Learning science has been settled on this for decades: most of the effect of a training program is not created in the training room. It is created — or lost — in the weeks that follow.
Which means the most important design question for any training program is not “what happens in the session?” It is “what has to be true in the weeks after the session for the skill to actually take hold?”
Three things we design in from the start
A specific, small application participants will attempt within 72 hours of the session. An accountability partner or structure so that attempt is visible to somebody. And a structured return to the content — typically a short debrief two to four weeks later — so people have a moment to reflect on what worked and what did not.
None of this is complicated. But in most training programs we inherit, none of it is designed for. The session is the deliverable. Everything after it is hope.
