Are we Creatures of Habit?

As a Trainer it is key that my training "hits home" and that delegates go away from their course, whatever it may be, with a positive impression. Not only is this achieved by training techniques, good quality hand outs and presentation skills, but also by their mentality and receptiveness to learn new things. It is also essential that training delegates understand the reasons why they are learning.

We all hate change.... don't we? If you have been doing a task in a certain way for 20 years (or even less) your mind tells you that it works. So why change? Well, imagine if you were told a better way to perform that task that can save you hours of your life... what would you do? I'm sure that most of you would like to say that you would do it the new way and save time, but would you really? Would your inner sense of habit kick in and prevent you from making that life changing change to the task.

What I have experienced with some trainees in the past 10 years, is that they are so enthusiastic about learning new things and can't wait to put them into practice. Day one, week one, month one... these new practices continue and they are making excellent progress, but then they undertake, what I call "training flip back", whereby they revert to their old way of performing the task. Why is this? The "buy in" to the training was clearly there, the results were proven and they demonstrated clear enthusiasm for learning.

It was a mystery to me, until I recently posed this scenario to our Business Psychology Trainer, Sharon De Mascia. Sharon identified that there are 3 clear strategies that need to be in place to prevent this "training flip back" from happening, and explained that we are habitual creatures who program our brains to repeat tasks rather than re-think them and process them differently.

1. Ensure that the internal change is made with the delegate (i.e. they understand WHY they doing something differently)

2. Ensure that their physical environment supports the change

3. Continually monitor the results and outcomes

Having now got a clear perspective and pointer to this, it made me realise even more, just how important my follow up calls are to training delegates and their Managers, after I have delivered a training session!

So, is there light at the end of the tunnel? Can we, as human beings, overcome our reticence to change and take on new training? Or are we creatures of habit?