You've just been invogorated at t 3 day offsite conference, and are chompinng at the bit to put your new-found knowledge and skills to the test.
Upon return to work, you're immediately smothered by rush jobs, backlogged communications, new deadlines, catching up with what's been going on etc.
Desperately trying to maintain the "buzz" you felt only a few days ago, you make a not to yourself "share conference highlights with boss / colleagues", but every time it pops up as a reminder on your computer/PDA you snooze it for a day/week etc.
Its now several months later, and you stil have yet to capitalize on the session materials. In reality, you would have a hard time even finding the conference materials you brought back with you.
You know, deep down, that if you only had the time, you could make some of this new stuff work for you, if you only had the time. But now annual performance reviews are due, so it'll have to wait a few more weeks.
Sound familiar readers?
Too often do we return from training with hopes up and good intentions, but find ourselves challenged to find the time to make our "new future" happen. What to do?
If you're in management, the first step is to recognize this phenomenon and make sure that getting an after conference debrief happens whenever you send people offsite. The next step, an important one, is to help your subordinate create a plan, with specific time set aside, to implement some of the new ideas they came back with.
Lacking this kind of structure, you could be simply letting your investment in training slip away.
