Spaced repetition is a concept from Know, Can, Do by Ken Blanchard. It is a simple method instructors can use during training to help students retain what they learned. Few organizations have the money necessary to keep outside trainers available indefinitely. Organizations must rely on supervisors to identify ways to have employees repeat what they learned during training, to increase the return on the training investment. Here are three simple ways supervisors can engage employees and increase behavior changes desired from training.

The first method requires employees to verbally report what they learned to the supervisor. The second method is to requires the employee to type their classroom notes. The third way requires the employee to present the information and methods learned for other employees. Each way engages different learning strategies, increases retention, and reinforces desired behaviors.

When employees return from training they are excited about what they learned. They often do not have time to process how to connect what they learned with their job. As a result, desired changes in behavior do not occur. Plan time to meet with the employee after the training. Require the employee to tell you about the information and techniques taught in the class. Ask the employee to demonstrate the skills taught. Allow the employee to watch you do at least one of the tasks taught and correct your performance as appropriate.

Ask the employee questions about ways to implement the lessons learned into work routines. Ask how the skills can be taught to other team members. Before you end the meeting, task the employee with the second method of spaced repetition, note preparation.

Preparing class notes is an important way to reinforce learning. Students should take up to a page of notes for every hour of class. More than that and they are not listening. Less and they have nothing to refer to after class. Typing the notes after class creates another repetition of the learning. Typing notes allows the student to share what they learned with others. Typed notes are easier for others to read. Typed notes can be stored in a file folder in a drawer, or digitally on a computer. Weeks or years from now anyone who was given a copy of the notes can pull them up as a reference.

Another great reason for preparing typed notes is to share them within your professional network. Teaching employees to share notes with their network provides an opportunity to communicate with people they do not see everyday. Their notes provide a reason to open a professional discussion with their peers and expand their influence. Your employees derive benefits when they share their notes with others.

Notes do not have to follow a formal outline, but do need an easy to follow format. At the top of the first page of note place the title of the class. Include the name and contact information for the instructor. Recording the instructor’s contact information allows the student the ability to contact the instructor in the future. It also provides the instructor credit for the ideas presented. Include the date(s), length, and location of the training. Tell your employee to take credit for the notes by including his or her by-line and contact information. People are more likely to contact the employee with topical questions before the trainer. Good notes establish the employee as a subject matter expert. When the employee presents the information, another repetition occurs strengthening the important lessons learned.

After the credit and training information, arrange the notes so they make sense. The note taker may find it make sense to rearrange some information. Create topical groups regardless of the order presented in class. Often instructors and classes deviate from the instruction model creating situations where information is presented out of order. Making those changes makes the notes are useful. Use topic headings if appropriate. Use different fonts or bold for topic headings. If the trainer used a slide handout, refer back to it rather than typing out all the points from the slide. This is especially helpful for diagrams.

An added feature of the typed notes is that it allows the employee to prepare for the third step in the supervised, post-training, spaced repetition; the presentation. The employee uses the typed notes as an outline for the staff presentation at a selected time in the future. Schedule the presentation close to the date of the original training. The notes are the work of the employee and not subject to any copyrights by the presenter. That means the company can reproduce and distribute them without seeking additional permission. An exception is if the student’s note are direct quotes from the instructor or training material. Avoid plagiarism accusations by requiring the employee to use his or her own words.

During the presentation, the employee tells the others what he learned in the training. He tells how he has applied the lessons in his work and personal life and the results he observed. He shows others how to complete one or more of the skills. He provides each an opportunity, either individually or as a group, to practice one of the skills. Using this method expands the knowledge of the whole workforce for the price of sending one employee. Even if other employees previously attended the same training, this event serves as another spaced repetition, reinforcing the skills and knowledge learned. The presentation develops confidence in the employee and establishes them as a subject matter expert.

Too often organizations send people to training to learn but never follow up to reinforce those lessons. The three steps outlined here provide a model for supervisors to follow to ingrain those lessons. These three steps spaced over time reinforce learning. Meeting with the employee in a few days after the training allows them to show you what was learned. Requiring the employee to type class notes and provides another repetition. Sharing those notes allow employees to expand their sphere of influence. Conducting a brief training event reinforces the learning for the employee who attended the training, and also broadcasts some of those skills and knowledge across the organization. Using spaced repetition is a great way to increase your company’s return on its training investment.

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