Forgive me if I sound impatient. The world is calling us to act—boldly and urgently—with every tool we’ve got. In my line of work, that means making sure that learning isn’t just informative—it’s transformative. It means refusing to settle for workshops that check a box or toolkits that sit on a shelf. It means designing for action, for performance, for the kind of learning that actually shows up in how people lead, decide, and serve.
I’ve been in a few conversations recently about content collections—those beautifully crafted documents full of best practices, frameworks, and strategies. They’re thorough. Smart people wrote them. And they hold everything one might need to know about a topic.
Your organization might have these collections of information. Take advocacy, for example. I know these collections exist because I’ve partnered with associations to produce three advocacy curricula in the last six years. They’re full of solid content: practical information, discussions to bring back to your board, and templates to put to use right away.
But last week, as the call went out to contact legislators, I found myself asking with a heavy heart: Is anyone actually using them? How much real-world change is resulting from these collections of information?
Learning expert Tom McDowall recently asked in his post, The Transfer Problem:
“What if only 10% of your training actually changes how people work?”
That would mean 90% is a waste of time. And Tom’s question isn’t hypothetical. That number is backed by data.
[Read more here: Tom McDowall, The Transfer Problem]
The rate at which information-heavy training turns into action isn’t just a technical issue. It’s a wake-up call for all of us who create learning experiences and want them to matter for the mission-driven people we serve.
From information to impact
This moment gives us a chance to return to what we know: learning is most powerful when it leads to action. That’s why I keep coming back to our learning-focused theory of change…
When information turns into learning—and learning turns into action—we help people do their jobs better, which yields stronger organizations and healthier communities.
To bring this theory of change to life, we need to act across three levels:
Training
Create learning experiences that are practical, relevant, and tied to real work. Training should go beyond content—it should equip people to take action.
Instructional Design
Design curriculum with transfer in mind. That means setting clear goals, sequencing ideas for retention, and embedding supports like reflection, feedback, and follow-up. It means building in opportunities to practice in real-world situations.
Learning Strategy
Zoom out to the system level. Are the right people learning the right things at the right time? Are structures in place to support and sustain behavior change? How do our learning programs connect with our communications strategy, our technical assistance programs, our conferences, and our peer cohorts. Do we know we are making a difference?
In a recent podcast episode, learning science expert Jonathan Halls posed a compelling question: Are we replicating a university model—or an apprenticeship model? Are we measuring success by what people know in the classroom, or by what they’re able to do in the real world?
If we want our learning efforts to matter—for boards, for frontline staff, for advocates and community leaders—we have to build for transfer. We have to design for action.
Increasingly, it is clear that our democracy may depend on it.
If you need help turning your library of information into actionable tools, give me a call. I hope you can join us for The Trainer Academy in August. Together we will take action on this theory of change.