Training That Sticks
Competence is built, not certified.
If training is the starting point, what actually carries people to the finish?
I’ve asked myself that for years, especially after watching teams do the course, pass the quiz… and then drift back to old habits on the floor.
One moment sticks with me. We’d just rolled out a new rigging and lifting programme. The slides were clear, the sessions well attended, and the sign-offs neat. And yet—out in the yard—I could still see hesitation, the same shortcuts, the same near-miss patterns that had sent us to training in the first place.
The shift didn’t come from more slides. It began when supervisors started asking crews to review their lift plan before every job. Not as a tick-box ritual— as a conversation: “What’s changed since last time? Where’s the energy? What would put it on a path?” Learning only started to stick when leadership showed up to make it stick.
How I tried to make learning visible
When I led an operations team, I buddy-up’d new starters with our quiet experts. Every new team member kept a small journal—what they’d learned, what they’d practised, what still felt uncertain. The expert would review entries, sign off skills, and leave short, practical comments (“Try this grip,” “Watch your line of fire here”).
I met with each person regularly and moved their progress onto a simple ILU training matrix:
I — Introduction: You’ve seen it done and understand the basics.
L — Learning: You can do it with support; we’re here to coach and correct.
U — Understanding: You can do it safely, repeatedly, confidently—and explain why.
That matrix wasn’t paperwork; it was a window. It showed the team where they were, what was next, and where we needed to coach. By the time someone hit “U”, they didn’t just know the steps—they understood the energy in the task and the barriers that kept it from becoming harm.
The bit we forget
Training doesn’t guarantee learning. Attendance and understanding are not the same thing. The value of training is proven at the job site, not in the training room. Competency—not completion—is the goal.
And that’s where leadership lives. We’re the bridge between the classroom and the worksite. Our job isn’t only to ensure the session happens; it’s to verify that it’s being lived in, how work is planned, how people communicate, and how barriers are identified, tested, and maintained.
I’ve come to believe this:
If training is the starting point, then the destination is understanding—
and the journey between them is built on courage, confidence, and competence.
Courage to ask, to try, to say “I’m not sure yet.”
Confidence built through reps, feedback, and visible progress.
Competence proven in the field—under different conditions, with real energy present.
There’s one more line I draw as a safety leader:
Give people permission to fail—within clear boundaries.
You can fail, but you cannot harm. We create safe ways to learn: isolate first, use a spotter, slow the pace, practise on de-energised systems. Curiosity is welcome; uncontrolled risk is not.
Practise for the next 5 minutes
Pick one recent training topic—working at height, rigging, LOTO, confined space—then:
Walk the work. Ask, “What’s changed since last time?”
See the energy. “Where could energy move if a barrier fails?”
Test the barrier. “Show me how this actually holds.”
Coach on the spot. One improvement, right now.
Make it visible. Capture progress on your ILU (or whatever tool you use) and agree the next step to reach Understanding.
Reflection for the week
Do I verify that my team can do what they’ve been trained to do—or just that they’ve attended?
Where can I safely permit failure so that learning accelerates without harm?
Which skill on our ILU requires one more repetition or one more coached conversation to progress from Learning to Understanding?
Luck isn’t a strategy. Systems are.
Training starts the story; leadership writes the part that makes it stick.