“Making it Stick”:
A How-to Guide on
Transforming Corporate Learning
Monika Weber-Fahr
Chief Knowledge Officer
Independent Evaluation Group
The World Bank Group
Strictly Confidential
© 2014
December
2014
Transformation:
What does it take?
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What does it take?
The World Bank
Group …
… an opportunity … & keeping our
that opened up … eyes on the prize
An organization at the
cusp of a major
organizational change
… in the form of genuine
staf funhappiness about
“the way we do learning”
With a strong and
consistent conceptual
underpinning for “Sticky
Knowledge” to transform
our corporate learning.
Strictly Confidential © 2014
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What does it take?
The World Bank
Group …
… an opportunity … & keeping our
that opened up … eyes on the prize
An organization at the
cusp of a major
organizational change
… in the form of genuine
staf funhappiness about
“the way we do learning”
With a strong and
consistent conceptual
underpinning for “Sticky
Knowledge” to transform
our corporate learning.
Strictly Confidential © 2014
4
What does it take?
The World Bank
Group …
… an opportunity … & keeping our
that opened up … eyes on the prize
An organization at the
cusp of a major
organizational change
… in the form of genuine
staf funhappiness about
“the way we do learning”
With a strong and
consistent conceptual
underpinning for “Sticky
Knowledge” to transform
our corporate learning..
Strictly Confidential © 2014
5
The opportunity:
Organizing a major week-long learning event
Typically this would include:
• One way lectures & panels
• Death by PowerPoint
• Talk, talk, talk
• Managers unloading
• One-off knowledge moment
“Forum2014”
was a weeklong learning &
knowledgesharing event
for staff
working on
agriculture,
energy and
extractives,
environment,
ICT, transport,
urban, social,
rural, disaster
risk mgt and
water.
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What we “sold”:
Let’s address the “forgetting curve”!
Our memory is limited
“The Forgetting Curve”
100%
First 20
minutes
50%
58%
First 60
minutes
44%
First 24
hours
34%
One
Month
Source: Donald Clark, Plan B, http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/search?q=Ebbinghaus
 What: People forget – and
they forget fast.
 Why: Knowledge goes into
short memory only during
“regular ” event-based
learning.
 So? Successful learning has
to push knowledge from
short to long-term memory
to be successful.
20%  How: License to “package”,
bite-size, practice, reinforce.
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Concepts we used:
Contextualization & Personalization
But what we are
after is change …
Contextualization
What does
it mean
for me …?
Simplification
Change
Wisdom
Knowledge
Information
Data
Individual
Relational
We work
on Data,
Information
and Knowledge
Can I relate to those who did this …?
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“Sticky Knowledge” was born…
Getting serious about Peer to Peer learning …
• Collaborative
• Bite-Sized
• Practical
• Small Groups
• Bottom-up
• Long-term
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10 Things
that allowed us to transform
“Knowledge Transfer”
to become
“Sticky”
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10
All 11 formats built around
“Relational” and “Contextual” Knowledge
11
Relational knowledge
Celebration
Wikithon
Up Close & Personal
Meet the Managers
Project Expo
Master Classes
TTL Trade Secrets
Project Clinics
Hard Talks
Experts on Call
Genius Bar
Contextualization of Knowledge
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All formats across organizational silos:
With whom, where and how we worked
SDN
KLI
WBI
ITS
HR
OTHER
NETWORK
S
IFC
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All communications was appealing:
consistent, colorful, mindful, focused, …
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All content was solicited “bottom-up”:
Topics sourced, priorities set ...
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All “performers” trained:
Organizers, facilitators, speakers
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All formats seriously interactive:
Voting, “live” comments, topic shaping
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Participants purposefully picked:
Creating cohorts and common background
 Country Office
 Sector Expertise
 Years at the Bank
 Diversity
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Individual activities mostly small:
Space for meaningful dialogues
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Knowledge came “bite-sized”:
Some activities 10 minutes or less
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Bringing joy into the equation:
In creating, in collaborating, in connecting
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Forum2014 in Numbers
5
10
10
100+
150+
250+
400+
1500+
2850
Days
Topical ‘Streams’
Learning Formats
Facilitators
Volunteers
Events
Speakers
Participants (40% CO Staff “seats”)
Evaluations
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Did it
“Stick” ?
based on:
on-site surveys (n=2200)
immediate post-event online survey (n=646)
4 month follow-up online survey (n=259)
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Written comments from on-site surveys (n=2200):
Overwhelmingly positive, across all levels
(73 % would recommend Forum 2014 or similar events to colleagues)
…opportunity to
"cross" our little
boundaries…
…I like the various
formats used…
… first time I was …so much "sticky"
in a room with
knowledge shared…
just the right
people to learn from…
…variety and
relevance of
topics made
it very exciting…

… can you
make this
a more
permanent
thing?…
…they have never had
…so many memorable
such good
events…
interaction…
…team came back
…a very upbeat
atmosphere…
super charged up…
…enjoyed the overall
Forum experience…
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Post-event ratings (post-event survey; n= 646):
Confirms “contextualization” and “personalization”
Learning Formats
% who said they learned new skills
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
75%
70%
65%
60%
55%
50%
Up Close &
Personal
Meet the
Managers
HardTalks
TTL
Experts on Call Master Class
Project Clinics
Wiki
Genius Bar
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Online/IT platform enabled:
Where personalized, high on the “sticky” end
Learning Formats
% who said they learned new skills
100%
95%
90%
85%
80%
75%
70%
65%
60%
55%
50%
Up Close &
Personal
Meet the
Managers
HardTalks
TTL
Experts on Call Master Class
Project Clinics
Wiki
Genius Bar
Strictly Confidential © 2014
Did we beat the “forgetting curve”!
Although our memory is limited…
(% of what we remember)
Survey results:
How “sticky” was
the knowledge in
the end …
100%
First 20
minutes
50%
58%
First 60
minutes
44%
First 24
hours
34%
One
Month
20%
Source: Donald Clark, Plan B, http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/search?q=Ebbinghaus
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After-event ratings (follow-up survey; n=259):
4 months later: Knowledge has “stuck”
What % of new
knowledge/skills gained
do you estimate you will
directly apply in your work?
100%
2%
70-90%
20%
40-60%
26%
10-30%
42%
0%
10%
0%
Have you used or
applied what you learned
at Forum 2014?
10%
20%
Yes
30%
40%
50%
61%
No
25%
N.A.
14%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
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Did
the Transformation
“Stick”?
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Transforming Corporate Learning:
Did it stick?
&
Replication – “sticky knowledge” learning:
• Inside the World Bank: Hard Talks, TTL Trade
Secrets, Up Close & Personal (at Legal Justice
Week, Global Practice Water, Water Sanitation
Program, MENA Region). PollEverywhere used
at ## events. Library reconfiguration.
• Outside the World Bank: The UK based TEAR
fund. SevenTrent.
Wiki Tools: Wait and See
• Integrated into new
Intranet Tools
• Requires Champions
and ongoing
engagement
• Last word not spoken
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yet
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