Impact of learning

The video by Kirkpatrick on MBAvid.com features in my last post deserves some extra attention. Around 39 min into the video, two slides are discussed on what impacts the effectiveness of a learning program.

Activities contributing to learning effectiveness:

• pre-work contributes for 26%,
• the learning event itself for 24%,
• the follow up for 50%;

What do we see in the spending behavior of the learning function?

• 10% goes to the preparation,
• 85% to the learning event and
• 5% to the follow.

The speaker concludes that we are spending the money were we ware the most comfortable: the learning event itself.

In the next slide the causes of training failure are displayed: lack of preparation or readiness 20%, bad learning intervention 10%, application environment 70%.

It builds a strong case to have more of our attention and money spent on the afterlife of a course. Actually, the whole idea of learning being an event is not the right approach. People learn through a period over time in which they soak in knowledge and skills, learn to apply them optimally and adapt to their working environment and job.