Remember waaay back in high school algebra class (or maybe it was calculus?) where your teacher insisted you memorize the quadratic formula? The class moaned and protested: “When are we ever going to use this?”
Well, surely somewhere down the line in our careers it would come in handy. After all, we wouldn’t always have a calculator in our pockets (*cough cough*), so we needed these crazy formulas stored in our long-term memory, ready to whip out at a moment’s notice.
But unless you’re a physicist, engineer, economist, or a high school math teacher, there’s a decent chance you haven’t used it since graduation. It’s not that the information was wrong. The quadratic formula (I’m sure) is true. It’s just not useful.
And that’s the #1 issue with workplace training.
Companies spend thousands of dollars teaching employees information that’s technically correct but completely disconnected from the work they actually do. Sure, policies get explained, procedures get documented and PowerPoints get presented. Team members dutifully click through training modules, pass the quiz and promptly forget almost everything they learned.
Why?
Because our brains are remarkably good at filtering out information that isn’t immediately relevant. If training doesn’t answer the question, “How does this help me right now?” it goes in one ear and right out the other.
Rather than overwhelming workers with information they might need someday, video-based microlearning delivers practical, timely content they can immediately apply. The result is better engagement AND better performance.
Sternin Didn’t Need More Information
In 1990, Jerry Sternin arrived in Vietnam with Save the Children after receiving what sounded like an impossible assignment: Dramatically reduce childhood malnutrition in six months or leave the country. He had virtually no money, no resources and no obvious solution. He also didn’t speak a word of Vietnamese.
Experts believed malnutrition was caused by poverty, poor sanitation and unsafe water – problems far bigger than Sternin’s tiny budget.
So he asked a different question. Instead of studying what was going wrong, he looked for what was going right. In several villages, some children were noticeably healthier than others even though their families were just as poor. Sternin wanted to know why.
The answer surprised him.
Parents of healthier children weren’t better educated – they simply had different habits. They fed their children smaller meals more often, hand-fed younger children, and added tiny shrimp and sweet potato greens (“low status” foods) to meals.
Sternin had the answer to fighting malnutrition, but he knew locals wouldn’t believe him (as humans, our first instinct is to be skeptical and dismiss “foreign” solutions). Shrimp and potato greens could help save children (true), but simply telling parents this wouldn’t change traditional behavior (making the knowledge, therefore, useless).
The Trap of True But Useless
Rather than lecture villagers about nutrition, Sternin invited mothers to cook together using practices that were already working. Six months later, 65% of participating children showed improved nutrition, and the approach eventually spread to more than two million people.
Knowledge only creates change when people can actually use it. Simply telling people the facts wouldn’t change behavior. Workplace training suffers from the same problem.
How many times have employees sat through presentations thinking: “Yes…I know…but when would I actually use this?” Too much training focuses on delivering information rather than solving problems.
Less Talk, More Action
Organizations often measure training success by completion rates. Everyone watched the videos? Great. Everyone passed the quiz? Perfect. But did anyone actually change what they do on Monday morning? If training doesn’t influence behavior, it doesn’t matter how polished the presentation looked.
Instead of asking team members to remember everything they might someday need, video-based microlearning delivers short, focused lessons centered on one practical topic at a time.
The mindset shifts from: “What should my people know?” to: “What should my people be able to do?” A much better question!
Our brains reward relevance over volume every time. Think about YouTube. What are you more likely to click on? A twenty-minute video titled “Everything You’ll Ever Need to Know About Plumbing” or a two-minute video called “How to Stop Your Kitchen Sink from Leaking.”
Video-based microlearning works because it mirrors how people naturally seek information. Employees need answers, and they don’t have time to shift through a gazillion modules to find them.
Bright Spots Are Better Teachers Than Experts
One of the smartest ideas from Sternin’s work was his focus on what he called “bright spots.” Instead of trying to fix everything that was broken, he found the people who were already succeeding and asked why.
Organizations have bright spots too. Every company has people who consistently outperform everyone else. For instance:
- The technician who finishes repairs faster
- The customer service representative who calmly handles difficult conversations
- The project manager whose jobs always stay on schedule
These people already have the answers: The challenge is capturing them.
Rather than relying exclusively on formal training departments, companies can record real employees solving real problems, saving thousands of dollars in instructional design and production costs.
Human behavior is heavily influenced by social proof. People look to others (especially those they identify with) to determine what is correct, effective or acceptable. In the workplace, this means teams naturally look to their peers for guidance.
Studies show that individuals are significantly more likely to adopt behaviors they observe in coworkers compared to instructions delivered through formal training. This is particularly true in high-pressure or fast-moving environments, where workers rely on proven methods rather than theoretical guidance.
Video-based microlearning taps directly into this behavior. By showcasing peer-driven examples, it aligns training with how people naturally learn. Instead of telling employees what to do, it shows them what works.
Stop Teaching Everything
One reason traditional training struggles is because it tries to answer every possible question, which is exhausting. Effective video-based microlearning does the opposite.
It focuses on one problem, one process, one skill or one takeaway. Employees don’t need every detail all at once. They need the right information at the right moment. Short, searchable videos make that possible.
Rather than expecting team members to retain everything indefinitely, it provides ongoing reinforcement through short, continuous lessons delivered in the flow of work. Employees refresh important concepts before they forget them.
If you’re evaluating your own training, the best video-based microlearning content always begins with a practical question team members actually ask like:
- How do I handle this customer?
- What’s the safest way to do this task?
- Why does this process matter?
- What mistake should I avoid?
When training starts with real questions, workers naturally care about the answers.
Jerry Sternin didn’t solve Vietnam’s malnutrition crisis by introducing complicated theories or overwhelming communities with information. He found practical solutions that were already working and helped people make more of them. Organizations can approach learning the same way.
When companies replace broad, generic training with focused, relevant video-based microlearning, employees spend less time sitting through information they’ll never use and more time building skills they can immediately apply.
The most valuable training isn’t the content that’s technically correct, it’s the content people actually remember AND put into practice.
Learn how you can replicate your company’s bright spots for a more productive (and profitable) workforce by scheduling a meeting to speak with a Tyfoom training consultant today.