To achieve your mission, staff need to use new skills. So, staff get trained. Good.

But remember, that getting training doesn't mean using training. Getting training doesn't necessarily mean staff will use new skills—which was the whole point of the training.

What can you do? Follow up. Follow up. Follow up. How? During the training, have participants identify 2-3 SMART goals which involve them using their training. Then, follow up:

• Ask staff to talk with a partner each week about the progress they are making on their SMART goals.
  
• Write staff an encouraging email each week for 4 weeks.
  
• Have each staff member write a message to herself about the importance of achieving the SMART goals. Mail each participant's message to her.
  
• During staff meetings, give staff time to talk about how their training is helping them achieve the mission.