Don’t Be a Training Zombie: How to Keep Your Skills Alive

Don’t Be a Training Zombie: How to Keep Your Skills Alive

As we navigate today’s ever-changing professional world, continuing to learn isn’t just a nice-to-have, it’s a necessity.

All too often however, we fall into the trap becoming ‘Training Zombies’. We attend workshops and courses then shuffle back to our desks and continue doing exactly what we did before.

This sequence is highlighted through the statistic which shows that only 12% of employees apply new skills learned to their jobs.

The good news is that this cycle of doom is easily negated, and we have compiled a few simple strategies to help keep the new skills you obtain alive and kicking –

Inject Life Into What You Learn

The "Forgetting Curve" hypothesis suggests that we lose approximately 75% of newly acquired information within six days, without application. This emphasizes the necessity of implementing at least one new technique or idea following a training event and can be done by linking what you’ve learnt to a current project or sharing your wisdom with a colleague.

Craft Your Own Personal Learning Plan

Take charge of your own development by regularly assessing your skills, setting specific, measurable learning goals and tapping into resources like Skills DG’s Learning Hub which is jam-packed with Thought Leadership pieces, Whitepapers, Webinars and more.

Impart Your Knowledge

To reinforce your own learning, teach others. Offer to give a presentation to the team on a new skill you've acquired, mentor a junior colleague or write a blog post for your organisation.

Don't let your training materials gather dust

Schedule regular review sessions to go over your materials, reflect on how you've applied new skills and the results you've seen.

Challenge Yourself

Seek out opportunities to work on projects that will stretch your new skills and seek feedback from colleagues or supervisors regarding your application of everything you’ve learned.

So now is the time to resurrect passive learning and remember that training and development isn't just to accumulate certificates or attend workshops. It's to continuously acquire new skills, be more effective in your role and demonstrate a dedication to improvement.

References:

Glaveski, S (2019) Where Companies Go Wrong With Learning and Development. Harvard Business Review

Cloke, H (2024) What Is The Forgetting Curve? Definition, History and Key Strategies, Growth Engineering