You’re not imagining it. The training was engaging. The slides were great. The energy in the room was high. But two weeks later, hardly anything has changed.
We’ve all seen it: people leave a learning session with good intentions and full notebooks, yet struggle to recall the content when they need it most. But even remembering what you’ve learned isn’t the end goal – it’s what you do with it that counts.
This isn’t a motivation issue. It’s not about bad teaching. It’s about biology.
The brain doesn’t store learning like a hard drive. It has to be nudged to remember – repeatedly – in the days that follow. Otherwise, the effort and time poured into that initial learning quickly fade into the background noise of a busy week. And without a structure for building in recall and application, we’re wasting the investment.
For memory to form, information must be attended to, engaged with, and processed into meaning.
But here’s the nuance most people miss: not all recall is helpful. Once something is embedded, repeating it unnecessarily can bore the brain and actually disengage the learner. Instead, we need tailored, thoughtful reinforcement that builds on what has been learned, rather than just repeating it.
So, why don’t we remember what we learn? And more importantly, what can L&D professionals do to make learning stick – and stick in a way that changes things?
Let’s break it down.
1. Learning ≠ remembering: Why content disappears after training
Training is often built around delivery. But memory isn’t formed during delivery – it’s formed during encoding and consolidation.
Sarah, one of the characters in Make Your Brain Work, finds herself unable to recall key information from a training day, even though she was interested in the topic. The reason? The session moved fast, notes were minimal, and she was too tired to follow up that evening. By the next day, the content had begun to fade – a textbook example of poor encoding.
For memory to form, information must be attended to, engaged with, and processed into meaning. If a learner is distracted, tired, or not personally connecting the content to their real-world context, they simply won’t retain it.
Tip: Don’t just ask “Did they enjoy it?” after training. Ask “How are they going to apply it next week?” Then help them build in time and structure to make that application real.
2. Your brain is busy – and it’s not waiting around to remember
Attention is a limited resource. Your brain is constantly filtering out information it deems irrelevant – including much of what you hear during learning, unless it’s flagged as meaningful.
The prefrontal cortex is responsible for focus and working memory, but it’s also quickly depleted by multitasking, stress, and decision fatigue. And in most organisations, learning is squeezed between deadlines, emails and distractions – not exactly the ideal setting for retention.
Add to that the fact that mental overload suppresses memory encoding, and it’s no surprise that much of what’s “learned” never makes it to long-term memory.
Tip: Design for real brains. Break learning into short bursts, leave quiet space for reflection, and support people in planning how they’ll use what they remember in their real context.
Practising something in a vacuum doesn’t create the same neural robustness as using it when it counts.
3. It’s not revision – it’s rewiring
Neurons that fire together wire together. This is Hebbian learning in action – the brain strengthens connections between concepts that are repeatedly activated.
But for this to happen, learners must actively recall the information, not just re-read or re-watch it. Passive review gives the illusion of knowledge. Active recall and application actually build it.
What’s often missed in L&D design is that this recall should happen in real-world, relevant scenarios. Practising something in a vacuum doesn’t create the same neural robustness as using it when it counts.
And crucially, once something is wired in, repeating it too often can disengage the brain. That’s why tailored reinforcement matters: some learners may need another round of practice, others need a new challenge.
Tip: Use spaced repetition paired with challenge level. Ask: “Is this a refresher or a stretch?” and give learners a choice in how they revisit key content.
4. Consolidation builds the bridge – but you still have to cross it
Even if learning was well attended to, and even if recall happened once or twice, the process still isn’t finished.
The brain consolidates memories during rest, sleep, and unfocused time – this is when the Default Mode Network gets to work, integrating new knowledge with existing schemas and making it accessible later.
But consolidation only creates the potential for long-term memory. Without action, that potential fades.
Consolidation builds the neural scaffolding for memory – but action is what strengthens it.
If that action never happens – or feels too hard in context – the brain won’t prioritise the learning long term.
Tip: Encourage journaling, walking reflections, or peer discussions 24–72 hours after training. Build in downtime after learning – not just lunch breaks, but real decompression time.
The real transformation happens when people go beyond recall – to application.
5. Design for brains, not just classrooms
The most effective L&D programmes are designed with the brain in mind.
This means:
- Chunking content into digestible cognitive units.
- Reinforcing with emotion and storytelling (emotion strengthens memory).
- Providing multi-modal inputs (audio, visual, experiential).
- Letting people teach others to strengthen their own recall.
And above all, it means valuing the days after training as much as the training itself. That’s when memory becomes knowledge, and knowledge becomes behaviour.
Tip: Redefine “completion”. The session isn’t the end point. True completion comes when content is remembered and used. Measure that. And make sure the systems, structures, and team culture actually support that use.
Final thought: Remembering isn’t enough – application is the real win
Many learning programmes are designed to help people remember. But remembering alone doesn’t lead to results.
The real transformation happens when people go beyond recall – to application. And this is where most learning breaks down. Why? Because we overlook the role of context.
Even when learners remember what they’ve been taught, their work environment may not support putting it into practice. Workflows, culture, expectations, time pressures – all these can either enable or block the application of learning.
If you want learning to stick, design for memory. But if you want learning to matter, design for application.
The next step isn’t just recall. It’s reality.
