it?

Just Google “Making training stick,” or something similar, and you will find a multitude of long articles that leave the Googler, likely the supervisor, in the same boat as the trainee. No, worse off than the trainee – not even energized and definitely wishing for an escape such as “class dismissed.” 

I have a better idea. Perhaps we can learn from a model that works: on-the-job training. I don’t know about you, but I have seen countless employees make huge strides when someone took the time to provide on-the-job instruction. Consider the three characteristics of on-the-job training that make it so successful. On-the-job training is:

• Specific
• Certain
• Immediate

On-the-job training is specific in more ways than one. First, it is specific in focusing on the needs of a few individuals. It is specific in time and place. There is rarely ambiguity about where the skill or information provided will need to be applied. In addition, it is specific regarding technique. Usually a specific activity or skill is demonstrated, observed and critiqued so that the desired behavior is quite clear. The desired outcome is also specific. The employee learns how something should look, feel, sound, smell or act if handled properly. Any necessary supporting knowledge, while not always brief, is also provided quite specifically. There is tremendous value in this specificity because the employee can start practicing and perfecting what they have learned quickly without digesting, deciding or juggling.

On-the-job training also provides a high level of certainty. The employee is left with a clear sense of cause and effect, and usually visible evidence of effectiveness. Instilling a high level of confidence in a process or technique is extremely valuable because it keeps fear and skepticism in check.

On-the-job training is also immediate. There is usually immediate opportunity to apply and practice. And in many cases, there is immediate feedback that facilitates tweaking the process until the desired outcome is achieved. Immediate experience, immediate success – it doesn’t get much better than that!

Now consider these same three dimensions relative to classroom training and you will find exactly the opposite characteristics:

• General
• Uncertain
• Future

Classroom training may be general in many ways. Many broad concepts may be discussed. Concepts are usually applicable to a wide range of job responsibilities and activities. This means that an employee may end up applying what they have learned at any time and in any number of places. The variety already suggested guarantees that even specific techniques will require adaptation to varying circumstances. Rather than feeling clear about next steps, this lack of specificity leaves the employee with too much to digest, decide and juggle – a sure recipe for returning to old, comfortable habits.

Classroom training also leaves the employee with a great deal of uncertainty. Not only are employees uncertain about where to apply the lessons, but they haven’t seen evidence of effectiveness. And they are usually left on their own to suffer the consequences of their first attempts to apply their new skills, consequences that may consist of irate co-workers.

Last, but not least, classroom training leaves everything for the future. Employees are left to apply lessons later. There are simply huge barriers between leaving the classroom and a first taste of success.

Viewed from this perspective, is it any wonder employees retreat to old habits after the classroom?

Now don’t get me wrong. Classroom training has its place. But using the three advantageous characteristics of on-the-job training – specific, certain and immediate – to guide your approach to training is a much simpler approach to “making training stick” than is provided in all those lengthy, general, uncertain articles found while googling.

How? It all hinges on getting specific.

Even the most sophisticated skills and behaviors grow out of a first opportunity to practice something pretty basic. Everyone starts something new by doing something specific in a specific time, at a specific place. On-the-job training creates this critical opportunity; classroom training leaves it to chance.

In order to get specific, start with the desired outcome and work your way backwards. Get specific about the behavior, the time, the place, and the knowledge needed. Identify an initial context – the first place you expect to see the new behavior. This is also the first place your employee is likely to experience success. Using this technique to identify initial steps and orchestrate success lets you leverage the advantages of on-the-job training: specific, certain and immediate.

This specificity will also allow you to be specific about the knowledge needed, which may be well-suited to the classroom. However, the classroom experience is also simplified by this focus on content. The classroom becomes a resource, not the driver of behavior change.

Start with an on-the-job perspective for all employee development in order to accelerate learning and improve results.