Stickiness does not refer to the gum under your chair

There is a lot of talk about “stickiness” these days. The term is being used in marketing, training – even the new Steve Jobs biography. It conjures up an image. An image that is powerful and useful – and, I hate to burst the bubble, it’s not the cartoon of the cat with the gum stuck to its paw that can’t move forward and eventually freezes in place.

No, stickiness is about enthralling – gripping the user, reader or learner to return or stick around or apply new knowledge. For Apple, it was getting users to stick with Apple products. For websites it is getting the reader to stay longer and read more. In the case of training, stickiness means retaining and using the skills or knowledge that has been learned. 

Engaging training is active training that sticks with the learner.

There has long been talk about stickiness here at 1st Class Solutions. In fact, “training that sticks” is one of our core beliefs and the goal of every project we undertake for our clients.

Stickiness in training doesn’t just happen. Nor is it a mystical magic. It is knowing how to construct training and deliver training that does the trick. Using research-based and proven methods makes it seem like magic happens, but is really the expertise of the instructional design team.

Different types of methods and delivery such as classroom training or eLearning, using jobs aids or mobile learning is employed for different results and with different learners. In a business sense, most learners are adult learners, but the level of their knowledge or their experience with the content could vary widely.

To achieve the level of stickiness in training that defines optimal success, every aspect of the content, the learner and the training itself must be considered. It is more than having all the content in a binder and presenting it to a new employee. There may be one or two people out there that would sit down, read (and be able to apply the content) the manual and sit down to work. And chances are that you haven’t just hired one of those two people.

If you are interested in training that sticks to the bones and is used every day in the course of every employee’s work, hire a professional training vendor who knows how to make it happen.  

Remember, training that sticks isn’t a mystical event. It’s professional people applying their expertise.

-Elaine of the 1st Class Solutions Blog Team