Five minutes of attention can increase retention:
Use these time-tested techniques

by Steve Witcher

What do you do, as a trainer, to ensure retention of pertinent subject matter?  Other than the typical steps of preparing, presenting, making application and evaluating the training, what specific steps do you take to ensure your trainees leave your training session with new knowledge stored in their long-term memory?

Successful trainers hone their skills to help their trainees retain what they have learned.  This article addresses training ideas that are basic and, yet, often neglected.  If used, these techniques can help increase the effectiveness of your training sessions.

The trainees attentiveness plays a major role in the retention of facts, principles, concepts and procedures.  Researchers observing a variety of training sessions measured trainees attention spans in both classroom settings and structured on-job training/coaching sessions.  The goal was to identify key times in a training session when the learners were most attentive.  Then, the trainers could correlate their training/learning activities with the moments of greatest attention to increase trainees retention of the material.  When trainers properly use these moments of high attentiveness, we become more efficient and effective in our training.  This information relates to a classroom setting or on the shop floor.

If you have spent any time training in the classroom, with a small group or with individuals, youve observed these "high- attention" phases when the trainees are most attentive.  High-attention rates are observed during two major periods of a training session, regardless of how long the training session lasts.  These optimal training moments are, as you probably guessed, during the first five minutes and the last five minutes of the session (give or take a few minutes).

Of course, this does not mean that learning is not taking place during the rest of the training session.  Attention rates rise and fall according to the effectiveness of the instructor, the subject matter, how involved the trainee is with the learning process, and a variety of environmental or physical conditions.

The fact remains, however, that there are always two critical periods in your training session when your audience is most receptive.  Knowing this, what should be the focus during 
these periods?

The first five minutes
Do the following during the first five minutes of your training:
1) State the objective.
2) Preview the content.
3) Grab the trainees attention (an effective introduction).
4) Involve the learner.

State the objective
During the first five minutes of classroom or on-the-job sessions, the trainees are fresh and attentive.  Use this time to emphasize some key pieces of information to capture their attention.  Dont wait until you are deep into the lesson before you identify the expected outcome of the training or the key information you want the trainees to focus on and retain. 

Make sure you emphasize the objective of the lesson and keep them focused on that objective.  Simply stating the objective, or better yet, keeping it before the trainee(s) in written form, ensures they dont waste time with questions that clearly arent going to be covered in the training.  Address the needs of the trainee by identifying how, where or when they can get the needed information, but stay focused.  Having a clear objective helps you plan the training activities and make conscious decisions on what happens in the training and when it will happen.

If training gets sidetracked, restate the objective.  This way, if you have to redirect any discussions or irrelevant activities, the objective is the focus, not personalities.  Now the trainer and the trainee have a common purpose for being in the session.  Both parties know what is expected, how to determine if the trainer has been effective, and whether the trainee can perform the task to the required level of accuracy.

Preview the content
Put the content in the context of the work environment.  
Explain how the material is relevant to the job and how the trainee will be guided through the training.  Remember, the training should ensure success of the trainees.  Identify key subject matter covered in the session.  Emphasize the importance of the information.

If the trainees don't recognize the importance of the lesson, they won't put forth the effort to learn the lesson.  For example, many of us have carried pennies in our pockets for decades, but we could not successfully draw what is on the head or tail side of a penny because it is not something we need to know.  Weve looked at it, held it, carried it close to us, but still don't recognize the details.  Likewise, how many things surround us in the plant that we should know (or others expect us to know because of our years in the plant), but we have never made an effort to learn simply because we didn't recognize the need to know?

Grab the trainees attention (an effective introduction)
Get the trainees interested in the training.  Make it relevant.  Adult learning principles require learning to be relevant and immediately applicable on the job.  Use "attention getters" and good introductions.  This can range from demonstrations or simulations to games, stories (using the trainees names) or simple introductory statements. 

For example, if you are training on aligning equipment, you might introduce the subject by stating, "Understand that around 87 percent of all coupled equipment failures are caused by unbalance or misalignment.  Today, youre going to learn how 
to properly align this equipment to help diminish premature failure."  These statements are especially helpful if related to the trainees safety.

Involve the learner
Involve the learners during this short introduction.  Encourage them to ask questions.  Better yet, ask open-ended questions that encourage learner participation.  Have the trainees share personal stories of their experiences with the subject matter.

After preparing the trainees, train them.  Follow the old saying, "Tell them what youre going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them."

The last five minutes of training
Do the following during the last five minutes of your training:
1) Restate the objective.
2) Summarize the key points.
3) Ask questions to determine the trainees comprehension of the material.
4) Review content as needed.

The trainees minds often wander when a training session covers a large amount of material.  As you've probably noticed, when you mention that "the session will be over in a few more minutes" or "well take a break in a few minutes," the trainees body language and eye contact generally indicate an increase in attention.  This holds true for classroom, facilitation and coaching sessions.  Now that you have their attention . . .

Restate the objective
Have you ever walked away from a training session and forgotten what it was about?  You remember certain points, but you cant quite summarize the training session or put it all together?  Have you ever asked a child, "What did you learn in school today?"  The answer is often "I dont know."  This is often caused by a lack of closure to the lesson.  We need to restate the objective to remind the trainees of the purpose for the training.  Thats part of the function of the summary/review.

Summarize the key points
Determine the key points you want the trainees to retain, especially any safety-related information.  Remember, you have the trainees for a few final, highly attentive moments.  Make this time count.  They won't remember everything you told or showed them, but they will most likely remember the last things you place in their memory.  Drill and practice the key points of the lesson.  Repetition is a good teacher.  If the trainees could only remember three things from your lesson, what would you want them to be?

Ask questions to determine the 
trainees comprehension of the material
Ask specific questions that require the trainees to demonstrate their retention. You may need to review some content or part of 
a procedure.  Use this time to seal in the main points of the lesson, whether knowledge or skill.  Use an informal test, questionnaire or demonstration of a learned skill in place of questioning each trainee.  Dont assume technology transfer has occurred.  Prove it.

Review content, as needed
Do not reteach all the details.  Simply emphasize enough 
of the information to address very specific knowledge or skill deficiencies.

Summary
These nuggets are simple but often neglected.  Most trainers often allow highly attentive moments to slip by.  Its only five minutes on the front and back end of the training session, but the seeds you plant during these high-attention moments are the ones most likely to bear fruit.

What do you usually do at the end of your training sessions?  
Do you summarize key points?  What do you do after a walkdown of equipment or a demonstration of a procedure?  Do you seal the training objective in the trainees mind?  Do you ask questions of each trainee to determine their comprehension of the training material?

To not make use of these five-minute attention spans is such a small thing, like the termite, but so damaging if neglected.  Make your training relevant, efficient and effective, and use these five-minute periods to help trainees retain new learning.  Remember, your next training event may be the last time your trainees have to properly learn the subject matter, especially if you are the subject matter expert.  Push key information into their memories, where they can draw from it when needed.

Steve Witcher is the training and development leader for Strategic Work Systems, a consulting firm with offices in Greenville, S.C., and Mill Spring, N.C. For more information, call , e-mail or visit www.swspitcrew.com.

MRO Today.  Copyright, 2000.

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