The document summarizes 3 keys to sustaining learning from a discussion with clients: [1] Focus 40% of effort before learning on preparation, 20% on the learning itself, and 40% after on reinforcement. Plant expectations of follow up and link learning to business goals. [2] Don't assume learning will happen automatically. Identify existing learning communities and scale what works well for them. [3] Focus less on generational differences and more on varying digital fluency. Identify early adopters to champion social media learning. Don't assume a one-size-fits-all approach, as organizations differ in adopting new approaches.

1. forum.com http://www.forum.com/blog/3-keys-to-sustaining-learning/
3 Keys to Sustaining Learning
February 17th, 2011 by Steve Barry
How do you sustain learning and behavior change? What works? What falls flat?
Armed only with magic markers, strong coffee, and the success stories and battle scars of
implementing many learning initiatives, an energetic group of clients tackled these questions
last week at our Boston office. They identified three emerging trends:
Key Point #1. Don’t just focus on the “after.” Focus on the “before.”
This scribble was created collectively by clients at
our Boston office last week.
40/20/40 – Follow Brinkerhoff’s rule: Focus 40
percent of energy and planning on aligning,
communicating with, and engaging people who are
about to have a learning experience. Focus 20
percent on the learning experience itself. Focus
the remaining 40 percent on reinforcement and
application of the learning.
Plant seeds of commitment and expectation.
Let learners know up front that you will be calling
them to follow up. Link training to specific business
priorities of senior managers, and then tie their
direct reports’ financial and developmental goals to
the senior managers’ scorecards. Lastly, tap into
salespeople’s ego drive. Provide a template with which salespeople can capture and quantify the
application of their learning. Then, watch them outdo one another in the subsequent best practice
session.
Key Point #2: This is not the Field of Dreams.
If you build it, they probably won’t come.
Instead of building a learning community, identify learning communities and study what they do. What
technology do they use? What do they share? Who are the champions? Build upon and scale what
you learn .
Key Point #3: Generational differences are so last generation.
Worry less about differences between generations, and more about differences in digital fluency.
When looking to implement social media learning, identify early adopters as champions. (These might,
in fact, be Baby Boomers.)
Don’t take a “one size fits all” approach to social media, however. Organizations vary widely in
adoption rates – primarily depending on risk tolerance and perceptions of its value-add.
The New Social Learning, by Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner, is a helpful guide.