Why your training isn't sticking (and what neuroscience says you should do instead)

You've invested in training your people, so why has nothing changed?

Your managers attended. The feedback forms said it was excellent.

So why, three months later, are they managing exactly the same way they did before?

This isn't a failure of your people.

It isn't a failure of your training provider.

It's a failure to account for one of the most well-documented phenomena in psychology – and most L&D teams have never even heard of it.

The uncomfortable truth about how we forget

In In 1885, German psychologist Hermann Ebbinghaus published his seminal study, Memory: A Contribution to Experimental Psychology.

What he discovered wasn't comforting for anyone in the business of helping people learn.

His data revealed the "Forgetting Curve," a brutal mathematical reality:

Within one hour of learning something new, we forget approximately 50% of it.
Within 24 hours, that figure rises to 70%.
Within a week, we have lost up to 90% of what we supposedly "learned."

Think about what this means in practice.

You send a team leader on a two-day management course.
They learn about effective delegation, difficult conversations, and coaching techniques.
They're engaged, they take notes, they leave feeling equipped.

A week later, they've retained perhaps 10% of it.

A month later, even less.

They're back to their old habits—not because they didn't care about the training, but because their brain simply discarded the information before it had a chance to become embedded.

This is happening across your organisation right now.

Every course, every workshop, every e-learning module—all subject to the same biology.

Why traditional training design makes this worse

Most corporate training is designed as if the Forgetting Curve doesn't exist.

The typical approach is the "sheep dip": gather people together for a day or two, deliver concentrated content, send them back to work, and hope for the best.

But neuroscience tells us this approach is fundamentally flawed.

The brain doesn't form lasting memories through single exposure.
It forms them through Long-Term Potentiation—the strengthening of neural pathways through repeated retrieval over time.

When information is accessed repeatedly at strategic intervals, the Forgetting Curve resets.
Crucially, the curve becomes less steep each time.

This is called Spaced Repetition, and it is one of the most robust findings in cognitive science.

The real cost of forgetting

Let's put some numbers on this.

If your organisation spends £50,000 annually on management training, and 90% of that learning evaporates within a month, you're effectively burning £45,000 every year. You're paying for knowledge that never converts into changed behaviour.

But the real cost goes deeper than wasted training budgets.

When managers don't retain what they've learned, they fall back on instinct. They avoid the difficult conversation they now can't remember how to structure.
They revert to telling rather than coaching because the questioning techniques have faded.

Your people aren't failing to apply their training. They literally don't remember it.

What neuroscience says you should do instead

Ebbinghaus didn't just identify the problem—he pointed toward the solution. Modern research reinforces this.

Here's what the evidence tells us actually works:

Spacing beats cramming. According to research by Work-Learning Research, spacing learning events over time (rather than jamming them into one day) can improve long-term retention by up to 200%. A skill practised five times over five weeks sticks far better than one practised five times in a single day.

Retrieval beats re-reading. Cognitive scientists call this the "Testing Effect." Actively recalling information strengthens memory far more than passively reviewing it. This is why roleplay and application matter more than slide decks.

Context matters. The brain holds onto information it perceives as meaningful. Learning that connects to real workplace challenges is retained; abstract theory is discarded.

Repetition must be strategic. Simply repeating content isn't enough. Reviewing material just as you're about to forget it (a technique known as "Desirable Difficulty") produces the strongest memory effects.

The implications for training design are significant. Effective learning isn't a single event. It's a process that extends over weeks and months, with built-in opportunities for practice, retrieval, and reinforcement.

How we design programmes differently

Understanding the Forgetting Curve has fundamentally shaped how we approach training at BCF Group.

Our programmes aren't designed as isolated events. They're designed as learning journeys with reinforcement built in.

When delegates learn a framework like GROW for coaching conversations or SBI Situation-Behaviour-Impact) for giving feedback, they don't just hear about it once. They practice it, apply it, and return to it repeatedly until it becomes embedded.

This is why we've developed tools that extend learning beyond the classroom.

One of those tools is Thirty Seven – an AI-powered learning companion we've developed in partnership with Media First. It's specifically designed to combat the Forgetting Curve by embedding learning reinforcement into everyday workflows.

Rather than leaving delegates to forget what they've learned, Thirty Seven provides bite-sized practice opportunities. It delivers AI-powered roleplays where managers can rehearse difficult conversations and feedback scenarios—getting instant feedback and building confidence through repetition.

The platform uses the same methodologies our trainers have refined over decades. Frameworks like GROW, SBI, and STAR—the practical tools that work in real management situations—are built into the AI, ensuring consistency between what's learned in the training room and what's reinforced afterwards.

What this means for your L&D strategy

If you're responsible for developing managers and leaders the Forgetting Curve should change how you think about training investment.

Stop evaluating programmes purely on "Happy Sheets."
Delegate satisfaction scores tell you whether people enjoyed the day, not whether they will remember it in a month.
Start asking about reinforcement.
How will this learning be sustained? What opportunities exist for practice and retrieval?
Leverage technology.
AI-powered reinforcement tools like Thirty Seven aren't replacing human trainers—they're extending their impact.
They ensure the expertise shared in the room doesn't evaporate in the weeks that follow.

The bottom line

Your training isn't failing because it's bad training. It's failing because human memory doesn't work the way we wish it did.

The Forgetting Curve is real, it's predictable, and it's quietly destroying your L&D ROI. But it's also beatable—if you design for it rather than ignore it.

The organisations that get this right will be the ones whose managers actually behave differently after training. The ones whose investment in development translates into genuine capability improvement.

Click here to learn more about our Train the Trainer course options.

The BCF Group has been helping organisations develop their people for over 25 years. Our management training, coaching qualifications, and Train the Trainer programmes are designed with the Forgetting Curve in mind.

We combine expert-led delivery with reinforcement tools like Thirty Seven to ensure learning actually sticks.
Get in touch to discuss how we can help your training investment deliver lasting results.

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