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The real measure of training success isn’t participation, it’s what employees remember and apply afterward. In this exclusive webinar, Dr. Coral Shachar, PhD, explains the four conditions required for the brain to recall knowledge, and Jay Fortuna, SVP Talent & Operations at GoHealth, shares what this looks like on the ground.
The human brain forgets an average of 70% of new information within one week and only remembers information and skills that it uses regularly. If you want learners to recall training programs, you need to create the conditions that strengthen memory.
Role plays make training engaging, but that alone is not enough to turn new information into accessible skills. There are four conditions that make training stick for the long term, according to Dr. Shachar:
There are two types of memory:
Episodic memory retains information for longer and retrieves it more easily than semantic memory, but it’s triggered by experiences, not by reading or hearing information. That means employees need interactive learning experiences to activate episodic memory.
“Don't just pick the skills and the knowledge you want someone to know. Build an experience, because experiences change the brain,”
People with ADHD aren’t the only ones who can have attention difficulties. Someone might do hours of role plays, but if they are distracted by other people practicing next to them, the new skills won’t stick.
Learners need to be able to control their environment so they can focus properly on training. At GoHealth, Jay invites people to do role plays in individual physical or virtual breakout rooms.
As Dr. Shachar explained in her first webinar, effective training requires activating the part of the brain called the cortex. When people feel scared about making mistakes in public, it triggers the fight-flight-freeze response instead, leaving fewer resources for long-term memory retention.
Employees need a private space where they can practice new skills without worrying about what other people will think about them.
The brain remembers skills and information better when it’s re-exposed to them at short intervals than when longer periods of time go by without practice, according to Dr. Shachar.
Strong memory retrieval requires employees to repeat training practice multiple times. Jay uses Second Nature AI role plays to make training enjoyable for his employees, so they want to practice more often.
Fortunately, Second Nature’s AI-powered role plays meet all four requirements for knowledge to stick for the long term: they make training experiential with active practice, remove the social threat, allow employees to focus on learning, and deliver repeat training at frequent intervals.
Using a solution like Second Nature that meets these four conditions can accelerate training from 1-3 months to just one day, says Dr. Shachar.
The only way to verify if training is sticking is to track metrics that prove ROI, according to Jay. His team uses Second Nature’s built in reporting tools to track specific components tied to their business KPIs. When they saw a 30% rise in conversion rates and $20 million EBITDA lift, they knew they were making a real difference.
“When we get the right scorecard back, like we do with Second Nature, I can tell whether or not people actually learned, and demonstrate that in a conversational component,” Jay said.
A training program that creates these four learning conditions is a training program that builds real skills. Second Nature’s gamified, experiential learning sessions and private training space give employees the proper setting for gaining long-term skills, and the tools to verify memory retention.
CTA: Watch the full webinar >>>
What do I need to do to reduce the forgetting curve for my training program?
According to Dr. Coral Shachar, PhD, to reduce the forgetting curve you need to make training experiential and enjoyable, so that learners repeat it many times.
How can I prove ROI on my training program?
According to Jay Fortuna, SVP Talent & Operations at GoHealth, you need the right scorecard to prove ROI on a training program. He uses Second Nature to track specific components in a role play conversation, and connects those components to KPIs tied to business objectives, including conversion rates and quality scores.
What does the brain need to turn information into long-term skills?
To build long-term skills, the brain needs four conditions:
Related resources
https://secondnature.ai/resources/gohealth-boosts-productivity-and-cuts-onboarding-time-with-second-nature/
https://secondnature.ai/resources/6-data-backed-secrets-for-translating-ai-role-plays/
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