How Do People L earn?

W hat O rganizations Should Do To C reate Better T raining

Programs Based O n Modern L earning T heory
By Chris Christensen

Studies investigating modern learning theories have revealed ten essential principles that
should influence adult training practices. These nine principles are briefly described in this
article and the implications of each of them on the development of corporate training
programs are reviewed.

1. Change the Learner’s  Mental Models

There is no such thing as an open mind—every human being possesses pre-conceived

ideas on every topic the individual encounters. In many cases these mental models are
tightly held by the individual so it is difficult for a trainer to get the individual to learn a
new perspective or to acquire a new behavior. Since 1972 the three-step process for
learning new ideas that J.S. Rhoades proposed has been widely adopted. In this model
the old mental model must first be “unfrozen,” then changed, and finally the new mental 
model must then be “refrozen.

Unfreeze-Change-Refreeze

The implications for a corporate training program of this principle is that old mental ideas
or paradigms must be identified, challenged and critiqued, and the new mental models
must then be substituted and reinforced during the training activities. Most training
programs identify the new mental models and paradigms desired, but fail to deal with the
old ones and only a few corporate programs successfully discredit the old paradigms.

2. T raining is O nly O ne Part of a Behavior C hange Program

The primary purpose of a corporate training program is to change the behavior of the
trainees. Modern learning theory has revealed that to change behavior, the trainee must
be motivated to make the desired changes and provided with the resources and facility to
make those changes. The facility to change behavior includes training but training is
only one part of a total behavior change program. Other elements of a successful
behavior modification program are (1) clearly defined objectives, (2) significant and real
rewards for making the desired changes, and (3) accountability for exhibiting the desired
behavior. While many corporate training programs are effective in delivering reasons for
individual behavior changes to the trainees, few corporations integrate the training into an
overall behavior modification program. Without significant rewards and a systematic
means of measuring performance coupled with feedback to the individual, training will
seldom result in significant changes in behavior.

©2008 Christensen Associates, Inc. Page 1

3. People Can’t Overcome T heir W eaknesses

Many corporate training programs include workshops, classes, and activities designed to
help trainees identify weaknesses and develop the means to overcome those weaknesses.
This is occasionally but rarely successful. Experience with individual behavior
modification programs and studies of adult learning practices have shown that the most
effective means to achieve improved performance from individuals is to build on the
individual’s strengths.  For example, a senior manager was highly regarded for his
technical knowledge and skills, but was unsuccessful as a leader because he failed to
listen to his direct reports. He had tried for years to be more attentive to his employees
but his reputation as a poor listener persisted. However, when he considered that from
time to time he did listen attentively to some individuals, he was able to improve his
listening skills in all situations. He discovered that he managed to listen if he liked the
talker even if he was not interested in the subject matter. By focusing on his direct reports
as individuals he was able to pay attention to them even when they discussed topics he
found boring. Training programs focused on discovering weaknesses and encouraging
individuals to overcome their weaknesses will be less effective than those that help
trainees discover their strengths and learn how to build on those strengths to compensate
for weaknesses.

4. A pply L earning Immediately

Nothing is more frustrating to an individual than to learn a new skill but then discover
there will not be an opportunity to apply the new skill for a long time. Corporate courses
in how to use MS Project were not successful when the trainees returned to their work
stations only to discover that the software had not been installed on the trainees’ work 
stations. By the time MS Project was installed, the trainees had developed negative
attitudes toward their employer and moral remained low for several months.

The solution to this problem is to ensure that the students who receive training can
immediately apply what they have learned on their jobs. Just-In-Time (JIT) training is
designed to offer only that training that will be needed just before it is needed. Corporate
training programs should adopt a JIT perspective any time that is possible because that
will greatly increase the usefulness of the training.

Even better, if the training can be offered as an integral part of the students’ active work, 
then what is learned will be immediately applicable. Such training is referred to as
“Action Learning.”  Corporate training programs should incorporate as much Active 
Learning as feasible since it maximizes the value of the training, although it is often
difficult to find trainers/facilitators who are capable of performing jobs and teaching
others to perform them simultaneously.

©2008 Christensen Associates, Inc. Page 2

5. T raining M ust Improve the Business

As stated earlier, the primary purpose of any training program is to change behavior.
But, the only reason for changing behavior with effective training is to improve the
business. However, most corporations and organizations are incapable of measuring the
impact of the training on the business. Donald Kirkpatrick developed a scale for
measuring the effectiveness of training by considering four levels:

Level 1—Did the trainee feel there was value in the training? After the training is
completed, the students are asked whether they felt the training was effective.
Nearly all corporate training programs include an assessment by the
participants at the end of the formal training. The problem with this evaluation
is that the trainees are not ordinarily well equipped to determine the ultimate
value of the training. Most firms determine the Level 1 value of the training
but that knowledge has very little practical impact on the business.

Level 2—Was knowledge or skill acquired by the trainee? Ordinarily a test is

administered at the end of the formal training. If the student passes the test,
then the training is judged to have been successful in transferring knowledge
and skills to the trainee. In some corporate training programs, a test is given at
the beginning and at the end of the formal training and improvement can be
specifically measured. Most corporate training does not include Level 2
evaluations but colleges, universities and high schools in most cases do.

Level 3—Did an improvement in the trainee’s behavior result from the training?  A 
qualified interviewer/observer returns to the company some time after the
formal training has concluded and determines if there has been an improvement
in the behavior of the trainees. This measurement is performed by interviewing
the trainees, his/her peers, and his/her supervisor to answer the question: “Did 
you observe an improvement that you attribute to the training?” While most 
trainers are extremely reluctant to perform a Level 3 assessment, Christensen
Associates, Inc., makes it a policy to include a Level 3 assessment at no
additional expense to the client in every training and coaching engagement.

Level 4—Did the training increase the quality of the business’ performance?  Ideally, 

this Level assessment would result in finding a direct link between the training
and the share price, profits, or market share. But it is virtually impossible to
attribute any change in share price, profits, or market share to any one cause
such as training—these measures of business performance are complex and
changes in these measures may be due to many things outside the control of the
corporate trainer. Accordingly, most corporations and organizations do not try
to perform Level 4 assessments. But in those cases where the linkage between
training and business performance is obvious, Level 4 assessments can and
should be made. For example, training a project team to employ Gantt Chart
schedules should improve the communications and overall performance of the

©2008 Christensen Associates, Inc. Page 3

 project team as measured by missed deliveries, amount of schedule slippage,
and cost over/under runs.

In line with the business principle that training should enhance the business performance
of the organization, it is important to align the training schedule with work schedules.
Taking people from their normal place of work diminishes the corporate work effort and
should be avoided if at all possible.  Fitting the training into the trainees’ work schedules 
is not often appreciated by trainers, but from a business perspective it is sensible.

6. Pay A ttention to Short A ttention Spans

Modern studies of learning in the workplace reveal that the attention span of most
trainees is very short—a few minutes at most. TV commercials and entertainment shows
change the view every few seconds so the audience never has time to become bored. But
training programs in corporations have often scheduled employees to attend a class for
whole days or even a full week. This naturally exceeds the effective attention span of
those being trained and diminishes the training effectiveness. Excellent trainers can hold
their audience’s attention for the duration of the training sessions, but many trainers are
not capable of doing this. Ideally, training programs should be designed to last no more
than a couple of hours if possible, but it is often not cost effective to have a trainer be
present for several days so that a long training course can be broken into short formal
sessions interspersed with periods when the students can apply what they’ve learned to 
their jobs. For example, an eight-hour class might be spread over four days with two-
hours sessions held each day day.

Contemporary studies also reveal that students benefit from significant time between
formal learning sessions. This gives the students time to try to apply what they have
learned, and is referred to as “processing time.”

Corporate training program planners should shorten the durations of formal training
sessions and separate those formal sessions whenever possible so the students’ natural 
attention span is not exceeded and to provide processing time between the formal
sessions.

7. E mploy the Same T echnological Tools and Practices in T raining that are Used in
Wor k

When the work performed involves unique practices, the training should augment and
enhance those rather than interfere with them. For example, if the team is virtual (located
in different time zones, for instance) it does not make a lot of sense to bring the virtual
team together physically to learn how to work together. Corporate training should,
whenever possible and to the extent practicable, be performed with the trainees in exactly
the same working conditions they employ on their jobs.

©2008 Christensen Associates, Inc. Page 4

 It is appropriate to take a few minutes to consider how corporate work is done today and
how it will be performed in the future. In the past work was performed by individuals
working in their offices and by teams (formal and informal) who physically got together
for meetings and working sessions. As technology has become available to facilitate
people working at distances from each other and as the cost and effort of getting people
together physically have escalated, work is changing. Of course many jobs are still
performed with work team members physically present, but that is rapidly changing.
More and more, work is being performed by individuals working together from
significant distances from each other—variously called “virtual workplace,” “virtual 
teams,” “virtual meetings,” “teleconferencing,” and  “telecommuting.” Clearly, if work
teams are employing virtual meeting tools such as WEBX, SharePoint, eRoom, and
Teamwork.com, the training should be conducted employing those same tools, not
bringing the trainees to a physical location separate from their work environment tools.
Most contemporary companies do not currently employ the virtual work tools when
conducting formal training, but they should.

It is not sufficient to incorporate virtual tools into the corporate training programs.
Corporations need to consider what work tools and practices will be used in the future
and what processes will be employed for day-to-day work. Current training programs
must train workers to perform immediate tasks and to prepare them for work that will be
performed in the future. Avatars, SecondLife, workplace robotics, and Seriosity Attent
are currently being used in experimental and limited applications to enhance work, and
these tools and the use of game technology will become more prevalent in studies of both
work and corporate training. In addition to developing training programs that provide
currently needed skills and knowledge to workers, corporations should perform futures
research projects to forecast what skills and knowledge will be needed in the future and
then develop training programs that qualify them for those future jobs.

8. E mploy “Different Strokes for Different Folks”

Trainers and corporate training departments all thoroughly understand that people learn at
different rates and in different ways. For over 50 years trainers have employed a model
based on how different people learn. In this model three learning styles are identified:

Visual
Auditory
Kinesthetic & Tactical

Some trainers and some researchers have divided the Kinesthetic and Tactical into two
different styles. There is a large body of literature on the subject of how to approach
individuals who are predominantly visual, auditory, or Kinesthetic/Tactical. Expert
trainers take these three styles into account in developing materials. Modern research
indicates that most students are a combination of the three (or four) types and may even
switch from preferring one style to another one during periods of distress or pressure.
Accordingly, effective trainers usually incorporate not one but three (or four) approaches

©2008 Christensen Associates, Inc. Page 5

 to presenting subject matter in every module. They give students opportunities to see
what the new skills or knowledge looks like, experience what it sounds like, and what it
feels like. Courses are designed to include all three (or four) methods in every session. In
this way, every student will receive some of the presentation that is best suited to his or
her personal approach in every class.

Many other psychological tools have been developed and are widely used in customizing
course material and teaching methods to the individual student’s preferred learning style.  
The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) is probably the best known and most widely
used of these tools. It divides individuals into sixteen categories of preferences for
learning approaches. LIFO, FIRO-B, Strength Deployment Indicator, Interpersonal
Influence Indicator, and DiSC are just of few of the more than 80 popular tools designed
to determine a student’s preferred learning style so the trainer can customize the material 
and training approach to the individual.

In addition to psychological tools like those mentioned above, trainers are becoming
cognizant of differences in students based on age, gender, and cultural experiences.
Globalization, diversity, and generational studies are helpful in identifying how different
students learn and how best to present material to them so that they each learn most
efficiently. Corporate training programs should employ these tools intelligently.

9. T raining M ust E ntertain

When all is said and done, if a class was not interesting to the student, it is very likely
that very little learning took place. Accordingly, corporate training programs should
include various techniques and material that make the training more entertaining. Only a
few trainers spend a great deal of time learning how to perform standup comedy, but
those who do often excel in the classroom. Games are excellent tools that, when used
wisely, can thoroughly engage the student and make learning subject matter a lot of fun,
particularly for younger generations who have been exposed to games on a much grander
scale than older generations were. Excellent corporate trainers devote a great deal of
effort to discovering and incorporating stories and case studies that make subject matter
relevant to the students’ experiences while engaging the students in fun activities.

10. T rainers M ust Be E xperts

Corporate students today demand that instructors be true experts in the subject matter, not
just excellent instructors. Good instructors must possess skills in teaching others, but that
is not enough for the vast majority of trainees in contemporary industry. Students want to
know that their instructors are expert in the subject matter being taught. Leadership
training is most effective when taught by a recognized corporate executive (or a retired
one) and quality topics are most effectively taught by certified quality experts who have
worked in the corporation’s industry.  

Corporations must hire people who are experts in the subject matter and are also able and
willing to become instructors. While many subject matter experts eschew training others,

©2008 Christensen Associates, Inc. Page 6

 learning studies reveal that corporations trying to develop the most effective training
programs should seek experts in subjects who are simultaneously capable of teaching
others.

In the past, corporations often developed a cadre of excellent trainers who were expected
to create and conduct training on many subjects in a “corporate university” or training 
center. In the future, the training department of a corporation will probably be very
small, conducting scheduling and other administrative functions and teaching subject
matter experts in how to design and present effective training.

Summary

Here is a list of the practices and tools that should be included in the design of courses in
a corporate learning program, based on contemporary learning theory:

1. Give students time and resources to identify their old mental models, make the
desired changes, and reinforce the new ideas/behaviors
2. Treat the training as an important but by no means sole part of the overall behavior
modification program
3. Learn each student’s learning style and customize the training programs to appeal to 
each individual student’s preference—use tools like the MBTI and DiSC
4. Give students time and resources to identify their strengths and help them develop
personal strategies for building on them to compensate for their “weaknesses”
5. Facilitate students’ application of what they learn into their jobs immediately—
provide training Just-In-Time and incorporate Action Learning to help students learn
what they need when they need it
6. Repeatedly show the students that the training material is relevant to the business
objectives
7. Consider and incorporate knowledge of the individual student’s cultural, generational, 
and other background experiences in all course designs
8. Measure the effectiveness of all training at least at Level 1 and Level 3 and modify
the behavior modification program to incorporate what is learned from this feedback
9. Reduce the duration of training to match the attention span of participants
10. Use virtual meeting and other tools and practices in training programs that are
identical to those employed in actual work situations
11. Perform futures research projects to forecast what skills will be needed in the future
and develop training that prepares the workforce for the skills and knowledge they
will need
12. Make the training fun for the students—use games, stories, case studies, activities,
and audio visual aids that entertain
13. Hire individuals who possess both skills and knowledge in the necessary technical
subject matter, and also have the skills and willingness to train others
14. Hire internal or contract with external training experts who can teach subject matter
experts how to develop and present effective training to others

©2008 Christensen Associates, Inc. Page 7

If you want to know more about this topic, please contact the author:

Chris Christensen, President

Christensen Associates, Inc.
chris@camcinc.com

or visit our web site:

www.camcinc.com

©2008 Christensen Associates, Inc. Page 8